The lockdown build based on Benelli Imperiale 400 Rangaar by Kunwar Customs

The era of cafe racer was something to talk about. The bikes have pure looks that strike a chord of speed and thrill. With bodywork optimized for quick travel over small distances, these bikes were based on the early 1960s and were a pure rage back then. Visual minimalism was the key point of cafe racers, featuring an elongated tank, low mounted handles, and a flat seat.

Previously we have seen how Bajaj Pulsar 200 ns turns into cafe racer by Kunwar Customs, now again One such beautiful cafe racer was developed with love by Kunwar Customs Team, Jaipur. Since the current pandemic has all of us at standstill, many of us were working from home. When the situation started to ease out slowly, it was then the team at Kunwar Customs, decided to churn out a one of a kind build based on the Benelli Imperiale 400.!

Benelli Imperiale 400 is a bike from the Italian manufacturers competes in India with the likes of Jawa 42, and the very much loved Royal Enfields. Although the bike poses as a modern classic, it is aesthetically pleasing backed with superb ride quality. Packed with all modern features like ABS, the bike appeals to a lot of people in India. It is this reason that made team at Kunwar Customs go ahead with this bike. For this the team fine-tuned the engine, so to make it a complete package. Their iteration of the Imperiale is christened as “Rangaar”.

The project was done in lockdown, so #workformhome was trending and, so was the team doing the same. Though the customizer is a small home-based workshop, it is adequately equipped with all the necessary tools. The donor bike, Benelli Imperial 400, was a brand new bike brought straight out of the showroom. The build options were thoroughly discussed with the client and a tasteful design was finalized.

At first glance, the bike can be easily mistaken with a premium high-end machine with no links to the Imperiale other than the engine. Without messing with the already perfect engine, the entire bike is redone. The first replacement was the tires. Wide tires from Timsun with beautiful trademarks were installed. The tire measures 4.00*18 at the front and 4.50*18 at the rear. The rear swingarm has been altered accordingly to fit the new tire comfortably.

The height is also lowered by 20 mm which makes the bike more comfortable for short riders. The main idea of this mod is to give the bike a cafe racer look.

All the panels are handmade and repainted to ensure the quality with fit and finish. The rear fender is removed to complement the cafe racer aesthetics. Also the tank is hand painted with a beautiful gloss charcoal gray finish with straight out of factory finish. The reflection on the tank speaks the effort of the paintjob itself, along with the paintjob an handwritten calligraphy is also done on the tank.

We Indians are a big fan of loud exhausts and so are the traffic police officials with their norms so a beautiful exhaust muffler made in India by “AEW” hits the perfect spot of orgasmic sound for the petrolheads as well satisfies the sound norms. The design of the exhaust fits so perfectly as if it is specially casted for this build. The perfect pipes are wrapped by heat wrapped tape, so as to keep the heat in check and giving a eye-pleasing look to it.

The belly pan is also custom made with beautiful engraving of the build shop. A more comfortable handlebar to suit the cafe racer riding position is installed which doesn’t give strain on the arms despite it being a cafe racer, the handlebar also houses the front indicators which adds to the road presence of the bike. A pair of beautiful leather grips from Trip machine Co. are also installed. To complement the cafe racer looks, a custom made seat specifically designed for the build is also fitted with motorcycle and on the seat you can see branding of kunwar custom.

The rear subframe is also sliced for a more appealing look to the bike, it is no longer than the seat itself. The seat sports a unique design with practicality for those long rides provide ample support for you and your pillion and, their precious bottoms as well. Just where the seat ends you can spot the well-placed tail light along with the indicators integrated inside the frame itself which is surely a rare sight to behold.

The added parts, mostly are custom built and added without compromising the integrity of the bike. To add further to the cafe racer look, the position of the rear suspension has been changed along with the footpegs, which are beautifully painted and carved with brass detailing.

Kunwar customs has managed to design and create a masterpiece of a bike. The final product is a well balanced, beautiful craftsmanship and engineering. There has been no stones unturned in providing all bells and whistles. The team has really hit a sweet spot with the final outcome is absolute gorgeous.