Today’s custom motorcycle scene is a melting pot of old and new techniques. Traditional handcrafting methods coexist with software-based design and modern additive manufacturing processes. And sometimes?like in the case of this impossibly elegant Yamaha SR400?they collide.
Moscow’s Copper Chopper built this hardtail bobber almost entirely from scratch, using a tube bender, lathe and welding machine. But before builders Alexey and Igor put hand to metal, they designed the frame, and eventually the whole bike, using the 3D design software Fusion 360.

Copper Chopper’s been going for about six years, and originally started as a sideline gig with a mantra of ?bought, built, ridden and then sold.? But the guys took the business full time this year, and, as a result, have started taking on commissioned work. This SR400 is their first client build, and it’s one hell of an entry into the world of pro custom work. You can count the off-the-shelf parts on this Yamaha on one hand. Alexey and Igor started with a stock SR400 donor, a Lowbrow Customs front wheel, a rear sprocket-brake setup and a headlight from FNA Custom Cycle. The rest is their own handiwork.

The SR400’s engine has been transplanted into a rigid stainless steel frame, with a custom girder-like front end. The entire chassis is remarkably slender?which is exactly what the guys were aiming for. ?It had to be as slim as possible,? says Alexey, ?as slim as Maxwell Hazan?s masterpieces.?
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