Photo: Bad Winners
Back in 1999, Japanese bike maker Kawasaki decided to treat the modern world to a taste of retro motoring, and released into the wild the W650. Officially described as retro-standard two-wheeled machine, it wasn’t on the market all that long, its production suspended just eight years later.
It’s not exactly clear what chased customers away to such a degree for Kawasaki to pull the plug on the bike this quickly, but the reality remains the only way you can find a W650 today is to check out the used motorcycle market and hope to get lucky.
That, or surf the web in search of a noteworthy custom worth at least a closer look, if not even a buy. We did and came up with this thing here, a W650 nicknamed Brat Knight by its maker, France-based Bad Winners.
This is the second such bike we found wearing the Winners’ signature, after the Skin Milk we discussed several months ago. Unlike that one, the Knight takes a brat-style approach, with all the key elements of the Go Takamine-born idea on deck: full suspension, long flat seat, the deletion of perceived-as-unnecessary elements (mirrors, turn signals).
The funky-looking two-wheeler looks like a true bad boy from a 1960s flick, allowed to misbehave to allow whatever hero rides it to escape dangerous situations.
The bike seems to run the stock 400cc engine of the breed in its later incarnations, beefed up with a Mikuni carburetor and K&N air filters. The exhaust is supplied by TEC, the suspension by YSS, and the speedometer comes from motogadget. A set of Coker Diamon tires makes the connection to the road.
The bike is listed on the Bad Winners website as one of the star projects, but we are not given any information on its current whereabouts or price of build.
That, or surf the web in search of a noteworthy custom worth at least a closer look, if not even a buy. We did and came up with this thing here, a W650 nicknamed Brat Knight by its maker, France-based Bad Winners.
This is the second such bike we found wearing the Winners’ signature, after the Skin Milk we discussed several months ago. Unlike that one, the Knight takes a brat-style approach, with all the key elements of the Go Takamine-born idea on deck: full suspension, long flat seat, the deletion of perceived-as-unnecessary elements (mirrors, turn signals).
The funky-looking two-wheeler looks like a true bad boy from a 1960s flick, allowed to misbehave to allow whatever hero rides it to escape dangerous situations.
The bike seems to run the stock 400cc engine of the breed in its later incarnations, beefed up with a Mikuni carburetor and K&N air filters. The exhaust is supplied by TEC, the suspension by YSS, and the speedometer comes from motogadget. A set of Coker Diamon tires makes the connection to the road.
The bike is listed on the Bad Winners website as one of the star projects, but we are not given any information on its current whereabouts or price of build.
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