Seattle based custom shop Twinline Motorcycles is not your average motorcycle workshop. It’s the place where imagination runs wild and becomes artistic reality. Classic engineering inspires the boys at Twinline motorcycles, they love getting their hands dirty with 2 stroke motorbikes.
Awhile back we watched a video of an American motorbike builder Adam Cramer talking about today’s youth not having any desire to build motorbikes. We understand his frustration and him believing that vintage custom motorbikes are going to be a lost art. The good news for him is there are people like Twinline Motorcycles who are young and driven with the same desire and passion for custom motorbikes as Adam Cramer.
The year was 1973 when the Yamaha RD350 came in to existence shocking the motorcycle world with lightweight, rapid and it’s unique style. In the right hands, it could comfortably see off a 750. In the wrong hands RD 350 was the ticket straight to hell.
The customer went to Twinline with the bike in a bunch of boxes and asked them to put the pieces of the Yamaha RD350 together and turn his puzzle in to a café racer. “He found all sorts of cool bits for it, like a very striking gold head (hence the name), new pipes, an electronic ignition, rear sets, and a fancy schmancy swingarm, in fact about 99% of the parts needed to put this thing back together” Ian Halcott, Twinline owner.
The project name ‘Goldhead’ was built in honor of the rare DG cylinder heads, which were released in some early YAMAHA RD350 models.
The original Yamaha RD350 was already light but Twinline Motorcycles decided to shave off as much weight as possible and give it full attention to detail. Starting off from the cross drilling brake rotors, stainless steel brake line and Bridgestone Battlax BT45 tires. “I hid the wiring under the seat pan because of the Chinoy electronic ignition which is huge” says Ian. An Airtech TZ fender to match the Goldhead’ theme.
“It’s the kind of bike that doesn’t put the wheel down until you hit fifth gear,” Ian said.
What we loved about this bike is that incredible paint job and the rare DG cylinder heads. Another great bike from Twinline Motorcycles!
