Born Aggressive: Droog Moto’s Kawasaki Z1000 Scrambler

A long time ago I worked for an American boss. When I stopped drinking coffee he asked me: “why?” I replied I thought coffee made me aggressive. He laughed out loud and told me I might as well start drinking coffee again. “Man, you were BORN aggressive!” he said. This is probably what the parents said to this baby too when it first saw daylight in the shed of Droog Moto somewhere in the States. Man! Does this bike look mean!

At Bikebrewers we are fans of the stuff that Droog come out with. They strive to be different than the others and quite often succeed.

Kawasaki Z1000

The throbbing heart of the ‘DM-014” is a Kawasaki Z1000 killer inline 4 motor “with tons of torque” as our friends describe it. They buy most of the donor material online, as the engines in most cases dictate which way a build is going. The rest of the bike they use is sort of ‘extra added value’ as so much is changed anyway to fit their fantasy.

Straight from the head

The guys at Droog Moto build directly from their heads. What they have in mind goes straight into the tools, without putting anything down digitally or on paper. For the DM-014 they envisioned something to look menacing and out to seek vengeance. When asked about the rough look of the bike they reply: “You don’t want to take a bike like this and make it a flashy bright sparkly thing. It needs to have depth and look intense. “

BikeBrewers: “This bike has a strong ‘Sci-Fi’ feel to it, even slightly reminiscent of the Star Wars bounty hunter  ‘Boba Fett’, was that the outset?”

Droog:  “We strip the bikes down and let the ideas and fabrication come as we go. Our latest builds have been sleek and aggressive machines so we are keeping appearances up with this. We don’t like to categorize our work into the basic Scramblers, Cafe’s, Brats, etc… We like the bikes to be their own creation or more of a Sci-Fi feel.”

Getting outside help is something the Droog team rarely do. For the DM-014 It was for specific work such as the upholstery that they call in outside troops.

BikeBrewers: “so how happy does this bike make you? Is there anything in particular that you like about the result?”

Droog: “All of it! This bike is big and intense, but stealthy. It’s new features complement the motor and help bring out the aggressiveness to it.”

BikeBrewers: “A lot of builders seem to put those fat and knobby tires on their bikes. We like the way they make the bikes look, but we are not so sure about the riding experience.”

Droog: “ It rides like a damn dream! There are a lot of people who hate on the knobby tires on street bikes. We say don’t diss them till you ride them. They’re smooth and corner very well along with having the abilities to hit some dusty roads. You have the power and torque everywhere you could want with more to spare. DM-014 is a fierce machine that looks down right rebellious but gives you awesome riding features.”

Specifications:

The list is very long, but I will give it a try:

• DM-014 received a full build from top to bottom.
• The bike features a custom fuel cell that Droog made.
• Aluminium radiator upgrade.
• The stock subframe was cut off and a new one was fabricated in place to fit the new seat and LED lighting.
• Custom tracker plate with LED lighting and signals integrated into the triple trees.
• Handmade aluminium wheel inserts along with TKC80’s.
• Pod filters and a re-worked exhaust system help this beast breath and brings out the noise to a new level (nice!)
• Shorty brake levers along with 1 1/8” Moto bars and chunky grips.
• Aluminium adjustable rear sets were installed for rider comfort and ergonomics.
• A mini digital speedo was installed to keep the from sleek along with braided brake lines.
• The front and rear suspension was swapped out to help with handling and better features.