Built like a Bullet: Honda TMX Cafe Racer by Revolt Cycles

By: Arnel B. Santos-Ynigo, (Photos) Ralph Planteras

For this week we are featuring a Cafe Racer built by Revolt Cycles of Cebu. A few issues ago we featured "Revolt Cycles" on a introduction article, but that was just the tip of the ice berg. This time around we are going to explore the fascinating details of one of the latest project bikes of the Yu brothers (Jon Kevin Yu and Louie Yu) of Revolts Cycles the Honda TMX Red Cafe Racer.

The bike is basically a rebuilt Honda TMX 155. During its initial state it was pretty much a beat-up
Motorcycle Taxi or Habal-Habal. But the Team at Revolt Cycles rebuilt the worn down engine giving it a new lease on life. The original sub frame was bent and all rusted up inside and out with unnecessary joint  and support welds. So the team decided to take the whole subframe off and made a new one that is more cleaner and simpler.

The team had to make a lot of considerations design wise such as the the seat height,  swingarm length, clearance between the seat and the tires and also the rebound of the rear suspension  (unload and load rebound) together with the mono shock fitment. The team also tucked-in the battery inside the custom made seat bump padded with a custom matte black leatherette  with red crossed stitch pattern for that old school classic look.  The team also opted to change the original gas tank with something more bigger and a bit more edgy to match the  bikes sleek angle and geometry. They used a Gas tank from a Kawasaki HD3 with some custom knee dents. They also Custom fitted the tank to the frame to get that perfect placement and look. The swingarm used is from a Suzuki Raider 150 extended about 1.5 inches so as the tires can fit in  perfectly and have clearance for adjustment. It took 3-4 months to finish the project as the team did a lot of custom fabrications on the bike such as the sub-frame, swing arm, gas tank, and rear sets.

"The main special feature of this build will have to be our custom LED brake lights mounted inside the rear  loop so as to have a cleaner yet unique look to the bike. The engine was completely reworked with new internal  parts for that optimum and perfect performance.  Had a custom fabricated angled bullet pipe from BJS workshop to add that mean thumper sound from a small  yet powerful single. Customized rearset mounts to add that Cafe Racer stance.  We can say that the TMX155 is the best base bike for a good caferacer or tracker/scrambler build as it has the perfect old school platform and that powerful pushrod single cylinder engine." Jon Kevin added during an interview.

"Most of the parts we used are items that we carry such as the aluminum signal lights,  beston grips, bar end side mirrors and most especially the Fuckstone tires  (replica design of the old school tread pattern Firestone Deluxe tires) fitted on some  wide 17 inch aluminum rims. We also fitted a single post type head lamps from Oldies Goodies.  The most challenging aspect of this build would be the sub-frame, we chopped off the original  sub-frame then custom made a new one fitted with a mono shock assembly. We made sure the mono shock is  centered and aligned with the frame and swing arm." Louie Yu reiterated during an interview.

CATCH THE FULL DETAILS ON THE PAGES OF INSIDE RACING MAGAZINE.

JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO VIEW IN HIGH RESOLUTION.

Post Apocalypse Scrambler by Revolt Cycles

By: Arnel B. Santos-Ynigo, Ralph Planteras

For this week we are featuring something special, a bike you could have sworn just blasted its way out from the Mad Max Fury Road and right in front of our lenses. The bike is the creation of  brothers Jon Kevin Yu and Louie Yu of Revolt Cycles Cebu. We saw the bike several weeks before the photo shoot through social media but it was a whole new beast when you see it personally. It is enigmatic and imposing you can’t help but hear the words of Immortan Joe "You shall Ride Eternal Shiny and Chrome!!!" when you grab its handle bars, you feel like a War Boy ready to take on the Fury Road.

Just like the chase bikes from "The Citadel" the Team at Revolt Cycles created a Scrambler

that can take on whatever the post-apocalyptic world can throw at it. They made sure it was

agile and lightweight but built to last for long rides on and off road.  "The concept for this bike is a Scrambler, what generally characterizes a Scrambler is the adaptation of a road bike into an all-terrain ride.  As these bikes historically would go from crossing a stream to climbing a muddy hill while trying to get from point A to B as quickly as possible, it was important that they be lightweight, powerful, and reliable. Some key characteristics of a Scrambler is a shorter, padded seat. Torque over top end power, Visual simplicity, Lightweight components, Smaller tanks, Mini gauges, a tucked in headlight, Chunky off-road tires with spoked wheels." Jon Kevin added during an interview.

The build process was really interesting and the team really did some fascinating steps to give the bike that aged and rustic look and the lengths they had to go through to rebuild the rotting Honda TMX 155 and transform it to one mean highly capable machine.  "It took around 2-3 months to finish the bike. We bought the bike second hand, the bike was just left to rot in a small shed with ducks and a dilapidated roof. The bike was full of mud, duck droppings and rust.”  Louie Yu added during an interview. The team completely dismantled the bike, they had the engine completely overhauled. They also replaced all the rusted out parts, bought new rims, new tires, new speedometer, new cables, basically everything was new except for the engine, frame and gas tank. The team wanted it to look rusty and beat up, so they scraped the tank bare metal, then sprayed on a homemade secret concoction to hasten the rust, they then proceeded to remove the excess rust, sprinkled it with water and left it under the sun for a day or two, after that they applied clear coat to stop it from rusting further.

CATCH THE FULL DETAILS ON THE PAGES OF INSIDE RACING MAGAZINE.

JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO VIEW IN HIGH RESOLUTION.

Winnie the Pooh Themed Yamaha MIO MX from Carcar City

By: Arnel B. Santos-Ynigo

For this week we are featuring a Show Scooter Built in Carcar City. A City known for its
Spanish Heritage Structures, Ampao, Bucarillo, Banana Chips and its famous special Chicharon.
The bike is a Yamaha Mio MX owned by Kenny C. Pelimer a resident of Carcar City and
a member of US1 Scooter Club of Cebu.

Going into the bike it is a essentially a Thai inspired scoot with Filipino flair. Kenny wanted his
setup to be light weight and nimble.  For the suspension it uses Trusty Front shocks, and TTGR Rear shocks. For the braking system it uses Racing Boy Brake levers, and to compensate for the additional horsepower Kenny installed Racing Boy Big Disk 300mm. To keep the weight down the scoot uses Yoko rims paired with Chikada lightened hubs, they also installed Somjin flat seat racing saddle.

For the lighting Kenny tapped the expertise of Allan Fernandez who installed the custom projector headlights and the led body lighting.  Kenny wanted to make the bike standout during bike shows so he tapped the services of airbrush artist extraordinaire Cocoi Fanco Jagape who gave it the Winnie the Pooh  themed paint job. The overall theme was basically the suggestion of Kenny's wife Lean Cecille who loves Winnie the Pooh.  But don't let the whimsical exterior fool you the bike is an aggressive machine underneath as the team made sure it will not be a slouch on the road. For the engine setup they utilized a 59mm Option1 Block set, Jiso C3 racing cams, Mtrt torque drive, Rrgs Clutch Bell, Rrgs 13.5 pulley set, LHK lining, 14/41 Mtrt Gear set and to finish things off  the team installed Mtrt Fan, Mtrt Ignition Coil and ORBR Racing Pipe.

The bike is an ongoing work in progress and it was an accumulated effort over the years until it reached its  current state. So despite Kenny's busy work schedule he was able to finish his show scoot and his hard work has been paying off as the bike has been racking up wins from the shows it has participated in. 

CATCH THE FULL DETAILS ON THE PAGES OF INSIDE RACING MAGAZINE.

JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO VIEW IN HIGH RESOLUTION.