Choosing the Preferred Builder

Having browse the internet, I do realize that motorcycles modification is a growing area in Indonesia. Bear in mind that Indonesia, is the 3^rd motorcycles producer in the world after China and India. Motorbikes are no 1 transportation mode around this great nation. Millions of them crawling on Indonesia roads everyday, mainly Japanese bikes, domestic manufactured.

We have a large base for modification market then. Not the expensive modif bikes, but the affordable ones. In economics category, Indonesia is newly middle income country.

A growing number of modification events. Kustom Fest 2013 in Yogyakarta for example.  Roland Sands were here attending Kustom Fest last year. Notice his comment on the Fest “The range was drastic, from super rat mini 50 cc scooters to AJS choppers, hand built Honda Triples and full blown custom baggers. I’ve never seen so much diversity at a show.”

In short, there are a lot of modificators, or to be precisely, builders. This is my summary of potential builders, a result of a week laptop survey during my free time of course.

Let’s start with my town. I live in a suburb town of Jakarta, after spending teens minutes of browsing, can’t find one here. In Bintaro, the adjacent town, there  is Studio Motor Custom Bike (SMCB). They build a large variety bikes, nice ones. Baby sportster, bobber, street tracker for instance.

SMCB bikes

 Source: Jackbiker.com

 Source: Studio Motor.com

Going forward, I found Awiwiwww Art Work at Carburator Springs complex, Tanah Kusir, South Jakarta. Not quite clear their exact location are, I know a Café called Carburator Springs there. Found a picture of a nice and simple yet beautiful air brush on the tank. Nice composition and good artwork.

Awiwiwww Art Work bike

Source: otomotif.com

In Southern Jakarta, a builder worth to be mentioned here. Tauco Custom located in Jagakarsa. See their black Hellcat combat. Nice tank and rear frame. She looks strong and ready to accelerate.

Tauco Custom bike

Source: Dapurpacu.com

In Cinere, a town in Depok Municipality in Greater Jakarta Area, I found Gandul 2Wheels Custom (G2C). Quite extreme modification, turning a Yamaha Scorpio to chopper. Cool tank. Notice the slope. Nice chopper guys. It's a chopper, isn't it?

G2C chopper

Source: Maniakmotor.com

In Cileduk, Tangerang Municipality another adjacent town, I found MD Motor. A beautiful all black, eye catching, popping up in my screen. 

MD Motor bike

Source: http://motor.otomotifnet.com

Going east, Psycho Custom Garage (or just Psycho Custom?) in Bekasi, eastern part of Greater Jakarta. Saw their pictures about good looking green chopper. See their Jap style, love it! Both ape hanger handlebars.

 Psycho Custom bikes

source: motorplus-online.com

 Source: Otomotif.org

Going forward east, to Cirebon and detected APE Motorcycle (AM). A nice bobber old school with flat chair appears on my MacBook Air’s screen. In Chalopy website, I found their all blue underbone bike, pretty nice isn’t it. For those who don’t know, Cirebon is an old sea port city at the edge of West Java. Quite surprising for me, there’s a good builder there. I’ll pay a visit to AM sometime in the future, and … enjoying Cirebon’s famous local foods.

APE Motorcycles bikes

 Source: Motorplus-online.com

Source: Chalopy.com

I heard several times that Bandung, the capital of West Java Province, also have good builders. I just can’t find them. I also found limited information in Surabaya and Jogjakarta (simply Jogja). Not blank at all mate, key potentials are there!.

To the east, go on to Bali. A big name in Bali, the well known Deus Ex Machina, an international and Australia based builder. Man, lot of good stuffs! At expensive price, I presume. Seems to me they focusing on scrambler, somewhere among Japs, bobber, street tracker, at least for Deus Indonesia. In my opinion, they are very good working on Yamaha Scorpio. These are examples of Deus works. Amazing works!

Deus Ex Machina bikes

Source: Maniakmotor.com

Source: Kingoffuel.com

Source: Ngobrolmotor.files.wordpress.com

Source: Gambar,otomotifnet.com

At this point, I personally attracted to Yamaha Scorpio, a 225 cc street fighter type in Indonesia market.

I concluded that a bulk of builders are in Indonesia, no doubt about it.

What type of a builder that I am looking for? One thing for sure, since this gonna be my first modif bike, I don’t know much about it. He or she should take a major part in developing ideas. Typical question asking to me by a builder like “what bike do you want”, or “We can build your dream bike, please explain the details”, won’t work in my case. I am a rookie guy in this new world.

Motorbike modification is an art work. I’ve watching Counting Cars, West Coast Custom, Car SOS, American Chopper etc. to increase my learning curve. Learn from them about exploring ideas, imagining the end shape, doing mechanical jobs precisely, and paying attention on details.

His works should cover enough variety of types, showing a wide range of capability while provide a clue on their main strength. Then I can short of measure his art and engineering capacity. Uniqueness of their works is a key evaluation component. Even I hypotheses that a good builder, in some sense, also be an artist.

Due to my limited time, I rely on internet information. However I do believe, a good builder nowadays should put their works in internet. Carefully pick pictures of their bikes, showing their creativity and ability clearly. Stock pictures become critical in developing my judgment.

I have limited engine knowhow. The builder should use widely available engines in Indonesia market. If they modify i.e. bore up, again assuring availability of parts. The common engine with continuous supply of parts is preferable. Honda or Yamaha, two largest manufacturer here, are the workable option.

I want a customized bike, no just an array or configuration of after market parts. The main observable elements such as tank, handlebar, chasis, forks are customized. Hand battered if necessary. I assume handmade is no strange at all.  Workshops in Indonesia usually lack of equipment, not like large workshops we often see in TV shows namely in History Channel or Discovery Turbo.

At this point, I can’t have cost estimate yet. But I may assess the cost from many articles in the internet. I do expect affordable price to build my dream bike.

Now I can decide my preferred bidder … done with decision making! I wish to start discussion with him soon.

A final note. I exclude big bike builders. Yes they show excellent works. Having a big bike, old or brand new, is just not an option for me. Finally, apology not providing a complete sources of information. You may using their names as keywords, and our friendly uncle Google will bring you to them. This is not academic paper anyway.

Peace.