The custom motorcycle scene in Malaysia has grown by
leaps and bounds, fuelled in part by the annual Art of Speed show, now in its
sixth edition.
As part of this year’s event, a very special
dragster-style machine will be making its public debut at Art of Speed, the RXZ
Twinboss. Many paultan.org readers will no doubt be familiar with the RXZ name,
it being Yamaha’s 135 cc, two-stroke sports bike much favoured with street
racers in the late 80s and early 90s.
Taking two single-cylinder engines, the RXZ Twinboss
is built entirely with local materials and talent and is the brainchild of Art
of Speed organiser Asep Ahmad Iskandar. Inspired by the “Digger” style of
custom motorcycles, the Twinboss is low-slung and long, following the lines of
dragster motorcycles.
Building the RXZ Twinboss was a challenge, because the idea for the machine only came to fruition in April this
year, and many builders were reluctant to take the job due to the short time
frame before the Art of Speed takes place on July 29. The challenge was
accepted by Universite Teknologi Malaysia graduate Irwin Cheng from Ipoh,
Perak, who runs custom engineering shop FNG Works part-time.
Placing the two Yamaha engines in tandem position,
Cheng uses a chain to mate the crankshafts together, with drive going to the
gearbox and then to the rear wheel, also using chains. Asep pointed out the
gearbox is currently not required to transmit power for the Twinboss, but was
left in place due to time constraints.
Everything superfluous to requirements on the
Twinboss was removed, but sections of the frame and the front forks from the donor
Yamaha RXZ were retained. This gives the machine a stripped down look, with the
focal points being the extended frame and the massive water-cut steel plates
cradling the engines.
The Twinboss uses kickstarting to come to life, with
the kickstart lever on the second engine retained only for cosmetic purposes.
Asep said that while the Twinboss is not extremely powerful as far as custom
motorcycles go, it does put out significantly more powe than the original 20 or
so ponies coming from the original Yamaha RXZ.
In keeping with the dragster ethos, the Twinboss
omits the front brake, with all stopping power concentrated in the rear brake
disc. With just over two weeks to the show, completion status of the Twinboss
is now at 70%, according to Asep, with bodywork being performed at custom shop
Beautiful Machines in Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya.
Cost for building this twin-engine dragster,
according to Asep, consumed not far short of RM 40,000. The RXZ Twinboss will be
fired up in public during the Art of Speed show, and visitors will get the
chance to hear the twin two-stroke engines crackle to life.
