BREAKING NEWS: Destino Samurai just launched at the Sydney Motorcycle show. View the Destino Samurai Gallery here.
There is a growing term amongst motorcycle enthusiasts, the "Samurai". What is a Samurai Bike? There is not much written about the Samurai Style, however, the style embodies a number of characteristics;
Long and low, balance and symmetry, warrior stance, weapon like, ready for battle, strength and character. These words can be used to describe the "Samurai" bike. There are a number of different styles of samurai bike, but possibly the most well known is the Samurai Chopper.
While many consider Zero engineering to be the birth of the Samurai Chopper not much is known about its original founder, Shinya Kimura. Jimmy says, "In our quest to build a 'Destino' samurai bike, we sought much inspiration from Shinya Kimura and his legendary work. Our goal was not to copy his 'Zero Style' Samurai, but build our own samurai bobber on a completely different platform. Something that would embody the Samurai spirit, yet represent what Destino is all about".
To give you some background on where Zero Engineering originated, here is an exerpt from a letter by Shinya Kimura;
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In the year of 1992, I opened "ZERO engineering" in Okazaki City, Aichi, Japan....
...In ZERO engineering, I only work on Harley-Davidson's given that the structure combined with the choice of materials create trust in its durability besides good looks. I also like the fact that a great number of the replacement parts for Harley's are available in the market.
As for the name, Zero engineering, I chose the word "zero". Whereas it 
can literally mean nothing, I believe the word holds an endless possibility to it. It is, indeed, meant to remind me not to conform to the paradigm and but to always challenge new way of thinking...
As I have always tried to base my work on these elements, so those Harley enthusiasts, who are accustomed to the American style, might find my creation new and different....
...At Zero engineering, it is our ultimate goal to flavor our sense of style in customizing Harleys. We are certainly not sticking to particular features like a small gas tank or fork springs, and open to new ideas. 
Thus, whether our bikes are novel enough to draw people's attention does not matter. For future perspective, I do not have any specific plans for what to design, and we will keep on doing the same things as we have done to put our ideas into shape.
I hope Zero engineering and our products will continue to inspire people in some manner.
Thank you and Sincerely,
Shinya Kimura-Zero engineering
You can find this letter and other history on Zero Engineering here
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Check out more pictures of Shinya Kimura's earlier work
Shinya Kimura has gone back to his grass roots, now that Zero Engineering has became a large corporate company. He has opened a small custom shop where Shinya spends his days creating motorcycle art. This is a great video that embodies what this visionary man is all about.
Destino Custom Garage wanted to create something with the same level of passion and creativity. Except their goal was to take the samurai bike one further. The Zero bike is focused on American engines, due to Shinya's love of the American culture and all things old. "Because we specialise in Japanese motorcycles, we thought that it is only fitting that our Samurai is powered by a Japanese Engine" said Nikki.
Jimmy B says, "We have tried a number of different configurations for this bike, but in the end we chose an 1100cc V-twin Yamaha engine. They sound amazing and have plenty of 'useable' power. We think that the V-twin is perfectly suited to our samurai design. Due to Australian registration Laws, we could not do a ground up build, we had to start with a donor bike. We chose a brand new xvs1100, almost every single component on the bike was changed or modified to achieve our look".
Jimmy was not going to give much away about this bike, but is hopeful that it will be received well by the public. Jimmy and Nik plan to build only 4 Samurai bikes each year, helping to maintaining their exclusivity.
It is expected that Destino will launch its Samurai bobber at the end of November, to coincide with the Sydney Motorcycle Expo 2011.
To register your interest, or to receive more information on the Destino Samurai Bike, complete the form below.