The Art of Motorcycle Design: A Conversation with Arthur Barbagallo

When it comes to motorcycle design, few names are more synonymous with innovation and excellence than Arthur Barbagallo. As the mastermind behind the iconic ZX-10R, Barbagallo has spent years perfecting the art of creating machines that are both visually stunning and mechanically remarkable. In this conversation, we delve into the world of Barbagallo's latest creation, a prototype motorcycle that showcases his unwavering commitment to quality and attention to detail.

One of the first things that catches the eye is the dummy tank, which serves as a clever aesthetic touch, adding to the bike's overall visual appeal. "I really like the idea of these deep narrow sections," Barbagallo explains, "and I try to continue that same feel with the rear swingarm." The result is a motorcycle that looks every inch a racing machine, yet exudes a sense of sophistication and refinement.

The swing arm itself is a masterclass in design, with a cleverly designed pivot point that allows for smooth and effortless movement. When asked about his approach to designing the swing arm, Barbagallo reveals, "I wanted to create a unit that would be both strong and lightweight, while also allowing for plenty of adjustability." The end result is a swing arm that is both visually stunning and mechanically impressive.

The exhaust system is another area where Barbagallo has pushed the boundaries of design. Rather than opting for the more common straight pipe setup, he opted for a more complex arrangement featuring two exhaust pipes that are equally distant from the down tube. "I love the fact that it gives a nice aesthetic," he explains, "and creates a sense of movement and energy." The result is an exhaust system that not only sounds incredible but also looks visually stunning.

One of the most striking features of the motorcycle is its blacked-out engine. Barbagallo reveals, "I wanted to create a look that would be both minimalist and aggressive, drawing the eye away from the internal workings of the motor." The result is an engine that looks sleek and streamlined, yet still manages to convey a sense of power and potency.

The brake calipers are another area where Barbagallo has excelled. "I wanted to create a look that would be both modern and aggressive," he explains, "and opted for four-pot calipers with relatively large diameters." The result is a braking system that not only looks visually stunning but also provides exceptional stopping power.

When asked about his approach to designing the bike, Barbagallo reveals that he drew inspiration from a range of sources, including classic motorcycles and modern technology. "I wanted to create a machine that would be both comfortable and performance-oriented," he explains, "and opted for a relatively lightweight design with plenty of adjustability." The result is a motorcycle that feels both at home on the track and on the road.

One of the most interesting aspects of the motorcycle is its use of modern technology. Barbagallo reveals that he's always been fascinated by the world of electronics and computerization, and has incorporated a range of cutting-edge features into his design. "I love the fact that you can put mufflers on it," he explains, "because most people opt for straight pipes and it's easier." The result is an exhaust system that not only sounds incredible but also provides exceptional performance.

As we take the motorcycle out for a spin, it becomes clear that Barbagallo has achieved his goal of creating a machine that feels both comfortable and performance-oriented. Despite its sleek and streamlined design, the bike is surprisingly compliant, with plenty of adjustability to suit different riding styles. And when asked about his approach to ergonomics, Barbagallo reveals that he's always focused on creating a machine that feels both at home in the rider's hands.

Finally, we take a moment to appreciate the overall aesthetic of the motorcycle, from its deep narrow sections to its sleek and streamlined design. As Barbagallo himself puts it, "I love the fact that you get to see the working part of the motor." The result is a machine that looks both visually stunning and mechanically impressive, a true testament to the art of motorcycle design.

