We?re all for elegant, understated customs?but sometimes nothing beats the sheer visual impact of a heavily modified sportbike. And this 80s Gixxer as about as subtle as a brick through a window.
The builder is Michel Szozda of Cool Kid Customs, who caught our eye with a slick Kawasaki ZZR600 a few months ago. He?s based in Haarlem, just west of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and shares an after-hours workspace with friends: ?They all do something different, but all love motorcycles. I’m just doing what I love and calling it a ?job?,? he says.

Michel has a thing for sportbikes, and for this new build, he?s chosen one of the all-time greats: an early Suzuki GSX-R750 ?slab side?, with the original air-and-oil-cooled engine that?s good for a cool one hundred horsepower. ?I always wanted a first generation GSXR,? says Michel. ?I?ve always liked the lines and history of the bike. So I bought one four years ago, as a non-runner.?

Michel fixed it up just enough to become useable, and rode it for a couple of years while he figured out what to do next. ?I researched the first-gen ?Slabbys?,? he says, ?looking up information about upgrades, the race history and so on. And I started to upgrade the bike, little by little.?
Michel started by swapping out the engine for a second generation GSX-R750 unit: the later short-stroke ?Slingshot? motor has more power, thanks to a better ?dot? cylinder head with bigger valves and ports, and more aggressive cams.

?The original engin...