Words: Nikos Theodoropoulos

Photos: Bill Georgoussis

 

The Real Intellectuals is my motorcycle clothing store in Athens, Greece. It has been open for four years now. The store is in the centre of the city and not only can you buy motorcycle gear and apparel, but it’s also a place where people get together to have a chat and a beer.

 

Those four years have been full of creativity, art, rides, events and good vibes. Four years is also how long we‘ve been organizing The Rotten Race and we wanted to commemorate it with a bike build.

 

I bought the 1990 Yamaha SR500 from a really good friend, who’s also the photographer of the project, Bill Georgoussis. The bike was in the TRI store for almost a year without moving and I was thinking everyday what I could do with it. I wanted the motorbike to resemble a tracker from the 1970s, with classical lines but also some more modern parts in order to be able to ride it out in the streets, and had slowly began collecting all the parts I needed, then asked my good friends at Urban Mechanics to build it.

 

Urban Mechanics are Michael Kork, the designer, and mechanic Thanos Sinos. First they placed all the parts together so we had an idea of what it would eventually look like, and once we decided on the design, the cutting and painting started.

 

The hardest part was to make the tank fit. We chose a chopper but that its tunnel was too narrow for the wide SR frame. Dinos from DCB Lowbrow in Athens helped to cut and weld the tank in order to fit perfectly on the SR.

 

I love the colour we chose for the tank and also some details that Urban Mechanics put into the bike, like the air filter and the coloured hoses. The main parts are the 1.6 gallon Egg tank;  Biltwell single seat and Harlot P-pad; LSL bars with Lowbrow grips; K-shock rear suspension; Mikuni carb; Dunlop K180 tyres, but mostly I like the front drum that gives the vintage style to the bike.

 

www.therealintellectuals.com

urbanmechanics.co