2011 AMD World Champion Ken Tabata Passed Away
AMD was saddened to hear of the death of Ken Tabata of Tavax Engineering, Osaka, Japan. Ken was the winner of the 2011 AMD World Championship - a fitting reward for 3 1/2 years of determination, inspiration and innovation.
Ken won at Sturgis with his much-admired Tavax 2011V - hand-sculpted, polished aluminum custom loveliness inspired by the coiled-up energy and elegant, fluid motion of a 'Cheetah' racing through the Savannah grasslands.
Using his own hand-fabricated custom frame, housing an S&S Shovelhead style engine with custom rocker boxes, cam box cover and air cleaner for the S&S carb, almost the only other items Ken didn't make are the modified stock transmission, Rivera Primo primary with a sprung pulley to provide the tension to keep the belt in place and the heavily modified and lightweight Marchesini wheels with Dunlops.
The advanced suspension system was all Ken's work. The swingarm itself is suspended by a single coil shock, which is activated by a sports bike style linkage system. At the front of the bike, linkages are also used in the suspension - where the fork begins at the axle as a leading link with a pair of pivoting arms in each of the fork legs, working on a horseshoe shaped piece that pushes a single shock in a design similar to that of a Springer fork.
Our thoughts are with Ken's wife Akiko, seen here with him at the 'AMD' at Sturgis in 2011.