Malaysian custom Eastern Bobber “Bone X” to enter AMD Custom Bike Building championship in Germany

In the Malaysian custom motorcycle world, the name Omar Jumiran and his brand, Eastern Bobber, is well known. Starting as a metal welder in a home workshop, Omar started building custom motorcycles in 2009, and his latest creation, “Bone X”, will enter the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Germany next October.

Taking inspiration from another custom builder, Chicara Nagata from Japan, the Bone X is 90% hand-built, excluding off-the-shelf items such as they tyres and brake pump. Loosely based on a flat tracker design, the Bone X rolls on 21-inch wheels front and rear, mimicking the thin tyre sizes of 1920s racers.

With the equal tyre sizes, the Bone X looks almost symmetrical, and the chrome finish looks like a mirror splits the two halves of the bike. Motive power is a 350 cc, air-cooled, long-stroke, single-cylinder AJS, which gives Bone X its unique exhaust note, with power getting to the ground via a three-speed dry clutch gear box.

Unique to the Bone X is its suspension design, which uses multi-link arms actuating shock absorbers located where the fuel would be on a normal motorcycle. Both front and rear suspension arms are single-sided, with steering done by a cast and polished handlebar assembly.

It should be noted all suspension components are hand-made by Omar, including the springs which went through four variants before he found a suitable spring setting. Omar says the most challenging aspect of designing the suspension was the front, besides needing the front wheel to turn left and right, also needed a certain amount of rake, without which the Bone X would not handle correctly.

Various custom touches adorn Bone X, including a 9-litre fuel tank carried within the frame, which Omar says is all that is required as it is a show bike more than anything else. Oil for the dry-sump engine is also carried within the frame, with both fuel and oil accessed by bolts in the frame.

Finish for this Malaysian-built custom is mainly clear coat over bare and polished metal as well as chrome plating. According to Omar, “I do not want the judges to be distracted by any sort of fancy paint work, and I want the engineering on the bike to be judged for what it is.”

Starting the build for Bone X just after the Aidil Fitri, Omar took a mere six months to build his competition custom, and he aims to win a place at the AMD show, not just participating. His plans after the show will be to strip the bike down again, and improving the build, with an eye to getting sponsors to help defray the cost of building Bone X.

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