Words by Martin Hodgson | Photography by Hiromitsu Yasui
On the outside it looks like a simple little building, with faded weatherboards and an old tin roof in a small historic town in Japan. Surrounded by neatly ploughed fields you step inside and expect to see an old man repairing dated farming machinery, instead you’ve entered the home of one of the world’s best custom bike shops. But despite becoming renowned for their concept BMW R18 ?Departed?, the bread and butter of Custom Works Zon is American V-Twin muscle. And with a desire to play in the nearby mountain mud they’ve turned an unloved Buell X1 Lighting into a true weekend warrior.

The BMW project started with the CW-Zon team of Yuichi Yoshizawa and Yoshikazu Ueda taking a secret trip to Bavaria to see the new R18 engine and ended with their concept creation containing the mighty motor winning ?Best of Show? at last years Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show. The massive German motoring company could have chosen any builder on the planet, so what made them pick CW-Zon out of rural Japan" The sheer quality of their work.
The shop is proud of their Harley-Davidson credentials, with sales, repair and full-blown customisation of everything from brand new Sportsters to old WL models available. Part of their business includes importing American V-Twins and the X1 Lightning is a cheap way to start a project. Damaged bikes aren’t a problem as there is literally nothing CW-Zon can’t do. So this...