The Suzuki SV650 will go down in history as one of the best bang-for-buck motorcycles ever made. The ‘poor man’s Monster’ gets non-stop praise for being reliable, fun and inexpensive, even if it is a little aesthetically dull. It’s such a perennial favorite in fact, that when Suzuki tried to replace it with the ill-fated Gladius, they eventually had to bring it back.
Despite this, the SV650 is not a bike that pops up on the custom scene too often—which is something that Antti Eloheimo has noticed. “I’ve always liked the beefy trellis frame,” he says, “but I haven’t seen well-executed street trackers built from this very popular bike.”
Antti’s based in the greater metropolitan area of Helsinki, with a background in industrial and automotive design. He’s designed everything from watches and knives to sports equipment, but most of his commercial work now is digital stuff. This is the second custom motorcycle build out of his small garage workshop, where he works after hours under the name Stoker Motorcycles.
Antti built up the 2000-model SV650 as a daily rider for him “to slide around here and there.” It’s not only razor sharp with a flawless stance, but also a textbook example of Scandinavian minimalism.
This is a deceptively clever build. To restyle the SV650, Antti first repurposed the OEM fuel tank as a hidden fuel cell, by cutting and shutting it to shrink it. He also lowered it, and modified the underside to give the airbox more room to breathe.
The reworked tank now sits under a tracker-style body, hand shaped out of fiberglass. Thanks to a two-tone paint job and a seam near the middle it looks like two pieces—but it’s actually one.
“The hardest thing in the design,” Antti tells us, “was to get the curve from the top of the tank to the tail to be as shallow as possible without rising the seat height too much.”
“A rider needs to be able to move weight forward to keep the front tire weighted on corners, and have room to move back on the straights. And nailing this line meant that aesthetically the bike looks balanced, like a good tracker should.”
Up top is a racing foam seat pad, and out back is the smallest possible street legal LED taillight. A pair of 3D printed intakes helps direct airflow upfront, with additional venting channels running through the tailpiece. The engine’s rear cylinder and the rebuilt subframe now hide behind a pair of aluminum side panels.
There’s more metalwork underneath the tail, with a neat aluminum blank-off plate to keep muck off the repackaged electronics.
Antti fabricated an aluminum belly pan too—not only to tie the design together, but also to protect the front spark plug from spray from the front tire. It’s finished off with a 3D printed grill in front, and there are 3D printed radiator covers higher up.
He kept the SV’s 17” wheels, but added wheel covers and wrapped them in Michelin supermoto tires. The front forks are stock, but they’ve been lowered, and upgraded with new internals and preload adjusters. The rear shock’s been scalped from a Kawasaki ZX-10R, and the bike now sits a couple of inches lower than stock.
Other add-ons include fork protectors, braided stainless steel hoses and tighter gearing. Antti relocated the foot pegs to sit further forward, and installed pullback risers and oversized Neken Jared Mees replica flat track bars. The throttle’s a DIY ‘quick throttle’ setup.
The number boards are custom, but Antti’s designed the bodywork to look just as good without them. There’s a projector poking out the front board, with Motogadget turn signals all-round, and a Motogadget speedo. A pair of off-the-shelf titanium mufflers adds the final touch; they’re mated to the headers via a custom-made Y-connector.
Antti handled the slick white and silver paint himself, topping it off with race numbers and mock AMA stickers. “I love all sorts of race vehicle aesthetics,” he says. “The race numbers, sponsor stickers, and no-nonsense way of making radical machines that go fast.”
“But what race bikes are not, is comfortable for everyday use. And I wanted to build something easy and fun, that doesn’t hurt your body after a few kilometers. The saddle looks hard but is actually quite comfortable to sit on—or it might be that I have got used to road racing foam seats!”
We’re not convinced about the seat being comfortable, but one thing’s for sure: this street tracker looks hella fun. More SV650 customs like this one, please.
Stoker Motorcycles | Instagram | Images by Iiro Muttilainen
from Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/2Sop1u3
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