People have done some interesting things customizing the Royal Enfield Bullet 500, but nothing quite like this. There’s no shortage of nice cafe racers built on the platform, but the Kromworks HQ ‘Icarus’ takes the Enfield to new heights.
Andika Pratama, the main man at Kromworks HQ, has made something beautiful and intricate with a fairly standard and venerable motorcycle.
Pratama took on a made-to-order request from a customer in the U.K. In just seven months, he emerged from his shop in Indonesia with this gem. According to Pratama, he received an email from Keith Edney requesting a custom bike built using yet another Royal Enfield Bullet 500 as base metal, and working from a final design approved by Edney, he set to work.
He began by building the full chassis from thick metal and brought his engineering background to bear to make the bike both functional and safe. A single downtube design features custom engine mounts tailored to the Enfield motor and a unique center section was crafted to accept a tiny and subtle custom rear monoshock.
The rear suspension features a solid link from the swingarm, which means the shock is nearly parallel to the road, and a custom, preloaded and adjustable shock was devised to make the machine stable and predictable in the corners. A fantastic, handmade drum setup is vented and topped off with a brass plate which seems entirely integrated but is actually removable for maintenance or further customization of the gearing.
This delicate and artistic custom swingarm sets the tone for the narrow profile of the bike and is actually an upgrade in strength over the original Enfield part. The old-school girder fork setup harkens back to bikes of yore, and the highly polished pivot arms complete the look. The girder was constructed from a pair of aluminum billet blocks and the system was designed to function with a drum brake system.
But it’s the artistic vision expressed in the bodywork that makes ‘Icarus’ such a statement. The smooth and seemingly one-piece bodywork is wrought from stainless steel, and the front and rear lights feature covers which obscure the guts of the lighting setup.
It’s obvious the team at Kromworks spent many fruitful hours polishing the ‘tank’ and rocker covers and routing the wiring to make it nearly invisible. The engine also features a hand-built stainless steel exhaust and a machined velocity stack for an intake.
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