Photos: Shinya Kimura Edge

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Photos: Zap Teshima for Devon Works

Two months after its creation, the Shinya Kimura Edge has finally gotten the photos it deserves. Created from a Ducati 999R, Shinya has corrupted the superbike’s proportions with hand-formed bodywork that lengthens and reduces the height of the bike while adding a level of organic whimsy to the ruthless function of the mechanical parts. The overall effect transforms a motorcycle that was ahead of its time into one that exists outside of time. Enjoy the pictures and make sure you check out the short Shinya Kimura documentary. 

  • Nik

    This looks crude and poorly done overall. It probably amuses the owner for about 10 minutes, until he realizes that he as ruined what used to be a perfectly good Ducati.

    • Sean Smith

      Methinks you have no taste.

  • Ninjah

    Just looking at it, I can tell this bike encourages FAST riding.

    With that forward-tilting seat, your junk will be savagely mashed against the gas tank unless you’re accelerating full-bore.

  • Sean Smith

    Photo number 6 is awesome. Looks like Shinya is gettin’ down to business in the canyons.

  • Chuluun

    Tacky.

  • Steven S

    Not feeling it at all, maybe shit looking bikes are in now, who knows.

  • Wayne

    This IS July 4, not April 1, right?

  • Jbo

    Love the painless crash technology, in which the rider’s head is cleanly severed from the body just before the body suffers any impact damage. It’s just the humane way to do things.

  • Duge

    i’ll brb in about 20 min…i’m gonna go make that bodywork…

  • Spain

    Well, at least now we know what motorcycle the Tin Man would have ridden down the yellow brick road. Although not sure where Dorothy and Toto would go since there doesn’t seem to be any place to ride bitch.

  • http://www.el8id.com santarita

    This is fantastic.

    I’ve been laying up fiberglass and making a tail-section with basically a sander, x-acto and some wiring junk i’m making up as i go, and i come see this, and suddenly the thing I’m building feels pretty antiquated, ancient, even.

    Ironically i think that this bike is able to embody 100 years of manufacturing, It eschews the highly specialized and precise machining of the Duc’s slippery body and re-imagines it with an individual soul, hand beaten and formed, ‘older’ techniques, but highly personal, intimate techniques.appreciative of the limits of the human hand. Still very sexy, each panel receiving detailed attention, but decidedly ‘outsider’…punky…reinterpreted cafe styling.

    Immediately I wonder at the ability for this bike to seem fresh and ancient in an instant.

  • http://www.designronin.com Design Ronin

    Hmmm…. I was going to say those dis’n it were missing the point…. but looking at it, yea, it’s crude, almost ugly.

    I love handmade, I love craftsmanship, I love bespoke but I have to say, compared to his other work, this one is fail.

  • Greg

    I made one of these with an Erector Set when I was a kid…

  • Stephen

    Something that ugly has got to be really expensive.

  • PeteP

    Shinya always seem to bring out the haters. I don’t get it. It’s his vision, and I love it.

  • Kit

    I have to respect the time and skill that went into making this bike…but it doesn’t mean I have to like what came out of it.

    BRB, putting aluminum foil on my old KZ1000 so I can be this cool too…

  • Mike J

    Not my favorite Chabbot bike…

  • bobx

    if you dont like what he did with the duc, dont worry, theres plenty more untouched stock bikes out there. head down to the starbucks and check ‘em out!

    F*** haters.
    .
    mom always said if you dont have anything good to say, then to not say anything.
    .
    i like it. that guys a craftsman.

  • AK

    These pictures don’t do it justice, when is this bike coming to America? I want to drool at this bike/art in person.

    “Immediately I wonder at the ability for this bike to seem fresh and ancient in an instant.”

    @ santarita

    hear hear.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      It is in America, Shinya is based in LA.

  • unimpressed

    Seeing the close up pictures of that beast leaves me wondering what the fuss is about. I suppose I’d be pretty zen too if I could make a living beating the hell out metal with no real intent. Sorry but the thing looks like it was inspired by some stunters gas tank. Nice lines from afar, but up close it’s waay too rough for my taste.

  • http://www.ninja250blog.com/ Mark Ryan Sallee

    It would be sweet if 1) I was starting with a salvaged bike that was in need of mangling, and 2) I did it myself. I’d be pretty proud to ride it around. But I wouldn’t pay for someone to do it for me with a perfectly good Ducati.

  • ChuckNorris

    I didn’t know this fella before HFL introduces him here. But then, I happened to search for his other projects, and the personal:blog.

    I’m still in process to train my eyes to get to taste of seeing it. But it looks to me that this Kimura guy has been experiencing very similar bodywork for various different bikes. He has to be trying to come up with something, or make a point.

    There should be a story making this gentleman special, as I thought. But just don’t have time to go over all the custom history, and how this makes its journey out here. If you’re in to discuss or shed some light on us readers way, about his secret art, or trend, or fashion, could you write a bit about them?

  • jeffree

    If everyone loved Shinya then he would no longer be cool.

  • http://www.so-sos.com/blog Yukes {SO~SO's}

    Those who don’t get it obviously forget the most beautiful days of car and motorcycle design, when all bodywork was made with sheet metal and a hammer.

    It’s the juxtaposition of old craft and new technology that makes this Chabott bike one of my favorites.

  • http://www.occhiolungo.wordpress.com Pete

    It is easy to love or hate Shinya’s bikes. But when you think about it, isn’t that a great thing? I cannot count the number of bikes that I’ve seen that elicited no response whatsoever from people when they saw them.

    If you hate his work, I’m sure that there are a lot of bikes down at the local coffee shop that might excite you. If you love Shinya’s stuff, enjoy the pics and his new short movie.

    ciao,
    Pete

  • Ray

    It’s no longer simply a mass-produced motorcycle (yeah, I said it!), designed by the market and sold to the masses. The Edge is rolling performance art. Kimura is a master.