Hardcore creativity

Beyond two wheels, Rafik Kaissi creates insane motorbikes from his tiny garage in Austin, Texas

By day, with scissors in hand, Rafik Kaissi earns a quid as a hair stylist although there’s not a follicle on his polished head. By night, working in a small apartment garage, with welding wand in hand, he conceives and handcrafts extreme motorcycles using bits in ways that are unique and entirely resourceful. His extreme designs stand bare to the bone, naked and colourless.

In the balance between form and function, Kaissi’s bikes are all about form. Function and comfort are not the priorities. “Are my bikes comfortable? I’ll be the first to say no, but they do run and you can ride them,” claims Kaissi.

What the hell are they, or better said, from where in hell are they? Austin, Texas is home, but Kaissi was born in beautiful Beirut, Lebanon and lived there during the ugly war years. Not hell but close enough to see the flames.

That’s the brief story behind the man. The story about his machines starts from a different type of disaster.

“I buy wrecked bikes and reuse everything possible and sell what’s left to help fund the project,” said Kaissi, which explains why you’ll see Milwaukee V-twins as well as a water-cooled two-stoke single, an Aprilia V-twin and a Yamaha thumper in a bike called the RK Springs.

The RK Springs’ profile is definitely nostalgic with an upright seating position and a beehive fuel tank positioned high to capture both man bits if you’re thrown out of the steel saddle. The frame is crafted from flat bar repurposed from old leaf springs, and the frame moves like some type of industrial-strength Slinky cradling the Yamaha engine and radiator allowing the wheels independence to move.

“In design, the RK Springs is a hill climb bike,” explains Kaissi.

Looking at his five creations, you have to ask what type of pharmaceutical inspiration is used. “Nothing! I don’t even drink alcohol,” he answers.

“I create from my imagination. When imagining the RK Bearing, I had this vision of three circles in my head and that set the basic design and shape of the bike.”

The RK Bearing is beautiful as a mechanical, metallic sculpture, and at the centre is a watercooled two-stroke engine. From there the bike builds outward in circular form with exposed large roller bearings. Front and rear suspensions are linked through a single Ohlins coil-over shock. He’s replaced the bulky radiator with a simple finned pipe following the lower circumference of the centre sphere.

The RK Chain and the RK S both use a Harley-based V-twin. They are both incredibly low and proportionally similar. However, the RK Chain uses a traditional frame design although uniquely formed using large chain links which also form the rear swing arm. Industrial, mechanical, skeletal and gothic: “I like hearing those words,” he said.

The RK S is sensual by comparison. The single-tube frame serpentines from the steering head around the left side of the V-twin engine to locate the rear wheel from the right side. The final drive sprocket double duties as the rear brake rotor. He again uses repurposed leaf springs to control the front suspension. Everything is packaged low, at about knee height, and no taller than the engine’s valve covers.

His last creation is the RK Thing, a trike wrapped around an Aprilia V-twin. Perhaps not as well conceived as the other four, the front suspension does grab your eye and direct your attention to a steel cable looping through several pulleys and attaching to a single spring.

He has a few other completed bikes back in Texas and one being built which you can see on his website. The gestation time, working at nights in that little garage, is about two bikes per year. But that may all change soon. During this conversation with Kaissi, he’s been discussing a sponsorship deal promoting an energy drink. As if this man’s creativity needs any further stimulation.

Hardcore creativity

Tags