Bull Dock's Shacho (boss) is a champion arm wrestler for the entire Tochigi prefecture. Now all four of us there decided to have a go at beating him, but none of us even came close. Under the neat looking Bull Dock worker coveralls is one seriously strong guy. Challenge him, we dare you.

Bull Dock is the premier Kawasaki tuner in Japan, specializing in turning old Zs into $100,000 exotics. This is what happened when AFG Moto and Hoon Media paid them a visit.

Most places with millions of dollars of equipment, exotics everywhere, more carbon fiber than an F1 race and expensive bolt-on goodies are just exciting because of what they have in there. Bull Dock is different. From the moment we arrived there we were in love. The building apparently used to be a clothing shop or something similar, it has a great looking front with nice big glass windows and cool lighting (at night). As we entered the show room past a lineup of previously built bikes out the front we were greeted by a more bikes up on platforms or neatly displayed. Along with the usual t-shirts and merchandise you can pick up at popular workshops Bull Dock also proudly display Ohlins suspension, Marchesini wheels and all manner of other expensive parts. It's here that you realise these guys don't mess around. Serious parts, serious bikes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZa-fym7Jww

Now for the awesome part though, where it all happens, the workshop.

To the left as you walk in there's a machining area for anything machining related be it chassis components, engine parts or whatever, then to the right is the engine assembly and installation area. Pristine blocks sit waiting to be filled with high compression Wiseco pistons, balanced bottom ends and beautifully ported and polished heads. Each engine is detailed perfectly be it painted or polished before installation and more often than not is graced with a set of superb sounding Keihin flat slide carburettors. One MASSIVE stand-out in this area was the huge Snap-On tool box. We were very envious.

Around the corner behind the tool box is a dyno. Everything built there is tuned and tested there. All of Bull Dock's bikes ride as good as they look, if not better. We were lucky enough to ride a $100,000 Kawasaki and man did he say it had some power.

At the back of the workshop to the left sits a fully removable spray painting booth, this is perfect what Bull Dock do and should they ever need to move it, it looks like a simple task. On the other side at the back is a chassis assembly area, at the time we did encounter a random Suzuki Katana, which managed to sneak it's way into a heavily Kawasaki dominated workshop.

In the middle of the workshop there were also a large amount of bikes in waiting. Yes, waiting. Bull Dock are so popular in Japan that people will pay them and basically put their bike in a holding area there until they are able to work on it.

Beaten by Bull Dock

To the rear of the workshop there's a chassis and fabrication area. Probably my favorite part of the place, here they modify and strengthen the original frames in a dedicated jig and do any other fabrication required. As with the rest of Bull Dock's workshop it is kept spotless and every tool is perfectly maintained.

Top comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
Comment!
Got a tip for us? Email: tips@rideapart.com