Dressed for success: UAE's custom bike culture

There's a thriving culture of custom bikes in the UAE, as three of the country's top creators reveal.

Growing up amid engines and having a grandfather who converted old military bikes from the Second World War for civilian use, Mario Kyprianides began his relationship with motorcycles at a young age.

Now 40, Kyprianides, from Cyprus, the owner of Chopper Kultcha in Abu Dhabi, recalls saving enough money to buy his first motorcycle, a tiny Honda 50cc bike, when he was eight years old. He used to drive it in the streets of the UAE capital after moving here with his family 32 years ago. "I started pulling the bike apart, and a lot of things apart, my granddad used to help me when he was visiting. I also used to sit with my dad who was an engineer himself," he explains.

"That was the fuel to the fire, I always had the motorcycle bug, I never have conversations with people without bringing motorcycles up, that's the kind of passion that I have." He says he had motorcycle magazines flown in from Europe before he could even read them. Kyprianides says he built his first motorcycle engine when he was 15, and built his first bike from scratch in 1994. He's built dozens since then, and has participated in a number of competitions around the world and won prizes.

He won first place in the Radical bike category in the European Bike Week Champion in Austria last September, and came 24th out of 130 companies competing in the European Championship of Custom Bike Building in Germany last year. He will be participating today at the Gulf Bike Expo with a bobber chopper, which he named "Courtesan", and built completely from scratch. "It's an old-school style of motorcycle, and courtesans were ladies of pleasure that people bought in the days of the kings, so the old, old image suits altogether."

Kyprianides says it took him 11 months to build Courtesan in 2008, and around five months before that to collect parts from all over the world. His next step will be to compete in the European Biker Build-off in December. Doberman, Dragon, Skulls, Green Mamba and Camel are among the bikes that will be presented at the Expo today by a group of 12 Emirati bike builders collectively known as the Dubai Street Fighters. Each bike's name indicates the theme and shape it was designed to present.

The team, which specialises in naked bikes and customise Honda CBR900s by removing their exterior bodywork and adding custom-made parts, has been practising this artform for the past five years. "At first we used to do it privately for us, and we used to work on off-road bikes only," says Tariq Shahdour, a member of the team. "Then, in 2004, we started working on naked bikes and began receiving orders from customers." Shahdour, 37, says he got into biking in 1991, then he naturally developed his skills to become a professional bike builder. The team has won several prizes in a number of competitions. "Most of the bikes we are entering in the festival have already won a number of prizes, except for the Doberman, which will be showcased for the first time." The Dubai Street Fighters spent the past two months working non-stop on the Doberman, which is a CBR900 that has been painted in black and gold and modified to look like a Doberman dog.

"Our work involves a lot of imagination; the bike should look manly or sometimes scary. You need something that grabs attention, so the face is solid - it could be a falcon, or a bull. We also fix the tail like a bull's tail, or like a crab's, or a mermaid's; we do this with paint and fibreglass. Each bike has a story." Although the team receives orders from customers like any other company, and they've built more than 15 bikes since they started, Shahdour says they do not consider their work as a business. But that doesn't mean they aren't businesslike in how they deal with their clients.

"We like to involve customers with us on the design, so we ask them what concept they prefer. Some of them ask us to suggest, but it is important to do something he or she is in to, because what we do is like plastic surgery - if we do a shape that the owner doesn't like, he will hate the bike. Most of the time we don't charge for labour work, because we do this as a hobby." The last time the Street Fighters participated in a contest was at the Qatar Motor Show in December; they won the top three places.

When Hadi Shaker started customising bikes for fun when he was 24, little did he know that it would develop into a personal business and passion that left no room for even marriage in his life. Now 42, Shaker is a professional Emirati bike builder and owns Superbikes showroom and workshop in Dubai. He is participating in the Expo today with two bikes, a Harley-Davidson Softail and Dyna that he customised.

"Usually I spend up to five months on a bike, because it takes a lot of time to gather the parts and come up with the design. All the designs are from my head, I put things together in my head then I imagine what it will look like overall. "This time I had to work extensively over a month and a half in order to enter both bikes in the contest." He designed the Softail in an old-school style and calls it Junior, because he will give it as a gift to his younger brother.

"It is a mix between the old and the modern, it is beautiful and light and everything is in harmony. Every piece is unique, and the engine is hand-made." The other motorcycle has a different look. "The Dyna is a sporty style, coloured in matte pearl and black, and decorated with carbon fibre." Shaker's relationship with motorbikes began when he bought his first Harley in 1992. "I used to watch motorbike films, and I used to drive quad bikes when I was a kid. Then I bought a long Harley; it was worth Dh50,000 back then."

"Then I started playing with it and customising it, since I have mechanical experience myself as I studied at an industrial high school in Dubai. Then my hobby developed and I started receiving orders from my friends. In July, 2000, I opened my own shop." The first time Shaker entered a competition was in 1995, then he took a break until he started again in 2000 with a contest in Oman. "I've participated in a total of 11 big competitions so far, other than the small local contests in Ajman and other emirates."

He started working for Dubai Natural Gas Company (DUGAS) in 1987. He lives with his mother and 31-year-old brother and says he has never thought of getting married. "I think work is taking all my time. I'm at Dugas from 7am until 4pm, then I reach my shop around 4:30 and I stay there until 9, 10 or 11, depending on the workload. Sometimes I sit there alone for hours; it's like my second home, or even my first home.There were times when I spent up to 48 hours in the shop, especially when preparing for competitions."

Demand for Shaker's creations fluctuates, as he sometimes receives up to four orders in one month. "And sometimes four months go by before receiving a single order," he says. "There is no specific pattern." He may be a little busier after today's competition.

The Gulf Bike Expo at Festival City in Dubai ends today, with competition judging scheduled for 3pm.