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What bike did you dream of proudly owning while you had been younger? For Mike Chen, it was the mighty Yamaha TW200—and who might blame him? Cherished by a number of generations of followers, the TW200 is the good farm bike on the planet.
Mike’s dream stayed out of attain for some time although. He got here shut when he was eighteen—kind of. Unable to afford an imported TW200 (Mike lives in Taiwan), he purchased a locally-made Kymco KTR, and modified it to look as much like the Tee-Dub as doable.
Right now, Mike runs the customized store Mike’s Storage, primarily based in Taipei, the place he focuses on sub-400 cc customs. He’s lastly received his arms on a Yamaha TW200, which he’s custom-made to nice impact as his private road tracker.
Mike discovered the 1987-model donor bike in a scrapyard, in precisely the kind of situation you’d count on. “Not solely was the body twisted and damaged, however the piston was caught, the wheels had been rusted and the wiring harness was incomplete,” says Mike’s good buddy, Barry Lim.
“Mike nonetheless insisted on bringing it dwelling, irrespective of how excessive the fee was, as a result of it was form of significant to him to personal a motorbike with the identical 12 months of manufacture as his beginning 12 months.”
The bike was so mangled, that Mike virtually couldn’t get began on it. Between the TW’s inherent asymmetrical body design, and a few welding ‘fixes’ executed by the earlier proprietor, he couldn’t even discover the middle line of the body to straighten it. So he scrapped it, and imported a used body from Japan to interchange it.
From there, the body mods had been minor; Mike merely rebuilt the subframe to refine the bike’s silhouette, and to accommodate a shorter seat. The entrance forks had been refurbished and stiffened, whereas the rear shock was swapped out for a shortened Benelli Leoncino 250 unit. The mods have shaved just a few inches off the seat peak too.
Mike’s Storage really makes a speciality of wheel constructing, so naturally the TW200 rolls on contemporary hoops. Mike stored the inventory 18F/14R sizes, becoming a Kenda motocross tire up entrance and a Duro ATV tire out again.
The engine was totally rebuilt inside and outside, and now appears to be like clear sufficient to eat off. Mike put in a Yoshimura MJN26 carb, and a brand new exhaust header and muffler. All of the wiring gremlins had been taken care of too.
The TW’s new gas tank appears to be like prefer it was scalped from a classic motocross bike, however it’s really a customized half. Mike constructed it, and the rear fender, out of fiberglass. And if you happen to’re questioning the place the fender’s distinctive form got here from, it was impressed by the aftermarket components that Mike noticed in Japanese magazines when he was younger.
A customized saddle from Hoffman Bygone sits up prime, with customized aspect covers ending off the bodywork.
A set of flat track-style handlebars sit up prime, adorned with translucent cherry pink grips and a single classic change block. The speedo is a normal aftermarket half, however it’s been mounted low down on the left aspect of the bike, to go away the cockpit as sparse as doable. A customized drilled bracket holds the headlight—and performs host to a single warning gentle.
The ignition and begin button are each built-in into the Yamaha’s lefthand aspect cowl. Off-the-shelf flip indicators do obligation at each ends, with a primary spherical taillight built-in neatly into the rear fender, simply above the place the license plate normally sits.
We’d by no means consider placing scorching rod flames on a TW200—however Mike has, and it appears to be like spectacular. A few smaller pink particulars, like the material spark plug lead, present simply how a lot thought has gone into this charmingly quirky customized.
“The TW was my dream bike since I used to be younger,” Mike tells us. “At 18, the primary time I noticed it, I mentioned ‘I’ll personal you someday and switch you into the type I like.’”
Mike’s Storage Instagram | With particular because of Barry Lim
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