Cottage Industry

Cottage Industry

UP FRONT

MARK HOYER

It'S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO HAVE HUGE respect for companies like NCR in Italy, who build some of the most beautiful, functional art ever to make combustion noise. Likewise Falcon Motorcycles for its stunning reinterpre tation of classic motorcycle forms. We all benefit from the existence of these exotic masterpieces, but almost none of us will ever own one because of their rarity and cost.

Which is why clever and resourceful ingenuity cannot be ignored, and Ryca Motors (www.ycamotors.com) has that in spades. Ryan Rajewski and Casey Stevenson make up the "Ry" and the "Ca" of this Los Angeles-based fabri cation shop. They're not building noexpense-spared titanium Ducatis and they aren't trying to lovingly dedicate thousands of man-hours to push the boundaries of custom-bike building. They're trying to have a good time with a common product and put it in the hands of as many people as they can for a reasonable cost. It's not as flashy as the above, but it is equally as noble.

And it is cool and fun. The Ryca CS-i café bike pictured here is based on-shock!--the Suzuki Boulevard S40 entry-level cruiser, previously known as the LS650 Savage. First in troduced in 1986, the 650cc sohc Single has hardly changed over the years, aside from getting a fifth gear in the Nineties. They are dirt-cheap, even brand-new: MSRP for a 2008 S40 is $4399; a 2009 lists for $4899. Who's paying sticker these days, anyway? And they are abundant used: Mint condition units can be had for $2000. Beaters, naturally, are less. Color or cosmetic condi`~ tion hardly matter for the _________ Ryca application, because only the fuel tank is retained, and it has been heavily modded.

Ryca sells a complete bike based on a brand-new S40 for $8000. But café fans will want to get their own hands dirty, so the $3000 kit (with painted bodywork) that you apply to your own bike makes more sense. Either way, you end up with clip-ons, a cut-down, repo sitioned fuel tank, a seat and sidecovers, new 18-inch rear rim laced to a stock hub, a new battery box, rearsets, mount ed tires and all the other stuff to build a ready-to-ride and utterly transformed entry-level cruiser. And, as Stevenson says, only half-joking, "All you need is a screwdriver, a couple of wrenches and a hacksaw."

So for as little as $4000, give or take, you can be rolling on an essentially low-production custom that has youi own personal touch during assembly. For the total tightwad who feels re sourceful, there is also a partial kit foi $1800 that includes only the parts cus tom-made by Ryca; you find the resi on your own.

Not surprisingly, this single greatest transformation of an easily ignor able entry-level cruiser into something extremely cool wasn't Ryca's first idea. "I was originally going to put a singie in a cus tom frame," says ". Stevenson. "I considered a Buell Blast, but then I f rode a Suzuki and was sold / on the engine. I bought a ner fect used S40 in Vegas on eBay for $2000 and took it home. My shopmates were like, `What the hell is this? What are you going to do with this?' I said, `I'm going to make a café racer.' They just laughed! It became a challenge."

s tne project evoivea, tne yca part ners realized that with longer shocks and an easy mod of the fork, the entire stance of the bike could be changed. "There's no reason to change the chassis," says Stevenson. "The suspension totally al ters the bike. Plus, the swingarm is on the outside of the frame, which is pretty typical on vintage bikes but isn't very common anymore. And when you put the sidecovers and stuff all in there, it's super sleek and narrow. On the finished prod uct, the frame vanishes."

Stevenson's path to bike building was not the most direct, explains the 3 8-yearold guitar player with an engineering de gree. "Right out of college, I went to work at NASA in Houston," he says. "I worked on a project that got launched on the space shuttle. But I kind of wanted to move to L.A. to work in the music business. I played in bands and started recording. The co-founder of Ryca is my bandmate, Ryan; he's also a car guy, a master mechanic. A couple of years ago, he needed a place to work, and I was get ting back into motorcycles. We wanted a shop, so we got one, but we couldn't af ford rent! Why not do fabrication on the side? I've spent the last three years learn ing how to do everything myself, from TIG welding to sheet-metal fabrication to fiberglass work."

They took on almost any job and began customizing bikes for customers. But Stevenson wanted to build some thing more for less, to make a cool, simple, light, easy-to-ride, reliable mo torcycle, and the CS-i was born out of that desire.

"With motorcycles, there's always a big element of style," says Stevenson. "And I don't want to ride a Harley or a sportbike, and a lot of kids out there feel the same." 1 1

The CS-i has a purity and simplic ity that is wickedly appealing, with a thumping backbeat and light, ap proachable feel on the road. It's the perfect café custom kit for the times, an antidote to a world of mass-pro duced sameness. Is it exotic? No. A masterpiece? Yes. It's an honest, low cost motorcycle that offers you in volvement as a builder. Ride free in spirit, cheap in wallet! And nobody will ever know it started as a Savage.