2 Stroke Rocket from Ukraine

Do yo remember this cool RD135 Café Racer? A real dapper 135cc 2 stroke machine. This little machine produced an impressive 18hp. But what if you take the engine of his bigger brother, the RD350, and redesign the engine to a 555cc triple cylinder? Well, that’s exactly what the guys from Iron Custom Motorcycles (ICM) from Ukraine did. The result? “Project Beckman”: a lightweight, 50hp 2 stroke rocket that runs over 200km/h! The Beckman projects represents a look back in the early days of Ukrain, when the cafe racer culture was born.

We decided to use in creation of this project only the spare parts of the 60-80th years available at us in the country, self-made accessories and production technologies of details of this period.          Wilhelm Beckman is an outstanding athlete and the design engineer, the author of a large number of the books devoted to motorcycle sport and designing of motorcycles. Exactly relying on his books and articles this motorcycle transmitting spirit and an era of that time was constructed.

But actually it’s not a Yamaha like you would assume from the intro: this motorcycle is based on a “Izh-Jupiter 4“; a Ukrainian cult machine from the early 80s. But a variety of parts from the Japanese brand where used. Like to read the whole story and the extensive list of mods? Check it out here.

Yamaha RD350 Cafe Racer Gallery