In the world of motorcycles, few names are more synonymous with innovation and excellence than Arthur Barbagallo. As we take a final look at his latest creation, it's clear that he continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in terms of design and performance. Whether on the track or on the road, this motorcycle is sure to turn heads – and inspire a new generation of motorcyclists.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwell I can feel the suspension working especially in the rear end on the seat here but the lack of room is really evident when you got these big wheels Jay Leno's Garage if you're wondering what the vehicle in front of you is you are not alone this one the design and style of what at the quail that's the premier motorcycle event here and certainly in America at least if not the world first time out by a first-time motorcycle designer in a professional show like that I love the fact that it's based on a very simple engine the Honda single cylinder although one of my favorite Honda's the 500cc I think it's the most British single of all the bikes they built but most people who do custom bikes they want that big Harley v-twin the Vincent v-twin the JEP you know ssj100 from the brough superior I love the fact that the engine is not the focal point of this bike it's the whole overall design plus you can look at this for 20 minutes and then suddenly see details I was looking at and then I realized there was this right there that the attack of the speedo right there where the headlights are how the seat well well it it's just a fascinating piece and it's easy to understand why it one I love the fact that the engine is blacked out it's not a lot of chrome your eye doesn't immediately go to that this is designed by an automotive designer named Nicky smart he's worked for a number of major manufacturers but I guess this is the first bike he's designed and put in a show so let's meet him come on Nicky how are you good to see you hey really fantastic piece of work thanks awfully nice you know I love the fact that this is another creation that was done like five miles from the shop here this has become sort of like Modena in Italy there's all these little manufacturer singer is right around the corner you're like five miles away The Fast and the Furious guys build their cars just three four doors down from us so there's all kinds of interesting things going on here so tell us about this what was the idea behind it how's the thought process were the whole deal so my day-to-day job is as you say designing cars but I've always had a passion for motorbikes and when I came to America I discovered the sort bored track racing area that was it's really a synonymous with American racing right like that really happened in Europe we had Brooklands but the the bikes that were developed the proportion of the bikes something about them just really captivated me and it's interesting that you you point out on the volume of the engine within the bike the kind of American sandwich too much meat in there is something that I always reference with those bikes with the v-twins it's just so overpowering right right and there was there was an area where they were trying to reduce the crashes and lower the speed and they chopped one of the cylinders off and they called the bikes peashooters and that was really what captivated me but self-care between the Americans in English because in America can't put too much meat in the sandwich apparently not yeah I know the first time as they know here's a guy order a turkey sandwich I got two pieces of bread with once a single slice of Turkey and I said oh okay other guys what to take it out looking at me funny as though I'm asking for a discount there was one slice of Turkey it just it just made me laugh it's just a different way of thinking but how does one go about design is do you start with the sheet of paper and just started working and it self comes or do you have the whole thing worked out in your head before you finish before you start father I mean I come from a timing car design where we use computers a lot but when I began studying everything was still very much sketching on paper and so I still work very much artistically and sketch a thumbnail I mean the ideas for this bike I was sat in an airport literally with just some scrubby little scribbles and I had a vision of a sort of proportion that I wanted to build and that was really the main sort of target for the bike I wasn't really looking to do a retro bike but there was something about those early twenties bikes the way that the seat sits down beneath kind of adjacent to this large diameter wheel the bikes quite flat you know it's just something really romantic about that proportion so I was just chasing that and then as I found the tires and the engine I was able to scan those in with a laser scanner and put those into the computer and then start to position them to work out the proportion that I wanted I like the English idea of cocktail napkin design you know when Gordon Murray the same sort of thing I think he he and Peter Stephens somebody were at an airport I don't have this quite right but the initial sketches are on a cocktail napkin this maybe see in the middle here you know and from that little acorn this giant regrowth it sounds like a horrible cliche but it really does start with a scribble because before you have the the kind of composure to sit down and do an illustration where you're coloring in and spending hours you need to know what you're drawing so those rough drafts are really where you find the essence of the proportion well let's start with the dead center of motor this logo it's on both sides what is that logo what am i seeing that I was building a bike using a Honda engine but I didn't want to claim it was anything that it wasn't so it was going to be a scratch built bike and I was trying to think of a cool name for a bike company and I kept racking my brain and of course drawing logos for you know synonyms and I came up with a bike company ABC and it just fell into a logo really well so oh okay straightforward but Oh kind of tongue-in-cheek cool and again I looked at this for five minutes before I realized it's a crispy dough so that's just a speedo there yeah this engine is relatively basic as you know to them it is and that's one of the reasons I picked it because there's not a lot of adornments right the engine casings are very simple but there's no speedo drive the 