It’s no mean feat creating a customised SR400 that can stand out from the crowd, with so many being the basis for custom builds they are becoming a common site on the road. So when Fraser ‘Cartel’ Carter approached Gasoline Motor Co. with the task of making his SR something really unique and personal they knew they had to pull out all the stops.

The SR400 is a time tested donor motorcycle, with countless other individuals and workshops lending their skills and ideas to the iconic frame. Gasoline Motor Co. has flexed their skills on countless SR builds on more than one occasion, which is precisely why Fraser though they’d be perfect for the job. The brief was simple - he didn’t want anything super fast or overly loud - just a stylish machine to cruise around on, that combined all his favourite elements from other motorcycles he’d seen into one.

In order to make the motorcycle truly reflect Fraser’s personality and style the team at Gasoline went all out: they stripped down the tank, rebuilt the engine, commissioned new custom paint work, crafted a custom exhaust, did a massive tail tidy and more. Starting from an almost completely blank slate meant that the team could shape every aspect of the build to Fraser’s style and insure that it’s really his.

The blacked out engine was completely rebuilt from scratch, salvaging as much of the original components as they could to coat with black and brand new parts were sourced from all over the web - like the blood red chain - to make sure that this motorcycle rides just as good as it looks. It took a decent amount of tweaking and test riding back and forth to really nail the feel and make sure that the engine growled just the way it should.

A completely custom exhaust was shaped and fabricated with tracker styling in mind, to fit around the engine in a more refined way than the stock pipes. It follows the contour of the underside and shows how every aspect of the build was carefully considered. The black wrap, while helping with the thump sound of the exhaust, makes sure it ties in visually with the overall blacked out colour scheme of the engine and frame.

The centrepiece of the build is obviously the tank, its unique finish means it stands out strongly against the rest of the blacked out machine with it’s rugged, roughed up texture and crisp, hand painted script. There was no trickery involved, it was simply stripped and sanded then left to sit in the rain for a week to get that authentic rusted look. Gasoline’s head technician made sure to grind a decent amount of the original paint off while strategically leaving a small amount on either side to allow for the custom script. The original ‘Cartel’ signature was expertly painted by a local commissioned artist and provides the final sign off on build, removing any doubt about whose ride this is.

Many thanks to Silodrome for the photos and for featuring this motorcycle on their site.