Custom chopper bikes have long departed from tuning and engineering, for decades now this field is moving to an area between what we can consider as expensive toys (performance bikes where performance is a mean, not the aim) and art. Shinya Kimura is one of the best examples of what inspired custom bikes could and even should be.---



Shinya Kimura driven from his love and passion for old-school American bikes (like 50’s HDs and Indians) and the general hands-on engineering and fabrication established his shop in 1992 in Japan. It was called Zero engineering and it was successful enough to open a subsidiary in Las Vegas in 2002. Kimura led the company until his departure in 2006. Zero engineering is very successful. It has sold over 200 customs and it now has a full lineup of products. The company and Shinya Kimura gained a lot of publicity with their participation in the Biker build-off TV series. Their bikes are featured in Iron Man movies and it even has a small role there when Tony Stark chooses the color of his suit inspired from this particular bike.



In 2006 Shinya Kimura left Zero eng. in order to open his own independent shop in Arizona. He distanced himself from the –successful- custom bikes and parts business of Zero eng. and he now is moving with his new company Chabott engineering to even more exclusive customs and even in to art objects.



His bikes are almost totally hand crafted. He uses vintage parts from various sources and he also crafts his own using only traditional methods and equipment. Even with a variety of sourced parts every bike looks and feels like it was designed as a complete concept in an older era. The attention to detail and the imagination his bikes have even within this strict point of view is amazing.



The best introduction to the world of Shinya Kimura is the short film about him made by Henrik Hansen:

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(photos: Chabott engineering, Zero engineering, Back Drop, Henrik Hansen)