If you’re a custom motorcycle builder and there’s one event where you fantasize about showcasing your build, it has to be Japan’s Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show. It’s the crème de la crème of custom shows, being the place you want to be if you want to spot some of the most insane bike builds.
And while there’s much you can talk about from this year’s show – flared cafe racers, custom Harley Panheads and Shovelheads, stretched-out choppers – there was one specific build that everyone had stopped in their tracks … a Royal Enfield Classic 650-based chopper that has not one but two entire engines!
The build comes courtesy of Custom Works Zon (CW Zon), a well-known Japanese custom house, and it’s probably the best Royal Enfield custom I’ve ever seen. And not much of that has to do with how the thing looks – and it does look beautiful, mind you. It’s more about the pure technical effort that has gone into the thing. It’s not every day you spot two separate 650cc engines on a motorcycle, is it?
Hiromitsu Yasui
“Most custom motorcycles showcased at HRCS (Hot Rod Custom Show) are powered by large-displacement engines,” says CW Zon founder, Yuichi Yoshizawa. “And the engine’s visual impact is always a crucial element. The Classic 650 engine is beautiful, powerful, and full of character – but I wanted to elevate its presence even further. That’s how I arrived at the idea of using two engines.”
The build is called Vita, named after the Latin word for “life.” It is based around a custom hard-tail steel frame, which houses two Enfield 648cc air-cooled parallel twin engines connected by a primary chain drive on the left side. This configuration is made possible by getting rid of the forward engine’s transmission (as it doesn’t require a gearbox) and shortening the crankcase.
CW Zon then chose to rearrange the height of the two motors, reducing the distance between them to maintain the overall compact size of the chassis while achieving the powerful presence of a twin-engine motorcycle.
As you’d expect, the stock Classic 650 frame had to be redone from scratch. So, CW Zon created a bespoke girder front end with 12-mm steel plates alongside a new hardtail frame. Keep in mind that the bottom rails were designed to be detachable, allowing the builders to remove and reinstall the engines.
Now, whenever we’ve seen two engines being used on a custom in the past, it’s often on stretched land-speed racers. “Land-speed racing feels somewhat distant from the mainstream custom motorcycle culture in Japan,” Yoshizawa explains to our friends at BikeExif. “Choppers, on the other hand, are extremely popular. Debuting a dual-engine chopper would create a much stronger reaction – and personally, I have always loved choppers.”
And what better to give a chopper aesthetic than 26-inch wheels? That’s exactly what you get on the resultant bike, with Hot Dock discs, Performance Machine brake calipers, and Neo Factory master cylinders.
Hiromitsu Yasui
Up top, there’s an aluminum fuel reservoir under the seat as opposed to in front of it. And where a typical fuel tank would go is where CW Zon has placed a box with all the important electronic components.
I love the mahogany wood touches, which were supplied by a skilled furniture craftsman who happens to be a close friend of Yoshizawa. Elements like the jockey shifter are hand-forged Damascus steel. The finishing touch is a chiseled aluminum adornment that resembles a bird in flight.
“To celebrate the raw character of each material – steel, aluminum, and wood – I left all the exterior parts unpainted,” Yoshizawa explains. “Through the bird sculpture, and through the expressive qualities of steel, aluminum, and wood, I wanted to convey a sense of vibrant life and raw energy.”
Hiromitsu Yasui
The build is a part of the global custom project of Royal Enfield called Custom World, which gives a platform for global artists and builders to explore their own ideas using Royal Enfield motorcycles. And as long as it churns out beauties like the Vita, I’m going to say this project is a big hit!
Source: Royal Enfield
