If you grew up on MacGyver, then you watched in awe as he fashioned all kinds of crazy devices and disposed of bombs, simply with the junk that surrounded him. And when we first met the brilliant boys from Batakastem Workshop, that was their vibe; given an old engine, some steel and a few bits and pieces, and they could not just make a motorcycle out of it all, but one seriously cool custom. Since that time, the Jakarta, Indonesia-based outfit has grown exponentially, and although they now work with bigger budgets and more fancied machines, they still show they have the ability to hand craft anything the heart desires. So, when a customer wanted to turn his Yamaha XS650 into a flowing Florida-styled chopper, it was simply all in a day’s work for the talented team at Batakastem.
Of the many things to admire about our friends from Indonesia, it’s not just their ability to run wicked welds barefoot with a $99 machine, but the fact they can build any motorcycle, old or new, big or small, into any style of custom you can possibly imagine. Come up with a crazy combination in your head; chances are they’ve taken that model and turned it into the kind of bike you dreamed of. Head honcho Abraham Simatupang leads his troops with his brilliant design ideas, and he’s also a student of the custom scene. This is clear as can be on this Japanese-based chopper, which takes styling cues from the East, West, and Florida scenes.
But before those influences could be brought to life, the build needed a foundation, and as is so often the case, Batakastem built the frame themselves. There are plenty of drawings online to help get the dimensions of a rigid XS650 spot-on, and the guys have used chunky seamless pipe to bring it all to life. You can see a host of clever custom touches, a radius to match the rear tyre, the trick mounts, and everything perfectly set up to deliver the low-slung style. This is no hack-and-hope job, a lot of forethought has gone into ensuring that this frame underpins the entire build, and the use of paint to highlight that is genius.
The bodywork is brilliant too, and the first thing to catch my eye is that flowing rear fender, which has been neatly moulded into the seat pan in that true Florida style. It’s a look seen on the early work of Billy Lane and the builders who inspired him, and it gives the rear of the bike real volume. Holding it all in place is the front seat base mount, and then two rear mounts, one running straight off the frame and the other a set of traditional struts. Now, move to the front half of the bike, and you start to see very distinct elements of the East Coast style, think the machines of Indian Larry.
The little peanut tank is spot-on, but rather than mount it so that the bottom line runs along the backbone, the guys have dropped it low, using a set of their own custom mounts at each end to get the tank hovering just over the engine, with the bottom line now parallel to the engine’s top cover. The bodywork is made from Batakastem’s go-to metal of choice, 1.2mm galvanised steel. All of which makes the incredible paintwork that much more spectacular, because if you don’t get the preparation right, the paint simply won’t adhere to the surface.
But as always, the paint is picture-perfect, and Abraham’s design is a stunning mix of purples that flow through the graphics to a light silver. The darkest of the purples is ghosted on, while the rest uses a neat pinstripe to break up the hues. Even the frame gets the special treatment, with a textured finish used on the darkest colour and brass added to pick up the detail on the in-house machined brass accents used throughout the bike. The seat is brilliantly stitched up to match the style, and purple piping finishes out the job.
There is also no shortage of chrome on this crazy chopper, and nowhere does it shine as brightly as on that sweet springer front end, with the small spool hub swinging a 19-inch aluminium rim with a Shinko front runner tyre. The bars, custom switchgear, and the headlight mounts are all handmade from metals the guys had on hand, and with touches of brass, it’s a highly functional and yet minimalist finish. The rigid rear end runs a 16-inch alloy rim with a Shinko E270 tyre, and it’s back here that you do all your braking, with a modern Brembo caliper slung low on a custom mount and grabbing a lightweight rotor.
The British-inspired parallel twin was completely stripped back by the boys and rebuilt to perfection, with endless elbow grease ensuring it looks better than new. On the outside, the power gets a hop-up with a set of Mikuni carbs sucking through short velocity stacks. And the wild exhaust makes a hell of a sound, with two equal-length stainless steel headers running down the sides of the bike and sporting their own custom heat shielding. The mid-controls are all beautifully hand-built in-house, and even the little details, like the sprocket cover, reveal the stunning craftsmanship. It’s a Japanese bike with plenty of American inspiration, but there is just no doubting the genius ingenuity of the Indonesian outfit, pulling off an incredible build that is almost entirely handmade.
