Posted on Jul 20,2013 in Custom

Gorilla Punch » Wrenchmonkees » Bikers Café Dubai

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You might have seen this bike before at Bikers Café Dubai, but we bet you didn’t know it’s name and who made it. Well, let us tell you this, it is one of the finest custom motorcycles ever built, and it’s dubbed the Gorilla Punch. The good people from Wrenchmonkees garage built it back in 2008 using the cult Honda CB750 as its base. It comes as no surprise that right after it was finished, it started a new life as a display item in the Danish Museum of Art & Design in Copenhagen, after which it was displayed by Rojo Artspace in Barcelona. Truly a masterpiece, and now in Dubai.

To achieve the wanted effect, Wrenchmonkees had to completely dismantle and rebuild the original CB750 from the ground up, creating a style that reminds us of café racers from the 1960s and 1970s. The engine was taken apart and rebuilt with new piston rings, gaskets and so on. It’s now breathing through a pair of Keihin CR 29 carburetors with single-mounted K&N air pod filters. The engine points, clutch and dyno side casings have been replaced with an ultra-light aluminium finned cover kit with matching tappet covers also. All the crank cases, side casings and barrels including rocker cover have been professionally cleaned and then finished in HT paint.

The exhaust manifolds were finished off in a 2-in-1 fashion on both sides of the bike, and painted in HT black paint. The mufflers are stainless steel shorties, giving the bike a nice and throaty exhaust note.

All the original electrics have been removed, making way for the minimal loom, while the standard HT leads have also been replaced with vintage braided style leads, which look pretty neat. Another great touch is the new fabricated aluminium under tail oil tank, with bespoke copper oil lines, which add a really nice touch to the overall slick and airy looking motorcycle. Once it was finished, the bike didn’t have the starter motor in order to save some weight. Now it is back on, as this is bike is a rider, not a show item. The original battery was changed for a 3/6 amp one to save some more weight.

The front is executed so nicely that you would have a hard time noticing that anything is changed. The custom triple trees were CNC-ed, and get a custom-made stainless steel WM stem. You can notice that good Danish people used LSL clip-on handlebars – again modified and curved a little to give the bike the stance it needs.

The front brakes on this fine bike are controlled by an ABM front master cylinder, connected via ABM steel-braided brake hoses to a pair of Tokico 4-pot front brake calipers, running on a pair of front drilled discs. The rear brake is controlled by a Nissin rear master cylinder via an ABM steel-braided brake hose to a Tokico 1-pot rear caliper, running on an ISR rear disk. Both calipers have had the WM treatment and have been drilled to shed weight – a nice touch we think.

In your typical custom style, the frame has been heavily modified in order to sport the look it mandates. All the unwanted hardware was removed, meaning lugs and brackets, and all new ones were installed. As with most café racers, the space beneath the seat has been freed up by removing the stock air box. You can also see the brass oil lines sticking out a little bit below the seat. The oil tank and the new battery are located in the tail section of the bike, leaving plenty of room behind the engine, creating perfect balance of masses. WM guys also extended and strengthened the swingarm, producing a new set of mounting points for the Progressive Suspension shocks in the back. The bike is longer, slicker and lower looking than the original – props up again for the builders.

The wheels are probably the very element that defines this bike and it’s a thing of beauty. And as it has always been the case – the simplest solution is often the best solution – so the original spoke wheels were covered with a set of steel covers. The size of the rim is 3.50 by 16” front and back, shod in the evergreen Coker Classic’s white wall tyres sized 5×16”. The wheels are also mounted on handcrafted stainless steel spindles with spacers.

The custom tank was specifically made for this bike, flowing nicely with the custom tail with an LED rear light. The blinkers are minimal and don’t spoil the overall minimalism of the bike. The paint is dark racing green with some black accents, and broken up with some thick white striping.

But as with most good-looking custom motorcycles, this is not just your ordinary sum of nice parts. The whole system works perfectly together, creating something that is more than “good” looking. It is a masterpiece of motorcycling art, and yes, it is in Dubai now!