6 volt system so it was kind of tricky to add on a lot of electronics to this bike and I just wanted to keep it basic 6 volt system yeah I think they changed in 82 81 81 okay I love the fact that it all goes in a straight line you don't have two carburetors coming out the side I mean is that deliberate as well I think the fact that everything is contained within the width of the tank yeah that's is another aesthetic from the sort of 20s 30s bikes where they were these single spar frames I mean very bicycle derived obviously and the tanks were offering either hanging underneath or they were split in this case and having a split tank gave me the opportunity to pocket that out and hide all the electronics the battery and in this case the front shock absorber as well just to get all of the electrics all of the black boxes of mystery out of the way so that the bike had a relatively clean aesthetic me I love the fact that I could never design something but I know what I like when I see it and this is a classic case of that yes that's exactly what I want but I had no idea what I wanted until you gave it to me with this it's fantastic tell me about this front suspension system even this is unique you've got a lot of bikes that have girder type suspension supreme in sense yeah I mean that arrangement was very common until everything sort of went to the telescopic fork but one interesting development happened through Norman hoseok who basically took a girder type arrangement and I think improved it and this is called a ha sock suspension arrangement that BMW then used his inspiration for their Julie right but it's essentially double wishbones and then the fork is an upright and so the the the actual steering happens out on the front of the fork instead of a girder everything rotates right that's great now did you is this a system you bought and adaptively design to make these everything is made other than the engine and the tires and the grips everything is made and what size wheels so this is a 26 inch tire okay so the overall diameter is about 29 so again I was looking at those early bikes that had 28 inch OD tires this was a tire that came out in the sort of mid 2000s for chopper bikes like bagger bikes that run a very small wide rear and the tall front but no wheels were available at the time so this was the starting point for the project I had to basically work out how I could make a wheel before I knew I could use that proportion see I never quite got the chopper thing why take a motorcycle make it slower handle worse more uncomfortable and only look good when it's sitting you said it you know I like a bike that looks good in movement this looks like it's moving right now and that's kind of the fun part about it looks like it's going 50 miles an hour well that was that was really what excited me when I saw the pictures of the riders on the board track bikes in a way that they look stretched out and they looked like they're in a really dynamic position from the get-go so I was really trying to build a bike that wouldn't just look great for someone that's 5 foot 3 literally a jockey but someone our size could climb all for us the architecture would stretch us out and it would give the bike a sense of potency and it have that same dynamicism you know I was fortunate to know Jim Davey you know I don't know he was one of the famous board-track riders and he lived to be I think a little over a hundred and I met him obviously he was an old man but in the 20s and you ran with no brakes a brave and no throttle just wide open the only way you slowed down which you hit kill switch and they take your hand up out and he told me one guy he said at races there'd be like ten or fifteen girls with tweezers and they were nurses and when you fell you'd roll on the boards and you pick up 1,500 it sounds like a joke but it really is remember come out and I would do this and they would pull all the splinters on me just crazy yeah I'm crazy I mean it was eventually it wasn't outlawed but so many people were killed and they were going a hundred miles an hour with no brakes and no throttle I mean just think about that well know you start the corner and there's nothing you can do yeah I mean it's just so so it's kind of the biggest theater I think at the time a hundred thousand people yeah watching those races so is obviously a spectacle in fact when the Beverly Wilshire hotel is right now that was the biggest board track in North America it was right there in the middle of Beverly somebody's yeah just an enormous thing and like you said there was no well movie theaters were fairly new but that's what people did for entertainment hundred thousand people show up and just crazy just quit and guys made big money yeah you know you got twenty five thousand dollars which was a lot of the gladiators of the generals bikes well this does harken back to that whole era and this seat is anything to is this this is carbon-fibre yeah so it's cantilevered off the back of the frame so that the seat actually does have flexibility before it then starts to compress the suspension and then it also hides the air shock underneath so that the lines of the bike reads somewhat like a rigid bike but you still have suspension and the fenders are carbon fiber or carbon fiber look everything's carbon fiber when I was building this bike I thought about trying to learn to do sheetmetal work I mean I'm a fabricator as I grew up as a kid and I loved doing sheetmetal work and tubular manifolds and things but I was thinking back in the 50s and 60s when aluminum was are starting to be used if they had had carbon fiber that's what they would have used so I just sort of embraced all the technologies that I would use building cars now the wheels did you make the wheels as well yes Wow there are large diameter so obviously the gyroscopic effect our concern so I initially made a tool and laid up a unidirectional carbon fiber rim just to keep it as light as possible but I really didn't have the machinery to do any final machining so it ended up being a bit of a disaster so this ended up being two 21 inch steel wheels cut and then I made some matched tools press those rims out chop them and welded them together it's after 26 I mean it's amazing to me and even the idea that you know these reels are secure enough that you can actually that's all another whole art in itself it's it's pretty amazing I love the the use of it looks like gold but it's orange isn't it yes it is an anodized