Five bikes...
[CUSTOM BIKES ]
Yamaha XV920 V-twin is transformed from a humble, plodding 1980s cruiser into a hyper-cool café racer
MONOCOQUE
One-piece fuel tank and seat unit is made from petrol-resistant fibreglass, with integrated rear lights.
ENGINE
Straight pipes add to the café racer vibe. We’re guessing Slovakian police are less picky about deafening bikes than our own…
EXHAUST
1984 Yamaha XV920 is standard, though has been completely rebuilt and also sand and vapour blasted so it looks new.
Plenty of customisers have had a go at Yamaha’s Virago XV920 cruiser, but few have gone to the lengths of Vlado Dinga. After sketching his ideas, the Slovakian scanned the donor bike to create a virtual 3D model, got it designed in CAD and 3D-printed all the prototype components before making everything else himself.
‘There were basically three ways to go with the design,’ he says. ‘The first was to stay with the low-seater style and get close to the Harley community, but that wasn’t to my taste. The second direction was a bobber – closer, but not enough for me. And last was a café racer, which is the most common way to modify bikes nowadays. That was closest to my heart, but too generic.
‘So, I decided to take the fourth way – my own way. Not going with the flow, but not really against it.’
Vlado took his ideas to industrial designer Konstantin Laskov, asking for a ‘subtle shape, contrasting with the big engine, respecting the core of the bike’. Crucially, he wanted the engine to be held from above so it appears to float. ‘Konstantin came with a few sketches and finally delivered a simple idea of a single tight curve with a peak above the engine and two tangents with the wheels. This became our design mantra.’
After hundreds of sketches, they agreed on this final shape – ‘a wing on wheels’, according to Vlado. Then they swerved onto the high-tech route. ‘We needed a 3D model of the entire motorcycle,’ says Vlado, ‘but of course, it was not possible to obtain a technically accurate 3D model of a bike made in 1984. So, we scanned the frame with an industrial scanner and started the creation in 3D.’
