Ultra Customs
The only thing comfortably familiar is Rafik’s choice of donor bike, a Buell XB 1200 series that would probably still be the donor bike of choice in a parallel universe. Good power, reliability, and a tidy unit-construction engine/trans makes it a perfect affordable choice for building a light (400 lbs), fast, and good handling compact ride. “I buy wrecked bikes and keep the engine and sell the rest of the bike. It pays for the engine for almost nothing,” said Rafik. So far it seems a familiar approach to custom bike building, but the rest of the design is where Rafik takes a sharp turn to a different dimension.
The unorthodox frame design consists of 1” thick 6061 aluminum plate with the engine as a stressed member and makes for a light, strong platform that you can’t stop looking at even if it’s not your cup ‘o tea. “I always sketch bikes and this idea just came to me so I started drawing it up. I drew a life-size bike on my wall in the garage. I put the motor where I wanted it, the height, and draw the bike around the motor,” said Rafik. ”My son’s an engineer and he drew it in AutoCAD on the computer and we cut it out on CNC. It just came out so beautiful.” The almost-but-not-quite-over-the-top circular theme is carried throughout the bike and finding a straight line other than the gravity-controlled liquid levels displayed behind half-inch-thick Lexan polycarbonate in the separate fuel and oil vessels in the backbone is a challenge. The portholes also populate the semi-circle swingarm and girder-style fork and the look of Captain Nemo’s retro-futuristic submarine in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea immediately comes to mind. The view from the rider’s “seat” (see sidebar) is other worldly with the tanks acting as spars to the frame side plates and featuring a delicately ornate set of machined caps. A nice aside of all this design is a frame that’s super strong with Rafik-designed suspension that really works. The swingarm is controlled by an air bag snuggled between the top of the swingarm and the main frame while the front end is something you won’t find in any catalog. The huge fork blades work on a mono-shock taken from the rear of a late model Indian. “I was looking for a 9” shock that would stand some weight and that’s the closest I found,” said Rafik. “I’m thinking about changing it and going with an air ride for the front.”
After buckling in the engine, Rafik wanted to show off his wheels and came up with his own trans brake built from Brembo parts that doesn’t try to hide like most commercial units, but becomes a styling entity of its own. The large-for-trans-brake disc spins like the exposed flywheel on a Moto Guzzi Falcone and works extremely well according to Rafik, but presented a problem on how to transfer power to the rear wheel as it was outside the wheel’s chain line. Rafik made a transfer case of his own directly through the swingarm where a second set of sprockets and chain spins the rear wheel. Mechanically interesting, tidy, and wicked cool comes to mind looking at it.
Just in case you were wondering, this is a rider as well as a showbike. No, it’s not a cross-country rider, but says Rafik, “it rides beautiful, like a bicycle. It sounds beautiful, like a hot rod (It does! Search “RK Racer” on YouTube). It looks like a weapon ― a medieval weapon is how I describe it. The only problem is that it’s so tall I can barely reach the ground. It needs somebody tall.” Tall guys with money and a hankering for something suitable for crossing dimensions take note, your bike is ready.
Up Close: RK Concepts Design Details
There are a few details too big to cover in the main story, but too important to not discuss. Take that “very uncomfortable seat” for instance. “A lot of people go, ‘Where’s the seat?’ I mean, c’mon man, use your imagination a little bit. You want a normal seat on this bike? You want a leather seat on an all-aluminum bike?” said Rafik laughing. “This bike is not made to ride from Austin to Dallas but you can barhop easily, no problem. It’s set up where your ass hangs between the two bars which is okay. It’s not comfortable, but I’ve ridden it many miles and it’s okay.”
Another delicate detail is the discrete placing of the headlight within the RK-machined air cleaner. I’m sure California must have some emission laws against that, but it’s a clean solution that breaks standard design boundaries and looks extremely bright in videos. Its kissing-cousin taillight is that nicely machined Rafik-designed canister that sits at the top of the swingarm’s crescent.
Saving the best for last is Rafik’s solution to incorporating a Buell-style exhaust of his own design that goes where Eric Buell never dared to. “Believe it or not, I bent that thing on my chest. I got aluminum plate, rolled it around a fire extinguisher into a perfect circle, packed it, and kept pushing it on my chest to make it oval,” said Rafik. “If you want to hear it, I have videos on my website [www.rkconcepts.com].” The four round outlets coming out of the side of the canister compliment the four frame ports and give this Buell motor a sound more like a cammy V-8 idling. Nice stuff Rafik, very nice stuff.
Builder: Rafik Yaissi RK Concepts
Just like his bikes are not run-of-the-mill-clone customs, neither is the man himself. “I really don’t want to be known as a bike builder, there’s already a lot of bike builders. That’s why I call my bikes concepts, I don’t call them bikes,” said Rafik Kaissi, owner of RK Concepts in Austin, Texas. Not a shock to me that he thinks that way after I first saw his mid-boggling Chain Bike at last year’s World Championship in Sturgis, that bike was over the top which usually only holds mild interest for me, but it was so far over the top it was way cool.
RK Concepts came out of nowhere and I asked Rafik about his background. “I’ve been doing this for three years, I actually cut hair for a living. I came from an artistic family ― my dad was an artist and so were my sister and brother. When I started cutting hair, they were all in shock,” said Rafik. “Coming from a motorcycle background, I realized about four years ago that I got tired of seeing the same bikes with different paintjobs. I wanted to see if I could change that a little bit.” That he surely has, with a run of really one-off concepts that makes you sit and pay attention when you see them, especially in the flesh. My initial reaction to seeing his Chain Bike was, “What the hell is that?” Followed by looking at it as more art than transportation and liking what I saw more and more with that perspective.
Rafik continued, “Should I keep doing this ‘cause right now I’m at a stage where I’ve spent a lot of money on those bikes.” Hey Rafik, I’m for you staying in this crazy thing. Check out www.rkconcepts.com for his other mind-blowing builds and you’ll see why it would be a freakin’ shame if he didn’t continue breaking every mold that exists. Rafik, as far as your family goes, you are an artist too.