Kymco isn?t a big name in the West, outside of scooter circles. But it?s a different story in their home country of Taiwan, where this custom Kymco KTR 150 hails from. The KTR is one of Kymco?s more popular models there?and as you can tell, it lends itself fairly well to customization.
Taiwan?s custom scene is rapidly expanding, and the shop behind this KTR 150, Twentytwo Custom, is dedicated to the cause. They?re the custom branch of Persist Motorcycle Company?a Taiwanese motorcycle culture and apparel brand. Collaborating with Tough Tracker from Taichung, they set about creating this cute street tracker, which they?ve named ?Urban Drifter.?

The client gave Twentytwo mostly free rein over the bike’s design. ?He had only two requests,? says Twentytwo?s lead designer, Dong Lin. ?A bike suitable for his height; 1,82 m [6,1 feet], which is above average here in Taiwan, and black as the overall color.? ?The rest was up to us to get creative. We decided to build a bike that represents a modern, urban lifestyle. We kept the original mainframe and front suspension but all the other parts on the bike were redesigned and replaced.?

Given the KTR?s popularity, finding a donor was easy. Since the plan was to customize it, they landed on a rather tired-looking carbureted model from 2007. Dong mockup up the design and laid down a battle plan, then handed the bike over to Tough Tracker to bring his vision to life.
Right up front is a Bates-style headlight, bolted to a neat br...