This article was written by Bujar Muharremi, the co-founder of AutoFabrica. When possible we like to bring you the story of a custom build in the words of the people who built it, to offer clear insight into their thought process and methods.
The Type 7G started life as a 1978 SR500 Yamaha, the big single has been featured as our Type 7 series builds for a number of times now, it’s our most popular bike that clients always keep coming back to, the simplicity of the build really captures the imagination and allows our clients to implement their colours so well.
Joel approached us to commission a Type 7 but it wasn’t your normal type of request, he wanted his bike to be finished for the Scram Africa Rally, a gruelling 2,000 km run in 45 degree celsius Moroccan heat across the Sahara Desert, we couldn’t wait to take this on.
First of all the donor bike was completely stripped down, the frame was shot-blasted and put back to bare metal, this enabled us to add bracing over the lower seat tubes, we then added a custom loop, frame was then de-tabbed and cleaned up.
The engine has been fully rebuilt, aqua-blasted aluminium cases and painted in a matte silver, we wanted the colour to match as close as the blasted finish on the side covers. A Mikuni round slide carburetor with an open airfilter was used for carburation.
The exhaust is sand bent stainless running up over the engine, the white guard is ceramic coated which works well when it comes to not burning your leg, it’s also big enough to not touch the actual exhaust, this routing is quiet controversial but it’s a popular option when it comes to our clients choosing them.
Mudguards are handmade in aluminium and integrated with the frame., the wheels are laced with custom stainless spokes as well as custom steel rims.
The braking system has been overhauled with a Brembo master cylinder as well as a Brembo caliper mated to a 320mm EBC rotor, custom brackets are used all round to ensure fitment.
Joel really wanted the bike to have two personalities, one off road Sahara-spec and the other city riding. Because of the rally, we needed to add a luggage rack, this had to be strong, but most importantly have hidden mounting points, the frame actually helped protect the bike on 2 falls Joel encountered.
Another addition was the sump guard, again hand made out of aluminium with extra frame reinforcements.
A Motogadget speedometer was fitted along with a full new custom wiring loom took care of the electronics on the bike, LED indicators which have 3D printed housings front and rear, an LED tailight was also integrated into the rear frame loop.
All switchgear and aluminium surfaces have been blasted and brushed back to their former glory in order to achieve a very simple colour palette on the bike. The Ferrari 250 SWB was the inspiration for the colour scheme, with an offset white square overlapping the side surfaces of the tank.
If you would like to see more from Auto Fabrica you can click here to visit their website.
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Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