I mean the inspiration is definitely a proportion from a bygone era but I wanted the bike to have a much more modern feel in terms of the details like a sort of modern race bike so they're anodized I didn't want too much decoration but the anodized to show the aluminum parts so carbon fibre tank friend what does it weigh let me guess I'm guessing it weighs 360 is yeah I think it's like 330 something low 300s yeah Wow I mean that's so it must move along pretty good 33 horsepower so it's not the most powerful engine but yeah it's not a totally like 3 horsepower it's pretty yeah well move you along yeah yeah that's fantastic and even the headlight is fat look where the headlight is here I mean I thought well I couldn't drive it at night oh yes only headlights right there and and I'm sure that's more than adequate as a headlight yeah these are two projector beams LEDs and I liked them I mean again it's a bit of a nod to the sort of 20s 30s flag bikes and that had this kind of number plate down on there and it allowed the fork to stay open without headlights crammed in there so you could see the mechanism how many failed designs you go through before you come up with this I mean did you have other things that didn't work and you went to something else or is this always your vision this is exactly as you envisioned oh I see how a lot of bike builders build bikes I mean seeing like if I could build off shows and things and they were sort of coming with an engine in a frame and you know they'll have these basic pieces that already define things for them and then they'll join the dots with this because I was building everything from scratch I didn't really have any stakes in the ground so laying it out on the computer really was key yeah once I got those things in space then I was pretty much comfortable with the proportion I knew exactly what I would get and then it came out obviously looking exactly like the computer model and when you have a bike builder show you have to have a machine that makes sparks that's important you have to have you just keep grinding something anything just to throw sparks every commercial break it has to be sparks coming out of the thing that's the first part of it so tell us about now even on the front disc you decided I'm not gonna do a round disc I don't care everybody says yeah these are actually off of a gel X 10 R so I modified the calipers slightly but the rotors I basically at the time I knew I wouldn't be able to make the top hat to hold the rotor is something I just didn't have the confidence to do so I found a rotor that had the approximate spoke design I wanted and then I matched the contours of the hub to go with the rotor now see now see I would have thought maybe since everything else here is perfectly round that almost these would be perfectly round it might look better with a yeah you could be right now I'm just wondering it because it seems like big round little I mean proportion proportion and that's why I was curious as to why you chose this sort of rotor just because it's different maybe just a round rotor would look too just too plebeian yeah honestly that's one of the things I didn't really go a great deal of thought to but you could be right and all this here these roadster all this is just beautifully done the and obviously designed this piece here so it's all within one of the great advantages of building everything on the computer is once you have the data you can use rapid prototype processes so where you would typically be hammering sheet metal and working very hands on I could send off data in the case of these pieces here and have parts printed so these are these are fused plastic like ER and abs nylon these are investment cast in aluminum I also investment cast that drop out some of these lugs on the frame so it basically made silicone molds from wax printed prototypes so it's a quite a different process to how a custom bike is traditionally made now rather than a big single whether with a single I mean did you choose this motor because it had dual port so you can have a muffler on each side I really yeah through a BSA gold star yeah I I it was one of the things that I was adamant I wanted to find was these parallel I was originally looking at using a twin cylinder right and these parallel primaries coming out of the engine either side just like the tanks right and then when I came across the Honda XL 500 engine that is a single cylinder but a four valve head it still has the twin primaries so it was nice and balanced so aesthetically it went with the bike oh the stoplight is here as engine to see I just noticed that for the first yeah nice that's nicely done as well yeah again so it's not out there prominently in the wind it's it's hidden away and as you've noticed it's a kind of third read so it's not detracting for this kind of cleanliness of the bike did you find it making a chain guard would be too much adornment too much adding on to it why no chain guard any other reason for that I was looking a lot of rice bikes and I just loved I mean all through areas rice bikes are stripped down there really elemental there's no there's nothing unnecessary there's no boxes to hold things you know everything double duty is it's really efficient so I really didn't want anything there that looked I guess kind of like a production bike I wanted it to look like a more of a race bike aesthetic and this is the standard like a KN correct yep it's the standard carburetor I mean I haven't really worked the engine I mean the proportion the bike was the thing I was most obsessed about and that the high end performance is really not not the pursuit for me I mean did you see yourself designing because this is the only party yeah well it's funny a friend of mine everytime he sees the bike after whether I finished the air box I'm sketching one and I'm my doing air box to go in there it's interesting the engine the graphic the graphic of that v-twin for a lot of people when they see this bike they feel like there's something missing there yeah and it's that second cylinder that that's something there and so I may do an air box that helps to feeling a little bit of that nobody air box have any orange in it I think I would get the air box in and then maybe use some vinyl tape just to have a look and see if I like it then painted in and like I said I love the fact that the engine and the cases are blacked out your eye doesn't immediately go it's hit me I mean that's like I said