ANGRY BIRD

Australia has long had a thriving custom scene, and these days it’s not just old school chopper builders in small country towns. Driven by the global success of Deus Ex Machina, small workshops are popping up in all the larger cities.

Wenley Andrews is part of what you might call a ‘second wave’ – young builders following in the footsteps of Deus with slick neo-retro customs.

While working at MeanMachines three years ago, Wenley got on the radar with a tracker-style Triumph Bonneville called ‘Flipside.’ It was slick and purposeful, and everyone remembers it because it had a 200-section rear tyre.

These days Wenley has his own company, Wenley Moto Design, and his own signature style – a subtle streetfighter vibe accentuated by fat rubber front and back. He’s broadened his repertoire away from Triumphs, and like many younger builders globally, is moving away from the traditional café racer look too.

With 113kW on tap and impeccable handling, the Honda CBR 954RR Fireblade is a prime candidate for customisation—if you’re building an off- the-wall streetfighter. But if your proclivities lean towards cafe racers, you’ll have your work cut out for you.

Wenley Andrews will attest to that. He first started thinking about a CBR project eight years ago: “I was really into streetfighters,” he says. “I even had the custom parts made, without a donor bike. The whole build was being put together in my mind and on paper.”

Then Wenley bought a Triumph Bonneville, customised it, and launched his own business. The new-wave café racer scene sunk its teeth into him good and proper.

But Wenley’s passion for street fighters has never left him. So last year he picked up a low mileage, 2004-model CBR 954RR, and resolved to blend his original ideas with his newly refined tastes.

You’re looking at the result: a gnarly ‘retro-fighter’ that Wenley calls The Angry Bird.

“I gathered up the parts from all those years ago, from under my parents’ house, and brushed off the cobwebs. They were as good as new,” says Wenley.

Some of those parts included the front-end and swing arm from a Honda VFR. The wheel rim was widened to take a 180-section tyre, and the forks set further apart with custom-machined CNC triples. “It took lots of fiddling around to get the spacers and axle to fit such a huge front tyre,” he admits.

There’s even more heft out back: the VFR swing arm is matched up to a car rim, and a 240 tyre. “This is by all means not a simple conversion,” says Wenley. “I know a lot of people have done it… I commend them for it.”

The bodywork is just as eye-catching: “It was initially going to be pure streetfighter – with a mask headlight, belly pan and pointy tail,” says Wenley. “But as I started building the Triumphs with the retro cafe racer theme in mind, I decided to go with a retro tracker seat and headlight.”

He adds that it was a huge gamble, so is happy it paid off, in the end. But getting everything to fit called for some heavy lifting, so Wenley called in his good friend

THE RESULT: A GNARLY RETRO-FIGHTER THAT WENLEY CALLS ‘ANGRY BIRD’

and collaborator, Billy Kuyken.

On the to-do list were creating a new subframe to match the tailpiece, and a lot of smaller details that most people will probably never notice. The tank also had a big hole where the air intake used to sit, so the guys filled that in with a laser-cut plate. The front fender is a hand-made fibreglass number.

As ideas snowballed, so did the budget, with a mini speedo, idiot lights, and bar-end and mini blinkers from Motogadget added to the list.

The handlebars are custom: Wenley couldn’t get the shape he wanted off the shelf, so he bent up a set of 1-inch drag bars himself. He then popped in an internal throttle and some bar end mirrors.

“With the bar-end blinkers, the wires go through the internal throttle unit,” he says.

“It’s a secret.”

Last on the list was the custom-built exhaust – a similar setup to Wenley’s Bonneville build. “The double shotgun style, sticking out on one end, was the way to go,” he says.

For paint, the guys coated the frame all-black, then handed the parts over to Wenley’s resident painter, Jack Johnson, to finish off. “I wanted a retro theme with a touch of orange,” says Wenley. “Why orange? When the seat was being made I saw a Lamborghini with orange stitches on the seat. So I told Andrew De Bono from Beyond Trim to make it look the same.”

It’s an inspired touch, and a testament to Wenley’s eye for those little things that matter. His CBR is one of the best mash-ups yet, with equal parts class and brawn.

It also kicks off the opening of his new shop—and if he keeps this up, there’s no doubt his order books are going to fill up fast.

LAST ON THE LIST WAS THE CUSTOM-BUILT EXHAUST – DOUBLE SHOTGUN STYLE STICKING OUT ON ONE SIDE