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Sara Jane was residing the life that each motorcyclist desires of — combining work and bikes. However behind the scenes, her idyllic life was shattering day-to-day till one devastating occasion would lead her down a path of close to destruction. The journey to rebuild her life and revel in her ardour as soon as once more could be a narrative of willpower and discovery. Learn how the method of constructing her {custom} Suzuki Bandit helps to get her life again on observe.
Loving two wheels from an early age results in a profession with bikes
Sara Jane found the fun of being on two wheels at an early age. Like most kids, she began by driving grime bikes and scooters. By the age of 13, she was driving from dawn to sundown on her first motorbike, a Honda passport.
As Sara Jane’s two-wheeled ardour grew, so did her pure artistic expertise for design. She went from a motorbike fanatic to proudly owning a motorbike store in Louisville, Kentucky. Her husband did mechanical repairs whereas Sara lent her experience to plastic repairs, fiberglass, and {custom} paint jobs. Quickly, the bike of her desires made its manner into her possession, a 2001 Honda RC-51. Her life was full and working easily. However appears to be like could be deceiving.
From the skin wanting in, an idyllic dream life become a tragic nightmare
From an outsider’s viewpoint, Sara Jane’s life gave the impression to be on observe. However her life was not all it seemed to be. Factually, it was unraveling day-to-day as she suffered an rising quantity of abuse by her husband. His abuse turned extraordinarily violent when he planted a bomb of their motorbike store, meaning to kill her and acquire the insurance coverage cash. She claims that it may have solely been divine intervention that saved her from his heinous act that day. By the grace of God, she had stepped out of her studio space to go to her sister shortly earlier than the bomb exploded. That horrific day had her leaving every little thing behind and discovering security at a lady’s shelter.
“Dependence on a person had left me weak and, finally, value me every little thing I had.”
She was emotionally shattered. Not solely did her husband destroy her motorbike store, however her husband took her beloved Honda RC-51. He fled the state and requested a pal to retailer her motorbike in order that she couldn’t get it again. Ultimately, he was arrested and whereas in jail, took his personal life.
Discovering her manner again and up
Sara Jane tried every little thing to reclaim her motorbike, as she desperately needed to get again on two wheels once more and construct her life again. Sadly, even the authorities couldn’t be of assist getting her Honda again from her husband’s pal. The most effective she may do was settle for the meager substitute he provided: an outdated 1997 Suzuki Bandit with 60,000 miles on it.
“I didn’t have something to trip, and I knew I might lose my thoughts if I didn’t get within the wind,” she shared. “So I took the commerce and vowed to make this large, heavy dinosaur of a sport tourer into one thing particular.”
She admits that it wasn’t straightforward to place the items of her life again collectively. Over the subsequent seven years, she constructed her enterprise again up and has grow to be the sturdy, unbiased girl she is right this moment. She credit an integral a part of her therapeutic course of to designing and creating her custom-built motorbike.
The idea for her Suzuki Bandit {custom}, a singular union of sport bike and café racer
Sara Jane first laid out her imaginative and prescient of her distinctive {custom} motorbike design on paper. She needed to mix the snug stance of a contemporary sport bike with the fashionable look of an older café racer fashion motorbike. She then bestowed the title Titus upon her Suzuki Café Racer.
“I simply actually at all times cherished the title. It’s sturdy and masculine and makes me consider a man no one would even attempt to problem.”
As soon as the design was set, she fine-tuned her restricted set of basic mechanical expertise to convey her {custom} motorbike creation to life. She started the fixed seek for data by looking for out Suzuki Bandit teams on Fb. She additionally discovered a couple of informative web sites that aided in her quest. The turning level occurred when she obtained her arms on Suzuki’s service guide at an area dealership. It contained an unlimited quantity of data that might get her {custom} constructed motorbike working at optimum efficiency.
A therapeutic journey begins with rebuilding a {custom} motorbike from the body up
Together with her earlier expertise in working with custom-built bikes and creating {custom} motorbike designs, this appeared the pure and smartest thing to do subsequent for Sara. Amongst her many motorbike customization concepts, Titus’ design felt closest to what she wanted.
“Titus is so particular to me as a result of he has been such an essential a part of my therapeutic course of. Simply proving to myself that I may do it alone was very liberating. I wanted to know that I may nonetheless make it on this business as a lady, be revered, and brought critically.”
The very first thing Sara Jane did was to strip it all the way down to the body. Aside from enlisting the assistance from a pal to weld the subframe, she labored on the whole bike from idea to completion.
She started by jetting the carbs to stage 3 and changing the airbox. The day she tuned and synched up the carbs to perfection was her crowning achievement. It’s what makes Titus “run like a beast.”