the focal point of any motorcycle whoa look at that especially with custom bikes the kind of the diamond faced fins and that the kind of pizzazz of the engine I really wanted to dial that down so that you just read the lines of the bike and I love the fact you haven't modified the engine or that's just that's just to make it go yeah just to keep it honest and no I don't want to decorate something that's actually really nicely designed and I actually carried on the design aesthetic of the engine with the brackets around the engine so that it almost looks like a continuation of that original part yeah I got you is this all your brake fluid that's it yeah that's it I mean it only moves a very small amount I true so you can see if it's you know getting too low so yeah 10 cc's yeah yeah what's the piece you're most proud of us you had to pick one ones piece of a bike that really stands out for you which one is it I think the front suspension and this this arrangement it's so kind of interesting and most people when they first see the bike are drawn to see how it actually works I think pretty much every modern bike uses a telescopic fall right and it's often a unique aesthetic that doesn't really match the rest of the bike it's just a given that you're going to see those two stanchion right and then you execute the design houseware with this arrangement I could continue the aesthetic design of the rest of the bike all the way through the front forks as well yeah I agree I think your average motorcycles have picked this and the average person would pick the seat right if you're not a biker this is all what every motorcycle is whereas this is this is just pure design that's that's what's really cool I think to the average for all that seat is so neat but I have to admit I go with you here because I love the fact that my I did not immediately catch the speedo it took me oh yeah it's kind of hidden in there yeah because I was looking at like here really well really well done and the switchgear is that what does that offer is that it's actually just it's just your proprietary so I needed a little switch gear block and again I could just draw at the data a friend of mine has got a homemade rapid prototype machine that he made for like $1,000 and you can just print it out and tell us these two filler caps yeah so these are these are both brass or brass threaded so everything is all handmade and hand machined just the twin tanks that were invented the tanks are separate and then they collect on roots of the carburetor so there's a self level essentially okay when you film this one it will felt like it will yeah so as what a dummy tank and then Bob Harper no they're both open Oakley oh yeah this swing arm you make the swing arm yep I mean it's the same if you look at the section on the fork I really like the idea of these these deep narrow sections and I try to continue that same feel with the rear swingarm Wow very cool what are your mufflers Arthur III actually I look to use off-the-shelf parts but I grew up my father had a shop making exhaust manifolds and systems for all kinds of things so I grew up in a workshop welding so that was the one part I really wanted to do well I love the fact you can put mufflers on it because most people they just put straight pipes and it's easier I like the fact you make the concession that it's well it was another aesthetic that I think speaks to the kind of power and potency of the bike when you look at the bike I mean that silencer especially the way it megaphones out you know it contributes a lot so I think to just have a straight pipe it would look kind of unfinished right and the brake calipers are that they're off everything's off of zx-10r oh so I just wanted a relatively large diameter with four pot calipers it's you know just from every angle it really is beautiful and for lane splitting in California ah it's a relatively narrow yeah it's the greatest bike every yeah it really I love the way the two exhaust pipes are exactly the equally distant from the yep from the down tube I mean that gives a nice aesthetic that you don't know this right away takes a second that's really cool and again the blacked out engine is genius because there's a thing to just make everything shiny in the center draw the eye away I love the fact that the is drawn outward rather yeah the glossy finishes are on the the wheel so I mean you the wheels were a big part of the aesthetic but then everything is consistent with those I love that these pretty calm Road joints here yep are not black I like the fact you get to see the working part of the motors yeah it's a little yeah a little special you see those move as you turn it yeah it's it's really something it's really neat we got a fire it up around the block huh yeah absolutely you're the test pilot oh yeah when you got these big wheels same reason the 21 inch tires on my Tesla don't write as well as the 19th you know with a set of proper modern tires a little more compliance to them it's really it's not uncomfortable it seems like it looks like a small bike but it's not I find this rising of position okay obviously we're not doing anything crazy with the bike because it's a prototype II took 10 years to build but everything works suspension brakes reliable handles nice extremely lightweight I mean it's the most lightweight but I've been on a long time it wasn't a you know 125 or something look on your face I pulled away the thing I'd taken your woman you're like I'm just happy you're back no it's great you what obviously the tires are way too hard I mean every bump you don't get to your question about pressure early it may just be that they're too hard or really developed well you know I can feel a suspension working I can see work the seat is not that uncomfortable it's actually okay no it's great and it's so light it feels like a 125 or 230 you know it's really interesting seeing you on the bike because you're six foot something and yet you're stretched out you've got the same composure as those jockeys back in this winter but it's quite it's quite comfortable and it's it's not bad I mean obviously hours of this would be back-breaking look my age but no it's great and it and I mean the looks everybody thumbs up but what's that cameras are coming out and going along nice job thank you you give up that car things you learn to bike sit that car thinks a dead end I'll mix them up for the time being let's say hello go hey thank you for bringing this by and