Racers
The Hide Motorcycle Company’s café racer called Glory is another example of this Japanese train of thought that you can catch a glimpse of barreling through the streets of Hidemo’s base of operations in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture on YouTube. The video is no idling drive-by either, but a throttle-to-the-stop, gear after gear run by Hidemo’s owner, Hideya Togashi, who looks to be really just enjoying himself and happened to be caught on video. By the way, it really sounds great too. Surprisingly, the riding position looks quite comfortable with a mild reach to the clip-ons that I never expected looking at the photographs.
Hideya began his café racer with a 2005 Buell XB9S Lightning, an unfortunate brand that was seemingly born to be a donor for all things V-twin. Only the 984cc engine, forks, brakes, and instruments made the transition to the new bike so Hideya had his work cut out for him. Fabricating a frame from steel tubing is not for the faint of heart, especially when you have to build your own swingarm and mono-shock suspension too. The end result is a frame that wraps tightly around the drivetrain and sits very low on its suspension that appears to have extremely limited travel. You better be a flyweight to ride this one if you expect to have any travel left. The aluminum swingarm does have nice eccentric chain adjusters for the now beltless Buell drivetrain and looks much less bulky than a belt and pulleys would while enabling easier gearing changes.
The Thunderstorm 92hp engine remains relatively stock, other than the Hidemo 2-into-1 high pipe with its bellowing megaphone. With that kind of output there’s little need to have to amp it up without affecting reliability. Instead of the usual swap to a carb, even the EFI stays intact breathing through its own custom air cleaner under the tank.
Rolling stock is courtesy of Hideya’s own solid wheel design that breaks every café racer tradition there is, but gives the bike its own butch look. The Buell front brake is mounted on the opposite side of stock and switching the fork tubes around to do this puts the caliper up high and forward in a position that would make the master of mass centralization cringe. Looks kinda cool in a ‘70s UJM way. Michelin rubber not only provides good handling, but the clouds of smoke you see in Hideya’s YouTube video.
Possibly the most surprising aspect of this build is that everything that’s part of the bodywork is made out of aluminum. Hideya is not afraid to take a piece of flat stock and turn it into a piece like the compound curve fairing which wouldn’t have shocked me if I found out it was fiberglass pulled from a mold. The winglets on it are complimented by the seat with similar appendages and this styling element ties the design together. The aluminum tank sits extremely low and somehow cradles the air box underneath. The long, extremely low look in combo with the solid disc wheels results in a cross between a modern café racer and a Bonneville streamliner. Definitely different and gives this bike its own style in a sea of specials.
Like all Japanese customs, the devil’s in the details from the one-off rearsets to the Magura hand controls that both feature what might be the smallest master cylinder reservoirs ever. Man, it’s a short length of plugged clear tubing. Keep a good eye on pad wear Hideya and top that off with an eye dropper as necessary. Hideya’s clip-ons are a different take on tradition too and are actually part of the top triple tree. Actually, this bike is about breaking tradition as much as encompassing it. Building a beautiful one-off bike that still can hit the streets with a vengeance is a Japanese tradition I hope never gets broken. BM
Up Close: Hidemo Original
Besides not getting the memo about one-off bikes only having to look good and not perform in real world riding, Japanese builders never got the other memo that there’s a huge aftermarket of parts available to make a build go a little easier. Hey, you don’t believe me? Check out the spec sheet for Hide Motorcycle Company’s Glory bike. There’s not much listed other than “Hidemo” when it comes to parts. Apparently Japanese builders think why buy when you can grab a chunk of metal and fabricate a piece instead. Maybe they just don’t like paying for shipping . . .
That’s actually not a bad thing, though, as it leads to handmade pieces and parts strewn throughout the build that takes it from a well-assembled bike to one with almost as many facets as a diamond. It also gives an art quality to a bike that keeps you looking at every little doodad you might overlook on a conventional build just in case you might miss that ignition holder or whatever.
From the bodywork to the seat upholstery to the controls, to mention a few items, there’s a lot of thought, time, and skill involved in the average Japanese builder’s work. Nipponese builders have won more than their fair share of international awards at shows including the biggest of the big, the AMD World Championship. Their aesthetic has influenced American builders who have taken the bit and now it’s part of their aesthetic too. Actually, it’s just a good return to the roots of it all when lack of aftermarket parts and a definite lack of finances forced early bike builders to make what they needed. The end result leaves no room for compromises or blame other than the builder himself and that’s a good thing.
Builder: Hide Motorcycle Company
Things are never all that easy when you need to communicate with many overseas builders. Surprisingly many speak and write English better than a lot of our fellow countrymen, but often the back and forth of normal communication takes a hit. Could it be me? Nah, I speak pretty good English. Although, that’s up for debate with the locals as a Massachusetts’ accent is offsetting to most people here in far West Texas. Luckily, Google translation helps a bit in deciphering websites, but sometimes words are such a waste of time when there’s a bunch of pictures that explain where a builder’s at without having to exchange anything verbally.
Hideya Togashi is a man of few words, but he is the man behind and also the spiritual design leader of his custom motorcycle company, Hide Motorcycle, located in the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. According to their website, “Our founder Hide has over 15 years experience in the motorcycle industry.
“He liked vintage American racers from old magazines and photo books. He thought old racer designs are rare, warm, natural and interesting.
“Therefore he wanted to build an original machine (something from the good oldies racing culture) by him self.”
After a quick perusal of photos of past work in his gallery, he’s not only influenced by vintage American racers, but there’s a plethora of work involving one of the least understood, but most passionate of motorcycle segments, café racers. Hideya seems to have his finger on the pulse of what made these early British owner-built sportbikes still attractive after all these decades. His use of an American V-twin for powering these odes to Britannia does not look out of place and makes you think they were commonplace with their period-correct look.
Check them out at www.hidemo.net.
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