2000 Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird
The poor Finns not only live in a harsh climate, but they're also heavily taxed to rub salt in the cold climate's induced wounds. It's probably not a coincidence then that they're also notorious for being some of the hardest drinkers on Earth. But one builder has found a bottle of another sort to absorb his interest, and it happens to be filled with a highly combustible gas.
Taistelija Osakeyhti's name might be hard to pronounce, but his bike is easy to identify as one particularly mean machine. Instead of sticking with the Scandinavian trend of wild, stripped-down streetfighters, T.O. has instead pursued the path of engine tuning and high-performance custom parts for his builds.
His Helsinki-based company, Fighter Incorporated, makes traditional streetfighters, of course, but the new style that's taking the cold country by (ice) storm is a high-performance street killer like this turbo monster that T.O.'s designated as a "dragmoto."
Though dragracing has a decent following in Finland, the popularity of the new dragmoto style has caught on. Instead of ripping on the strip, a lot of bike owners have opted for horsepower monsters to simply ride mainly on the streets. There are plenty of straight country roads to let them completely loose on, and the only ones bothered are perhaps a few slumbering penguins.
Full MontyThis Blackbird has it all - from boost gauges and custom molding to flashy paint...
The dragmoto features a wide rear tire, a lot of custom-fabricated bodywork and some sort of extra power added to the engine (turbo, nitrous or supercharger). The low-slung front end and open rear are the opposite of the popular European streetfighter style, but they also help give the dragmoto its aggressive looks that are traditionally appealing.
As important as the dramatic appearance is the actual riding stance. The sitting position, handlebar locations and rearsets are all carefully measured to suit the owner, making it as fit for the hand as it is enjoyable to the eye.
The Honda CBR1100XX might initially seem an odd choice to use as the platform for building a dragmoto-mostly because of its sheer obesity-but T.O. went for it because he wanted to show that any bike could be transformed into a high-performance madman's machine.
To achieve this end, he crafted loads of billet and stainless steel into a beautiful and usable form. The initial idea to make the dragmoto concept come to fruition was mainly due to constant requests for modifications and the lack of quality for these mods in the first place. T.O. has the resources to produce precise billet parts such as triple clamps and his own swingarm that holds a 300-section custom wheel-that also happened to come from his CNC.
Custom subframe, swingarm | 
Custom 285mm motor | 
Blackbird's gauge view |
Alongside fabricating his own swingarm, wheels and triple clamps, T.O. is also pretty handy with the welder and pipe bender. The subframe is a custom unit that he hand-built to host an R6 tailsection, and the unique exhaust is also from his hand.
An aggressive appearance is only half of the dragmoto attraction, and beefing the engine up equivalently was the next phase in the build. Fitting a turbo was an obvious choice for T.O., and though he got the actual unit from Pro Boost, he did all of the fitment and tuning himself.
After the turbo was properly set up, T.O. went one step further and added nitrous-not that the mildly boosted 220 horsepower needs any extra punch, but the very essence of the dragmoto is to go all out. And the presence of both a turbo and a nitrous bottle adds an extra outlaw element that simply cranking up the boost can't offer.
The changing winds have blown the upswept streetfighter tailsections away and blasted in the more intense and aggressive dragmoto style. It sounds like the Finns have a new addiction, and it's a lot healthier than their previous pastime.
Right-front view
The Buyer's Box
2000 honda cbr1100XX
Front end: Ducati 748 forks, T.O. "Outlaw" wheel, custom 340mm rotor, braided lines
Rear end: Custom swingarm, T.O. "Outlaw" wheel, custom 285mm rotor, braided line, custom subframe
Motor: ProBoost turbo system and nitrous, custom exhaust
Paint: FAW Design
Polish/chrome: N/A
Bodywork: GSX-R1100 upper fairing and light, modified R6 seat unit
Accessories: Custom triple clamps and clip-ons
Builder: Taistelija Osakeyhti (www.taistelija.fi)
Owner: Teemu Erpolku