H2o Cycles' Blog
Source: SuperStreetBike.com
by: JOHN ZAMORA Pics: LEE WALLACE
For those of us who were members of the latchkey generation,
afternoon cartoons served as our babysitters and held a special
place in our upbringing while our parents were off working (or so
they claimed). As soon as the bell rang to dismiss school, we’d run
home to catch the latest animated episode of super hero antics. While future
Jarheads would watch GI Joe and future gym rats aspired to be
He-Man, nothing spoke more to mechanically inclined misfi ts
than the Transformers. How many mock battles between the
Autobots and Decepticons to save planet
Earth must’ve been waged.
Recently, Hollywood reintroduced the mutating mechanical marvels to a new generation of kids (and Megan Fox to a generation of grown men) on the big screen, and reminded many about our old heroes— good and evil. Louis Grasse of H2O Cycles was also a card carrying member of the latchkey club and infatuated with Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee and Megatron. “I grew up a Transformer and computer geek. Between the old school Erector Set and my Transformers, I was good.” Now all grown up, Grasse wanted to forever cement his after school antics in permanently inked artwork. “It started out as something that
I was sketching up for a tattoo. I thought
it was a cool idea to just combine the two
logos of the Autobots and the Decepticons.
Then I wanted to see what it would look like
as the windscreen on the bike.”
Movie themed bikes are anything but new
and just about every action hero has found
his way onto some form of mobile canvas.
What separated Grasse’s idea from the rest
of the blockbuster bombs is the integration
of the graphics into a machine with a
split personality. “The idea started from the
front. We put the logo on the front the bike
and split it down the middle. I wanted to
showcase a split personality bike. Depending
where you’re looking at it could look like
a diff erent bike.”
H2O Cycles is best known for its plastic chroming, and keeping an all painted body without chrome pieces would be like a Lamborghini with conventional doors. With such an intricate paint job, Grasse had to get creative in order to ensure a big enough canvas for all the graphics. “On the dash panels and the solo seat we actually painted over the chrome. We used a clear that allowed us to paint on the chrome. It was something new for us and still let us showcase our plastic chrome.” Another bit of trickery included some custom body mods to allow a fl atter surface to hold paint. “The sides of a stock ZX-14 are very curved, and we added some Lexan panels on the sides to really make the murals pop. It also allows it to be a bigger canvas. ere is a slight Yamaha R1 feel to the new body.”
The rest of the bike received the usual host of custom
bike touches including a single-sided C&S swingarm,
full line of Roaring Toyz bling bits and even an iPod
Touch integrated into the tank cover.
Rumors of a sequel to the Hollywood blockbuster have been fl oating for months. Grasse hopes they prove to be true—not only to help throw his current ride into the limelight, but also give him an excuse to build another one. “I think I’m geek enough, so I’ll make a sister bike for it!” As the custom bike scene matures, builders continue to seek new muses, and this Transformer build fulfi lled artistic, personal and business voids. Grasse amusingly noted that these bikes can get out of control though, “Every once in a while we completely run out of stuff to build. I mean, what’s next, a Family Guy bike?”
More Articles about Transformers:
2007 Kawasaki ZX-14 - More Than Meets The Eye.
Transforming Childhood Heroes Into Mobile Machinery
