Design

Some ideas to help you decide how you would like your W650 to look.

 Dennis found this one, from K-Factory in Japan. Note the 2-1 exhaust, single seat, different tank badge, and short rear fender. Check out the W650 page at their web-site

They currently don't appear to offer anything for the W650, but invite enquiries.

 
 PapaJames calls this the 'Pegaso'. He writes - 'I have completed the mods and have put about 1,000 miles on this mild one-off custom. The forks are longer than stock and set the bike up straight. Straight line stability is improved also. It needs the fork stops trimmed a bit. The headers are single wall light weight mild steel tubing with ceramic coating inside and out. The reverse cones are removable and packed with fibreglass. Sounds deep and crisp. The DP tires tend to walk a bit over 90mph due to the aggressive tread design. Top speed is 110 in 4th. and 105 in 5th. It delivers 50+mpg @65mph and 3,500rpm. Tank holds 4usg and goes 150 miles on a fillup. Some minor vibration between 3,000 and 3,500 rpm, but is really sweet at 75mph. It weighs in less than a stock bike at 440# wet. 
 From Dennis Guggemos, comes this picture of a W650 fitted with what appears to be a turbo kit, a two-into-one exhaust system, and after-market rear shocks. Anybody got any more info?  
  This attractive single seat with pillion conversion was spotted on a German W650 site.

Does anyone know who makes this seat?
 Another W650 from Beet in Japan (a link to them on our 'Links' page, found by Cecil Quirino.

This time it's a street scrambler.		 
 Dennis Guggemos spotted this one on the net - built by a Japanese gentleman. Very early 70s racer style. Note the clip-ons, different tank and upswept exhaust cans. We feel it may be British, as it has what looks like a tax disc holder on the front forks - although this is on the wrong side of the bike, and may have been added purely for authenticity 
 A very smart W650 from Japanese after-market supplier, Motorstage. You can go to their site from our 'Links' page 
  Jason Tang from Hong Kong sent in this picture of a tasty Japanese cafe racer style W650. Looks very much like an old Norton GP. The company is called Peyton Place (now, who remembers the TV series?), and can be found here. You will need to have downloaded the Japanese character set to view it properly.
 Now, Joris Van den Bossche is a huge fan of British cafe-racer styling, and this is how he envisages his W650 looking, when he has the necessary funds to do it! 
 From Joris, come these pictures which he found whilst surfing the net. Just about everything is polished, and the clock faces have a W650 logo on them. 
 A friend of mine found this beautiful artists' impression somewhere on the .net. He tried to trace the artist, but was unsuccesful. If anyone has any information on this painting, would you email me the details please? It would make a great T-shirt design etc., but naturally, we can't use it without the artist's permission! Possibly by Glynn Kerr?

Had an email from Mr. Kerr - it's not one of his, so we're no nearer finding the artist		 
a design for a Tshirt, that Ray Sanderson made for himself. Ray and his wife, Annette, both had W650s 
 Styled along the lines of a 1960s BSA Goldie. The black/white photo above sets it in the right period. Thanks to Uwe Nehls, who has established that the bits for this bike were supplied by LSL in Germany. If you want more information, you can visit their site here  

 

 .....and now two ideas from Martin Piper....
 Stuart found these pictures of a turbo-charged W650 on a Japanese site. Nice-looking bike, even without the turbo

 

 

from Claus Peiter in Denmark.........

The second one is by Beet in Japan  

  
  
  
  

and now some random shots of W650s, about which we have no information:

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

and finally.................some tank designs and badges to inspire you

 Jason Blamires has managed to get these small tank badges from a friend in Japan. You can see other pictures of Jason's bike in the member's gallery. 
 This from A-Z Bob. No, it's not his bike. Bob has been playing around on his computer with a photo and some logos, and come up with this design, which we think is rather attractive. 
 Jon Haddock took a Matchless 'Flying M' and a razorblade......

 

 

Here are the close-ups of the badges which grace the tank of Mike from Australia's bike.

Mike says.......'My dad had the badges off an A1 from back in '64. Apparently most of the Kawasakis of the era had very similar badges, and the W1, W2 and A1, A2 were very similar. They're pressed aluminium, and I've re-enamelled the flag border and insignia with a modelling paint equivalent (clear red), and polished up the edges to match the bevel drive housing on the engine to shape the badge, I used hand pressure to carefully bend the edges to fit the contour. I'd place the badges in position after each attempt and then rock the badge on the contact 'contour' to determine where the next bend should be. The rolled edges can buckle if you try to bend the badge too far, so the position had to be further back from the front of the tank than where I'd have preferred - but hey, you can't have everything!' 
 Another mock-up from Bob, showing the A1 badge superimposed on the W650 tank. 

 

 Another design exercise from A-Z Bob
 Steve also decided to change his

The pictures show the old and new badges, and the effect of the new badges in place.

 

 Sorry this one is a bit on the small side, but I've borrowed it from the French W650 site (see Links page). A very interesting badge idea, don't you think? 
 Laura Szalacha provided this picture of Marlon Brando. Look closely at the tank.........is that a 'W'? 

 

Laura also found these patches from Japan. Although not strictly tank badges, she is sure someone could adapt them 

Or how about printing them off onto transfer paper and ironing them onto a t-shirt?

 This bike features a tank badge design by Richard Johnston. With the short solo seat, the bike has a very 50s feel about it. 

 

This is Cecil Quirino's bike, fitted with a Triumph tank and W650 badges

After further thoughts, he has come up with this. As well as the modified paintwork, notice how he has drawn a neat 'W' logo on the cam cover (with marker pen), and painted the upper find and crankcase cover with black tempera (washable) paint. 
 These two pictures are from someone calling himself 'Hairshert' from New York City. Unfortunately, we have no more information, but the tank design is certainly unique

 

  This beautiful tank belongs to Roy Easthill.

Roy says 'A wee man made these up for me. I don't know if you can see it, but there is a thin, black, broken line just on the inside of the colour (shadow effect). Any size, any colour (tartan can be had, but you have to prove you have a Scottish blood line!)
 This is the late Doc Berry's W650. Jay Goldstein was kind enough to send Doc the decals from Canada. The combination of paintwork and decal gives Doc's bike a real vintage 'feel'

 

 

These were taken from a Japanese site, so no information, I'm afraid. However, they do look good 
 Tank logo designed by Salvyhead