The reconfigured bodywork on this LBF Gixxer is stunning, but it's arguably not the most impressive feature of this bike-that honor almost unquestionably rests with the insane, transparent Lexan wheels envisioned by Kawczak and brought to completion by Gregg Hoeve and his crew at Ego Tripp wheels. The motorcycle world has simply never seen wheels like this before. Beginning with one-inch-thick squares of Lexan "glass," these were cut into circles and then sandwiched between two halves of a split rim engineered by Ego Tripp. The two halves bolt together through the Lexan center, as do the Ego Tripp-made hubs, resulting in an amazing, "invisible" wheel. Accentuating the visual effect of these crazy wheels are the equally innovative perimeter brakes and rear sprocket that mount directly to the rim itself to leave the hub centers visually uncluttered-though these pieces were first selected not for the look but to prevent the Lexan wheels from being damaged by the massive torque generated through acceleration and braking. The perimeter rotors are from famed Belgian chopper builder Freddie Krugger of Krugger Motorcycles, machined by Ego Tripp especially to fit their rims; the giant, 96-tooth sprocket, meanwhile, was sourced from industrial sprocket specialists Martin Gear. As you might have guessed, the final drive gearing is "slightly" taller than stock, despite Kawczak's fitment of a huge, 20-tooth front sprocket. Kawczak freely admits the bike is not geared for speed. "I usually only need to pull away in second gear," he says by way of explanation.
The wild, 240-width rear wheel is held in place by a radically modified (as if you couldn't have predicted that) ten-inch-over swingarm originally manufactured by Trac Dynamics. The boxed center section of the swingarm now contains two internal tanks-one that holds two gallons of high-octane to run the bike (and allow the transparent tank top that offers such a good view of the motor), and the other to hold compressed air for the air ride suspension. Speaking of air ride, the rear of this bike is supported by a DaPincci dual-chambered air ride suspension, and the standard Suzuki GSX-R forks have also been converted to air-ride status, allowing the bike's ride height front and rear to be altered by six inches via toggle controls mounted beside the fuel tank. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first front-air-ride-equipped sportbike in the world, and, for the time being at least, Kawczak prefers to keep the details of these internal mechanics to himself. Want your own? You'll just have to contact him at his shop (www.lbfcycles.com).
Keeping with the surgically clean theme of this bike, check out the controls (or, rather, lack thereof). Look at the handlebars and you'll notice there are no levers in sight-look again at the footrests and you'll see the same thing-how, then, do you make this bike stop and go? Using a technique boosted straight from the chopper world, the throttle and clutch cables are internally routed through the handlebars using parts made by legendary chopper builder Russell Mitchell at Exile Cycles. That's right-to shift this bike, instead of pulling in a lever you twist the left grip to engage the clutch. The actual shifting is achieved by pushing a button to operate the electronic shifter from drag race specialist Pingel, which means there's no shift lever or ugly linkage fouling the left peg of the bike either. As far as braking is concerned, see those tiny thumb levers located under either grip? Those are thumb brakes from GP Tech, the right lever controlling the front brake, the left operating the rear. Brilliant and superclean.
The finishing touch on any custom bike is the paint, and, wisely, Kawczak chose a subtle, understated paint scheme for this bike so as not to distract from the brilliant engineering and design work. Put down by Darkside Graphix, the metallic champagne base color with graphite highlights looks so perfect that it's almost like the bike grew skin and contrasts perfectly with the inky black powdercoat (by Powdertech) that covers the hard parts. Simple and elegant, the paint is absolutely in keeping with the style and spirit of this forward-looking custom sportbike.
What's that old saying about youth and beauty being no match for old age and treachery? Apparently it's not true in the brave new world of custom sportbike construction, where one of the most imaginative, innovative and beautiful sportbikes we've seen has come from Dean Kawczak at LBF Cycles, one of the youngest builders in the business.
The future, in other words, is now.