and you know the greatest thing about it is it actually works because the number of bikes we said hey we'd love time on the show you can't really ride it because nothing's connected there's no internals so the fact you make a working running prototype that works perfectly the lights work everything works is there a horn on it yeah yeah well it was what before you turned off it was yes yeah I got it very cool well once again I can't thank you no I appreciate it thank you very cool very cool check out his websitewell I can feel the suspension working especially in the rear end on the seat here but the lack of room is really evident when you got these big wheels Jay Leno's Garage if you're wondering what the vehicle in front of you is you are not alone this one the design and style of what at the quail that's the premier motorcycle event here and certainly in America at least if not the world first time out by a first-time motorcycle designer in a professional show like that I love the fact that it's based on a very simple engine the Honda single cylinder although one of my favorite Honda's the 500cc I think it's the most British single of all the bikes they built but most people who do custom bikes they want that big Harley v-twin the Vincent v-twin the JEP you know ssj100 from the brough superior I love the fact that the engine is not the focal point of this bike it's the whole overall design plus you can look at this for 20 minutes and then suddenly see details I was looking at and then I realized there was this right there that the attack of the speedo right there where the headlights are how the seat well well it it's just a fascinating piece and it's easy to understand why it one I love the fact that the engine is blacked out it's not a lot of chrome your eye doesn't immediately go to that this is designed by an automotive designer named Nicky smart he's worked for a number of major manufacturers but I guess this is the first bike he's designed and put in a show so let's meet him come on Nicky how are you good to see you hey really fantastic piece of work thanks awfully nice you know I love the fact that this is another creation that was done like five miles from the shop here this has become sort of like Modena in Italy there's all these little manufacturer singer is right around the corner you're like five miles away The Fast and the Furious guys build their cars just three four doors down from us so there's all kinds of interesting things going on here so tell us about this what was the idea behind it how's the thought process were the whole deal so my day-to-day job is as you say designing cars but I've always had a passion for motorbikes and when I came to America I discovered the sort bored track racing area that was it's really a synonymous with American racing right like that really happened in Europe we had Brooklands but the the bikes that were developed the proportion of the bikes something about them just really captivated me and it's interesting that you you point out on the volume of the engine within the bike the kind of American sandwich too much meat in there is something that I always reference with those bikes with the v-twins it's just so overpowering right right and there was there was an area where they were trying to reduce the crashes and lower the speed and they chopped one of the cylinders off and they called the bikes peashooters and that was really what captivated me but self-care between the Americans in English because in America can't put too much meat in the sandwich apparently not yeah I know the first time as they know here's a guy order a turkey sandwich I got two pieces of bread with once a single slice of Turkey and I said oh okay other guys what to take it out looking at me funny as though I'm asking for a discount there was one slice of Turkey it just it just made me laugh it's just a different way of thinking but how does one go about design is do you start with the sheet of paper and just started working and it self comes or do you have the whole thing worked out in your head before you finish before you start father I mean I come from a timing car design where we use computers a lot but when I began studying everything was still very much sketching on paper and so I still work very much artistically and sketch a thumbnail I mean the ideas for this bike I was sat in an airport literally with just some scrubby little scribbles and I had a vision of a sort of proportion that I wanted to build and that was really the main sort of target for the bike I wasn't really looking to do a retro bike but there was something about those early twenties bikes the way that the seat sits down beneath kind of adjacent to this large diameter wheel the bikes quite flat you know it's just something really romantic about that proportion so I was just chasing that and then as I found the tires and the engine I was able to scan those in with a laser scanner and put those into the computer and then start to position them to work out the proportion that I wanted I like the English idea of cocktail napkin design you know when Gordon Murray the same sort of thing I think he he and Peter Stephens somebody were at an airport I don't have this quite right but the initial sketches are on a cocktail napkin this maybe see in the middle here you know and from that little acorn this giant regrowth it sounds like a horrible cliche but it really does start with a scribble because before you have the the kind of composure to sit down and do an illustration where you're coloring in and spending hours you need to know what you're drawing so those rough drafts are really where you find the essence of the proportion well let's start with the dead center of motor this logo it's on both sides what is that logo what am i seeing that I was building a bike using a Honda engine but I didn't want to claim it was anything that it wasn't so it was going to be a scratch built bike and I was trying to think of a cool name for a bike company and I kept racking my brain and of course drawing logos for you know synonyms and I came up with a bike company ABC and it just fell into a logo really well so oh okay straightforward but Oh kind of tongue-in-cheek cool and again I looked at this for five minutes before I realized it's a crispy dough so that's just a speedo there yeah this engine is relatively basic as you know to them it is and that's one of the reasons I picked it because there's not a lot of adornments right the