Gavin Smith – Bullet Bobber – Custom Motorcycle

By Customs -N- Classics on May 16, 2017 • ( 1 Comment )

As I was writing the article for Gavin Smith’s ’47 Ford Rat Rod, He told me about his other current project, his custom motorcycle. The “Bullet Bobber”. Below is the story, as he relayed it to me.

The bike started out as a titled roller hard tail frame that I picked up from a guy for $250.

Tried an engine from a 600 Ninja

I tried to fit a couple of different motor ideas from bikes people were parting out. I tried a 600 ninja motor first that fit perfect but had too many electrical problems so that idea was abandoned.

My next attempt was going to use a 600 savage single cylinder, but parts were far and few between, so that idea was scrapped.

It had been sitting for two years and I was moving so I was just going to scrap the idea all together. I decided to check one last time on my local classified website and came across a 96

Finally used an engine from a 96 Suzuki Bandit 600

Suzuki bandit 600. The guy got a bad deal and was selling it cheap because he couldn’t get the title. I picked it up running but needing a clutch for $500.

The Suzuki 600 was much bigger than the ninja 600 and wouldn’t fit in the frame. I decided to use the rear swing arm from the bandit but had to custom build my own frame around the motor.

I did all the fabrication work and tube bending with a hydraulic pipe bender from Harbor Freight and did the notching with a cutoff disk and grinder.

I took my time and made sure everything was symmetrical and straight on the frame. I used all the Suzuki original wiring but had no place to hide it. It took me a few days to come up with the idea to use an ammo can to house the battery and wiring.

I spent a lot of time on eBay looking for parts that would look good on the bike.

I had to move the foot controls forward with a universal forward foot control linkage kit I found on eBay along with the headlights and blinkers.

I had Birdmans Custom Seats make a custom seat with our family brand incorporated into the design on the seat.

I custom made the exhaust from the header back with exhaust parts from Auto Zone and replaced the stock air box with pod filters from, you guessed it, eBay.

It took some re jetting to get the carbs tuned in but all in all it was a super fun bike build. Probably the coolest most unique bike i have ever build.

At the time I originally wrote this article, Gavin was waiting on a custom seat. Well, it came in and he installed it. There are new picks in the below collage. I am also embedding a video of him finally getting to ride it.

Gavin has another bike that I am just waiting on the story and pictures. That bike was named Aftermath, which, once you hear the story, you understand the name.

(You can see the story, here)

Here are the current photos of the build, as soon as he gets the final parts in the mail and on the bike, we will update the pictures so you can see the final masterpiece.