I met Shin through a mutual friend named Taka one Friday night not really knowing what to expect. The only hints given by Taka as to what Shin actually did was along the lines of "He does bike stunts..." It didn't occur to me that 'bike stunts' referred to almost impossible to imagine maneuvers on a Kawasaki street bike. Coming from an automotive orientated background didn't help much when talking to Shin about what he got up to, it really was a matter of just sitting back and watching everything unfold before my eyes before getting the true meaning of what it meant to be a bike stunt rider. In the US they're known as 'stunters' but that name doesn't work so well in Japan so the more easily understood term 'bike stunt rider' is used. Shin Kinoshita is the #1 stunt rider in Japan at the moment and has enjoyed that title since early 2006. He's been competing at bike stunt events since 2002 and last year took 3rd place (behind two American riders) at MULTIPLEX 2006 held at Odaiba in Tokyo making him the highest ranked Japanese rider to date. He'll be leaving for Florida early next year for the Stuntwars 2008 event to compete in the individual freestyle category along with many other riders from the USA and Europe including Brazil's A.C. Farias.
We headed over to Shin's very small and oddly named garage 'Reas Log' (from a previous business) in downtown Sannomiya under the elevated Hankyu train line. It's such a small place but Shin has made use of the limited area very well, even constructing himself a second floor storage area above the garage using an iron frame and thick wooden floor boards. This small motorcycle garage is fairly typical for Japan, the rent is cheap in relation to the area it's in and offers just enough space to work comfortably. Shin has two 600cc Kawasaki ZX6RRs he uses for stunt riding, a white 2003 model and black 2005 model. The white ZX6RR is his main bike, the black one is used as a back up. Most of the custom parts needed for bike stunt riding on both his Kawasaki stunt bikes have been handmade in his workshop using aluminum, stainless steel or titanium depending on the application. He also makes his own custom parts including his very own line of aluminum mufflers in three sizes ranging from 60,000 - 70,000 yen which is very reasonably priced for this level of build quality. Shin had some other bikes is his garage, a Kawasaki Estrella BJ250 G2, a Honda VFR400R (NC24) and a couple of Honda Gorillas, one of which was over 20 years old and in excellent condition.
Shin's white ZX6RR is what we're focusing on though, it being modified in a similar fashion to stunt bikes from the USA. The most obvious modifications include 'frame sliders' on either side of the bike to protect the fairing and frame in the result of a fall, a '12 o'clock bar' (commonly known as a '12 bar') which is a metal plate attached behind the pillion seat to protect the sub frame and enable the bike to be ridden in a vertical 12 o'clock position, solid mounted rear foot pegs for various wheelie stunts, a hole in the pillion seat for a place to stand when doing wheelie tricks (in addition to the foot pegs) and the most technical modification of all, the 'smashed tank' dented fuel tank for a more comfortable seating position when doing tricks such as a 'High Chair wheelies'. Other mods which aren't so easy to recognize include a handlebar mounted rear brake lever and a larger rear sprocket for snappier power delivery. FRP racing style upper fairing (minus headlights) and custom tribal design graphics finish off the bike which does well to retain its stock appearance despite all the modifications. The 600cc ZX6RR puts out 120ps and weighs around 170kg, which is kind of disconcerting when seeing that very same bike braking from 60km/h on it's front wheel just inches away from you.
Once everything was loaded into the Toyota HiAce we headed off down to Pier #5 at Shinko Higashi Wharf. It's a great atmosphere down there with all the shipping passing by, the lights from Port Island illuminating the sky in the background and the ghost town like ambience of the vacated wharf at midnight. If there were any ghosts hanging around the wharf at the time they must've been scared off by the sound of Shin's bike roaring into life! No sooner had he warmed the bike up when he shot off into the distance at full throttle and did this huge power slide then turning around and coming back towards our position culminating in a long 'no footed endo'... brilliant! At this stage I was advised to leave the photo shoot until later because Shin was just warming up. Warming up? It was the most intense so-called 'warm up' I'd ever seen, on par with professional stunt bike rider demo videos. He kept this up for 20 minutes with every imaginable stunt you could think of, all done at an insanely quick speed which would put a lot of pro stunt riders to shame. After an interview and a chat he was back at it again, this time putting even more effort in. Just seeing the violent way he went about throwing the bike around was a sight to see, let alone the the almost flawless routines he pulled off with stunts such as 'no handed wheelie circles', 'high chair wheelies' and an totally insane 'no handed endo'. It was while he was practicing long endos that he started attempting to do them one-handed. On one particular attempt he came to a stop literally inches away from me with the bike's rear wheel coming back down at an angle which would've meant certain hospitalization if I hadn't moved at the right moment! It was hard to judge how far away the bike was looking through the camera's viewfinder... made for an interesting photo though!
Shin has been practicing virtually every night for the last 5 years and has elevated his skill to a point where the second best rider in Japan is a long way behind. At the start of the night I wasn't sure what to expect but by the end I knew very well what it took to be a highly ranked stunt rider... that being insane levels of courage and total faith in the bike's braking system! I couldn't stop thinking about what we'd do if Shin had a big fall and was flung from the bike or the bike came down on him. He proudly pointed out that he only wears a helmet (which would look more at home on a BMX riders head) and gloves for protection, anything else is too restrictive and would prevent him from pulling off certain tricks. Add to that the type of stunts he's doing, at the speed he's doing them at, it makes for a very dangerous thing to do in your spare time!
7Tune wishes Shin all the best in Florida next year and we hope he returns with a good result! See more of Shin at his website SKFreestyle. Thanks to Taka Yamashita for making the feature possible.
Text: Justin Karow
For full photo gallery visit: http://www.7tune.com/?p=105
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