engine casings are very simple but there's no speedo drive the 6 volt system so it was kind of tricky to add on a lot of electronics to this bike and I just wanted to keep it basic 6 volt system yeah I think they changed in 82 81 81 okay I love the fact that it all goes in a straight line you don't have two carburetors coming out the side I mean is that deliberate as well I think the fact that everything is contained within the width of the tank yeah that's is another aesthetic from the sort of 20s 30s bikes where they were these single spar frames I mean very bicycle derived obviously and the tanks were offering either hanging underneath or they were split in this case and having a split tank gave me the opportunity to pocket that out and hide all the electronics the battery and in this case the front shock absorber as well just to get all of the electrics all of the black boxes of mystery out of the way so that the bike had a relatively clean aesthetic me I love the fact that I could never design something but I know what I like when I see it and this is a classic case of that yes that's exactly what I want but I had no idea what I wanted until you gave it to me with this it's fantastic tell me about this front suspension system even this is unique you've got a lot of bikes that have girder type suspension supreme in sense yeah I mean that arrangement was very common until everything sort of went to the telescopic fork but one interesting development happened through Norman hoseok who basically took a girder type arrangement and I think improved it and this is called a ha sock suspension arrangement that BMW then used his inspiration for their Julie right but it's essentially double wishbones and then the fork is an upright and so the the the actual steering happens out on the front of the fork instead of a girder everything rotates right that's great now did you is this a system you bought and adaptively design to make these everything is made other than the engine and the tires and the grips everything is made and what size wheels so this is a 26 inch tire okay so the overall diameter is about 29 so again I was looking at those early bikes that had 28 inch OD tires this was a tire that came out in the sort of mid 2000s for chopper bikes like bagger bikes that run a very small wide rear and the tall front but no wheels were available at the time so this was the starting point for the project I had to basically work out how I could make a wheel before I knew I could use that proportion see I never quite got the chopper thing why take a motorcycle make it slower handle worse more uncomfortable and only look good when it's sitting you said it you know I like a bike that looks good in movement this looks like it's moving right now and that's kind of the fun part about it looks like it's going 50 miles an hour well that was that was really what excited me when I saw the pictures of the riders on the board track bikes in a way that they look stretched out and they looked like they're in a really dynamic position from the get-go so I was really trying to build a bike that wouldn't just look great for someone that's 5 foot 3 literally a jockey but someone our size could climb all for us the architecture would stretch us out and it would give the bike a sense of potency and it have that same dynamicism you know I was fortunate to know Jim Davey you know I don't know he was one of the famous board-track riders and he lived to be I think a little over a hundred and I met him obviously he was an old man but in the 20s and you ran with no brakes a brave and no throttle just wide open the only way you slowed down which you hit kill switch and they take your hand up out and he told me one guy he said at races there'd be like ten or fifteen girls with tweezers and they were nurses and when you fell you'd roll on the boards and you pick up 1,500 it sounds like a joke but it really is remember come out and I would do this and they would pull all the splinters on me just crazy yeah I'm crazy I mean it was eventually it wasn't outlawed but so many people were killed and they were going a hundred miles an hour with no brakes and no throttle I mean just think about that well know you start the corner and there's nothing you can do yeah I mean it's just so so it's kind of the biggest theater I think at the time a hundred thousand people yeah watching those races so is obviously a spectacle in fact when the Beverly Wilshire hotel is right now that was the biggest board track in North America it was right there in the middle of Beverly somebody's yeah just an enormous thing and like you said there was no well movie theaters were fairly new but that's what people did for entertainment hundred thousand people show up and just crazy just quit and guys made big money yeah you know you got twenty five thousand dollars which was a lot of the gladiators of the generals bikes well this does harken back to that whole era and this seat is anything to is this this is carbon-fibre yeah so it's cantilevered off the back of the frame so that the seat actually does have flexibility before it then starts to compress the suspension and then it also hides the air shock underneath so that the lines of the bike reads somewhat like a rigid bike but you still have suspension and the fenders are carbon fiber or carbon fiber look everything's carbon fiber when I was building this bike I thought about trying to learn to do sheetmetal work I mean I'm a fabricator as I grew up as a kid and I loved doing sheetmetal work and tubular manifolds and things but I was thinking back in the 50s and 60s when aluminum was are starting to be used if they had had carbon fiber that's what they would have used so I just sort of embraced all the technologies that I would use building cars now the wheels did you make the wheels as well yes Wow there are large diameter so obviously the gyroscopic effect our concern so I initially made a tool and laid up a unidirectional carbon fiber rim just to keep it as light as possible but I really didn't have the machinery to do any final machining so it ended up being a bit of a disaster so this ended up being two 21 inch steel wheels cut and then I made some matched tools press those rims out chop them and welded them together it's after 26 I mean it's amazing to me and even the idea that you know these reels are secure enough that you can actually that's all another whole art in itself it's it's pretty amazing I love the the use of