Atomic age awesome.
You could be forgiven for thinking this chrometastic Indonesian café racer is some sort of 1950s concept bike. Like so much atomic-age design, the Kromworks Bullet 500
is all curves and shiny metal. It looks a little like a vintage pizza
cutter with thin 21-inch solid disc wheels, and a custom body that is
vaguely reminiscent of a sculpted handle.
The entire bike is custom built from scratch except the Royal Enfield
Bullet 500 engine. Even that has been worked over as Kromworks decided
to take out the fuel injection and add carburetion for aesthetic
reasons.
Fans of 1950s movies might see a hint of the
robot alien from The Day The Earth Stood Still in the cyclops front
fairing and headlight assembly. The exhaust has been rerouted high and
over the top of the engine, before exiting under the seat pan. The
custom swing arm provides a mounting point for two horizontal rear
shocks.
Indonesia is a hotbed for custom café racer builds, as an
influx of ex-pat money merged with the abundance of small-displacement,
affordable bikes and a passionate artisanal work force. Australian-owned
companies like Deus Ex Machina put the Indonesian custom scene properly
on the map during the mid 2000s, and the country has been pumping out
incredible bikes ever since.
One of the frequent
criticisms of some of these café racer builds is the lack of
practicality. We couldn’t find an instrument cluster in any of the
photos, and while I spy a brake cable heading to the front wheel it
looks like the stopping power is provided by a small drum brake.
Some
bikes are meant to be ridden, and some bikes are meant to drooled over.
In this case you’d better bring a cloth, lest you stain the chrome.
