Black Mamba: Suzuki DR650 Scrambler

Cramento Motorcycles builds an aggressive yet refined “Black Mamba”…

We’ve long been fans of Brazilian-built customs, but the country’s builders have really been upping the ante in recent years. Retro Rides by Lourenço has developed a trick horizontal rear suspension for the BMW K100 that’s being used by builders all over the world, while projects from Frateschi Garage, Grego’s Customs, and Antônio Victor (Duc) all made our 2020 Top 10 lists. Meanwhile, our friends at Brazil’s Motocultura BR have been keeping their fingers on the pulse of the Brazilian customs scene.

So we were thrilled to hear from Augusto Borghetti Chinelatto of Cramento Motorcycles, a workshop located in the small city of São Marcos in Rio Grande do Sul. Augusto, an architect and urban planner by trade, decided in 2015 that he wanted to apply his design skills to the creation of motorcycles. By 2018, Cramento Motorcycles had moved from the garage to a fixed-location workshop, where Augusto and his friend Matheus Borghetti have been assembling unique and exclusive projects.

The project you see here began as a ’99 Suzuki DR650, the customer had owned since it was nearly new, though it had been mostly sitting unridden in recent years. Augusto and Matheus jumped at the challenge. They immediately stripped the big dual-sport down to the bones and decided on a modern scrambler style:

“We wanted laymen to have difficulty knowing what the base bike was. As is usual at Cramento, we do not label motorcycles, but we always try to keep them as timeless as possible, mixing aggressiveness and refinement — the devil is in the details.”

They went with a sleek solo-seat design, housing the electronics and battery in a subtle box hidden beneath the seat pan. The seat itself is covered in black alcântara and the entire frame has been painted Nardo gray. A 1980s Honda 125cc tank was modified to fit, striped with matte and gloss bands of black paint, and the whole bike is now rolling on wide 17-inch supermoto wheels with fat Metzeler Karoo 3 rubber. Then there’s the solid wheel covers:

“I cannot forget the hubcaps, which were a hell of a job, but the result was unique and with a finish that even I don’t believe when I get close…”

The overall impact of the “Black Mamba” is stunning — one of the most aggressive yet elegant DR650 customs we’ve seen, with a dazzling array of small, well-executed details. Without further ado, we get the full story straight from the builders below.

“Black Mamba” DR650 Scrambler: In the Builder’s Words…

First of all I would like to present the workshop to you. Cramento is located in the small city of São Marcos, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In early 2015, the architect and urban planner Augusto Borghetti Chinelatto decided that he wanted to apply design skills in the creation of motorcycles, so with a friend giving a CG125 for the experiment, Cramento Motorcycles was born. Over time and the number of projects increasing the workshop left the garage and in 2018 together with his friend Matheus Borghetti the workshop gained a fixed location and since then has been assembling unique and exclusive projects.

But enough stories and let’s talk about the bike. The customer had this bike since it was semi-new, but in the last years it was more often parked than working. When he heard about our workshop he came to us and asked if it was possible to set up a project with a DR. Before knowing how the project would be, we took on the challenge. The client wanted a unique bike and that is what we know how to do.

Disassembling the bike to understand what we were dealing with, we decided that we would maintain the scrambler posture, but with a more modern touch. We wanted laymen to have difficulty knowing what the base bike was. As is usual at Cramento, we do not label motorcycles, but we always try to keep them as timeless as possible, mixing aggressiveness and refinement — the devil is in the details.

To make it look aggressive, the bike became a single-seat, where the subframe was completely rebuilt to shorten and adjust the bike’s proportions and house all the electrical parts under the seat. As we wanted this clean look, we left it without side fairings and without an air filter box to have visual permeability through the frame.

The suspension setup of the bike has a sturdiness that I always liked, so they remain original — the only change is a reworking of the front suspension where it was lowered 40 mm to be the ideal height. Speaking of heights, the set of wheels / tires was changed to a set of wide, 17-inch supermotard wheels fitted with the Metzeler Karoo 3 — 130 / 80-17 at the front and 150 / 70-17 at the rear.

With the enormity of the front tire, a set of triple tree clamps had to be designed and CNC machined in billet aluminum especially for the bike. The steering column axle remains original, but wheel axles, spacers, and bushings for the brake calipers had to be manufactured. Still in the set of wheels / tires I cannot forget the hubcaps, which were a hell of a job, but the result was unique and with a finish that even I don’t believe when I get close…

The fuel tank is from an old Honda 125cc from the 1980s, modified at the top to make it smooth and receive the machined aluminum cap and at the bottom to house the fuel tap. The painting is matte black with black gloss bands, all in paint. The seat, on the other hand, is based on molded sheet metal and lined in black Alcântara. The gray of the frame is the famous Nardo from Audi’s and other premium cars.

The exhaust system of the motorcycle was completely redone, including a stainless steel hand-molded tip, a DB killer, and a beautiful titanium fiberglass exhaust thermal wrap.

Other parts that deserve to be highlighted in the manufacture are the fairing of the headlight that was molded from a flat plate, the speedometer support that’s invisible, the light switches molded in an aluminum block, the plate support stuck on only one side…

The rear fenders, the battery / electric box that’s barely noticeable under the seat, the carburetor inlet machined in aluminum, the choke that was previously on the handle and now is straight on the carburetor with a machined aluminum button, the holes in the frame where the taillight sits, and so on …

Regarding the signaling items, I can highlight the 7-inch LED headlamp, the LED handlebar turn signals, digital speedometer, rear signal in LED strip, LED plate light and Aliant lithium battery. All the electrical was relocated and the loom redone.