To create “Titus,” she made use of after-market parts and custom-built components:
- Changed the airbox with Ok&N twin pods
- Reduce down the Two Brothers carbon black exhaust from the unique full dimension
- Added a crankcase breather (which she admits was purely for the look since there isn’t any actual profit for the addition)
- Changed inventory rotors with wave-style rotors, put all metal braided brake traces and rebuilt and painted the inventory calipers
- Changed the handlebars with clip-ons
- Customized made micro switches, changed all controls, new brake levers and reservoirs
- Eliminated all of the gauges, apart from the gasoline gauge
Sara Jane’s favourite half – {custom} paint design
“I like portray bikes. It’s my ardour, and I’ve fought my manner again right into a place to have the ability to do what I like once more. It has taken virtually 7 years, however I can lastly say I’m again in enterprise and loving each minute of it. All alone.”
She spent various time on portray her Suzuki café racer/sport bike. Sara Jane declares that it is usually her favourite a part of the transformation of her {custom} motorbike. The bodywork and paint have been designed collectively so it might circulation and match good.
“I like the trash polka fashion art work, and I feel the structure of it, from a distance, appears to be like tremendous aggressive, however the close-up view reveals lots of element.”
Sara Jane additionally lowered the bike a couple of inches to higher accommodate her 5’ 4” top. After going by way of 4 pairs of bar-end mirrors, she lastly discovered a set that wouldn’t fly off when she cruises on the freeway.
The union between the trendy sport bike and café racer motorbike might appear to be an unconventional couple, however the result’s a unprecedented look and conveys a commanding presence.
“I like the look of it. I favor fashionable sport bikes. The stance is so snug for me, and I like the way in which they deal with. The older cafe fashion bikes have at all times actually appealed to me. I feel Titus is the right marriage between the 2. Perhaps an odd couple, however I feel all of it works out.”
A certainly one of a form, {custom} Suzuki Bandit will get optimistic vibes
“I like when individuals ask who did the work. The look on their faces once I inform them I did all it myself is priceless.”
Titus will not be “everybody’s cup of tea,” however Sara Jane has largely optimistic responses when individuals meet Titus. They don’t even notice the Titus’ underlying make until they learn the tank. Titus now not resembles his former self.
“I’ve a pal who calls him the café racer on steroids.”
Any street is an efficient street to trip, particularly when on a {custom} Suzuki Bandit known as Titus
“I like to trip wherever and all over the place round my hometown, and I like to see individuals’s reactions. It by no means will get outdated.”
Sara Jane has a blast on her {custom} constructed motorbike wherever she rides. She admits that taking off the fairings have made it a bit unsteady at excessive speeds. However the inventory wheelbase and weight lend to her {custom} Suzuki Bandit dealing with properly, with a substantial quantity of energy, particularly within the twisties.
“This bike is enjoyable as hell.”
Sara Jane’s favourite motorbike accent with a twist
Sara Jane’s favourite piece of substances is her Scorpion XO helmet with a singular addition that can have you ever taking a second look. The braided strands have been mementos from her former, dreadlocked hair. She made two pigtails out of them and used a physique panel adhesive to connect them to her helmet.
“My 22-year outdated is a bit embarrassed by it, however most individuals appear to essentially prefer it, individuals positive do know it’s me coming.”
An unimaginable girl of many abilities, Sara Jane creates {custom} motorbike paint designs
As evident in her {custom} Suzuki Bandit, Titus, Sara Jane has a flair for creating superb designs. She is just not solely restricted to {custom} motorbike paint design, however she has additionally been a tattoo artist and has been taking over artwork commissions for the final 13 years. In addition to, she continues to tackle the occasional motorbike and automobile restore together with including stitching and fabric jobs to the listing of her proficient and inventive endeavors.
An modern option to create beautiful, practical artistic endeavors utilizing leather-based
Sara Jane had at all times needed so as to add a leather-based leg bag to her driving ensemble. However, it wasn’t in her finances. It’s no shock that her ingenuity performed an important function in creating this certainly one of a form leg bag.
She defined that she used the leather-based from an outdated sofa that she had discovered curbside and the door plate from a junkyard. This venture took about six months as a result of she was within the studying technique of this new craft.
The ultimate end result? She loves her new bag, and there’s no scarcity of compliments when she sports activities it whereas out and about, particularly when driving her {custom} Suzuki Bandit. She embraces the concept of recycling outdated leather-based to create distinctive objects like pants, vests, gloves, luggage, and power rolls.
“It sparked a love for doing a leather-based craft, so now, I spend a few of my free time making leather-based objects.”
Join with Sara Jane
Instagram: ink_and_air74
Fb: sarajanedunn.once more
Do you’ve a bling’d out bike? Are you fashionably styling whilst you trip? Then take a look at How one can get featured as a Biker Lady Bling’n It.
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