From mild to wild

The Suzuki Savage (also known as the S40) isn’t most people’s idea of a dream motorcycle, but Ryca Motors is trying to change that.

The air-cooled 650cc thumper, in production since the ’80s, is usually looked down on as a small, under-sized woman’s bike. Despite less-than-impressive power output, though, the Savage is still a lightweight, simple motorcycle, hailing back to a day when riding wasn’t as tied to an outlaw image; instead, bikes were simple, basic transportation.

Still, there’s nothing wrong with sprucing up your ride, and Ryca motors has developed a bolt-on kit that transforms the laid-back Savage into a pretty cool-looking cafe racer they call the CS-1.

The kit includes a custom seat, side covers, rear-set footpegs, clip-on handlebars, and shocks. You send Ryca your old hub and gas tank, and they build you a new rear wheel and low-profile gas tank.

The whole thing looks pretty easy to put together – they’ve got the instructions right on their homepage here. You can also buy pre-built cafe customs from them.

They’re trying to keep the cost down, so this cool-looking custom is fairly affordable. Right now, they’re selling the kit for about $2,800 U.S. and international shipping is available. You can also buy individual parts on their website, if you want.

According to Cyril Huze, American Suzuki Corp. loves this kit, and wants their dealers to promote it, as a way to drum up more customer interest. Who knows? If they can start a comfortable relationship with the big outfits, maybe Ryca is on their way towards becoming a big name in the custom world.