“Simple, not flashy” is the basis of the Indian Motorcycle Brat Style Chief by Go Takamine, creator of the Brat Style custom motorcycle. Taking a 2022 Indian Chief, Takamine applied his design ethos to the Chief, following conversations with Ola Stenegard, Director of Product Design for Indian Motorcycles and a friend of Takamine’s.
“For me bike culture started at school. Half of my class were bike crazy and that’s what shaped my life and direction,” commented Takamine. “I learned a lot in the early days from friends and my local bike shop. Brat Style evolved from this, as did my shop. It’s about things being simple and effective and yet still feeling like a kid,” he explains.
Brat Style is a motorcycle design born in Japan and usually has a flat seat long enough for two, or a lowered solo seat, as well as having a lowered stance done via suspension or frame modification. Sometimes confused with cafe racers, Brat Style bikes lack the racing seat hump and usually the clip-on handlebars of true cafe racers, but there are cross-overs between the two.
Starting with an Indian Chief, Takamine lowered the bike and reduced its width, something Brat Style customs have as a design trademark. Takamine says the Brat Style came about living in Japan in the late nineties and needing to get through Tokyo’s heavy traffic, making a narrow motorcycle a necessity.
The rear fender of the Brat Style Chief was taken from a 1937 Ford, sculpted to fit the rear wheel and swingarm. Takamine then handmade the custom sheet metal fork covers and chain guard, as well as machining the the handlebars, the unique brass risers and foot pegs.
Fitted with Brat Style original megaphone exhausts, the Brat Style Chief was finished in a simple two-tone black and silver paint job. along with the classic Indian Motorcycle logo. The Brat Style Chief is now in the hands of its owner, actor Nicholas Hoult, and is the second in the series of three renowned V-twin customisers selected by Indian Motorcycle to produce totally unique builds from the 2022 Indian Chief.
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