If you say “John Player Special”, the minds of petrolheads will drift away to the days when the black and gold F1-Lotusses dominated the trackes. The cigarette makers sponsored the British team from 1972 till 1986. The combination of that classy black and gold and de successes of drivers like Ayrton Senna, Mario Andretti, and Emerson Fittipaldi, gave the John Player Special cars an iconic status, (maybe even more than the Marlboro cars!). The typical color palette still is an inspiration for lot’s of custom builders, both in cars and bikes. Michiel van Son from Belgium also was charmed by the JPS design palette and when he got his hands on a crappy Suzuki GS750 from 1977, he had a simple goal: make this crappy, rusty, and neglected superbike sexy again. And I don’t think that I have to say that he succeeded ;).
Since the donor bike was in a rubbish state, Michiel knew he was facing a pretty serious challenge. While the frame was straight, there were lot’s of parts missing or not original. The engine, which was known as one of the most powerful pieces in the late 70s, lost all of his masculinity so this also needed a complete overhaul. So with his vision in mind, Michiel started collecting parts. Since gold would be the accent color, he started looking for a suitable front fork, which he source from a Ducati 848. The beautiful laced wheels are from Alpina. While the engine got a complete overhaul, Michiel also used a Wiseco 844cc piston kit as well as a refurbished carburetor kit with big fat open K&N filters. The 4 in 2 exhaust system is custom with GP silencers in an aggressive upwards stance. Just like all other bits and bolts, the complete wiring harness was renewed and rebuilt from scratch.
I’m probably missing out a ton of features and mods, but why talk if you can enjoy the pictures!
PS: the beautiful girl on the pics is Laura, but she’s already taken… It’s the better half of Michiel! LOL!