it looks like gold but it's orange isn't it yes it is an anodized I mean the inspiration is definitely a proportion from a bygone era but I wanted the bike to have a much more modern feel in terms of the details like a sort of modern race bike so they're anodized I didn't want too much decoration but the anodized to show the aluminum parts so carbon fibre tank friend what does it weigh let me guess I'm guessing it weighs 360 is yeah I think it's like 330 something low 300s yeah Wow I mean that's so it must move along pretty good 33 horsepower so it's not the most powerful engine but yeah it's not a totally like 3 horsepower it's pretty yeah well move you along yeah yeah that's fantastic and even the headlight is fat look where the headlight is here I mean I thought well I couldn't drive it at night oh yes only headlights right there and and I'm sure that's more than adequate as a headlight yeah these are two projector beams LEDs and I liked them I mean again it's a bit of a nod to the sort of 20s 30s flag bikes and that had this kind of number plate down on there and it allowed the fork to stay open without headlights crammed in there so you could see the mechanism how many failed designs you go through before you come up with this I mean did you have other things that didn't work and you went to something else or is this always your vision this is exactly as you envisioned oh I see how a lot of bike builders build bikes I mean seeing like if I could build off shows and things and they were sort of coming with an engine in a frame and you know they'll have these basic pieces that already define things for them and then they'll join the dots with this because I was building everything from scratch I didn't really have any stakes in the ground so laying it out on the computer really was key yeah once I got those things in space then I was pretty much comfortable with the proportion I knew exactly what I would get and then it came out obviously looking exactly like the computer model and when you have a bike builder show you have to have a machine that makes sparks that's important you have to have you just keep grinding something anything just to throw sparks every commercial break it has to be sparks coming out of the thing that's the first part of it so tell us about now even on the front disc you decided I'm not gonna do a round disc I don't care everybody says yeah these are actually off of a gel X 10 R so I modified the calipers slightly but the rotors I basically at the time I knew I wouldn't be able to make the top hat to hold the rotor is something I just didn't have the confidence to do so I found a rotor that had the approximate spoke design I wanted and then I matched the contours of the hub to go with the rotor now see now see I would have thought maybe since everything else here is perfectly round that almost these would be perfectly round it might look better with a yeah you could be right now I'm just wondering it because it seems like big round little I mean proportion proportion and that's why I was curious as to why you chose this sort of rotor just because it's different maybe just a round rotor would look too just too plebeian yeah honestly that's one of the things I didn't really go a great deal of thought to but you could be right and all this here these roadster all this is just beautifully done the and obviously designed this piece here so it's all within one of the great advantages of building everything on the computer is once you have the data you can use rapid prototype processes so where you would typically be hammering sheet metal and working very hands on I could send off data in the case of these pieces here and have parts printed so these are these are fused plastic like ER and abs nylon these are investment cast in aluminum I also investment cast that drop out some of these lugs on the frame so it basically made silicone molds from wax printed prototypes so it's a quite a different process to how a custom bike is traditionally made now rather than a big single whether with a single I mean did you choose this motor because it had dual port so you can have a muffler on each side I really yeah through a BSA gold star yeah I I it was one of the things that I was adamant I wanted to find was these parallel I was originally looking at using a twin cylinder right and these parallel primaries coming out of the engine either side just like the tanks right and then when I came across the Honda XL 500 engine that is a single cylinder but a four valve head it still has the twin primaries so it was nice and balanced so aesthetically it went with the bike oh the stoplight is here as engine to see I just noticed that for the first yeah nice that's nicely done as well yeah again so it's not out there prominently in the wind it's it's hidden away and as you've noticed it's a kind of third read so it's not detracting for this kind of cleanliness of the bike did you find it making a chain guard would be too much adornment too much adding on to it why no chain guard any other reason for that I was looking a lot of rice bikes and I just loved I mean all through areas rice bikes are stripped down there really elemental there's no there's nothing unnecessary there's no boxes to hold things you know everything double duty is it's really efficient so I really didn't want anything there that looked I guess kind of like a production bike I wanted it to look like a more of a race bike aesthetic and this is the standard like a KN correct yep it's the standard carburetor I mean I haven't really worked the engine I mean the proportion the bike was the thing I was most obsessed about and that the high end performance is really not not the pursuit for me I mean did you see yourself designing because this is the only party yeah well it's funny a friend of mine everytime he sees the bike after whether I finished the air box I'm sketching one and I'm my doing air box to go in there it's interesting the engine the graphic the graphic of that v-twin for a lot of people when they see this bike they feel like there's something missing there yeah and it's that second cylinder that that's something there and so I may do an air box that helps to feeling a little bit of that nobody air box have any orange in it I think I would get the air box in and then maybe use some vinyl tape just to have a look and see if I like it then painted in and like I said I love the fact that the engine and the cases are blacked out your eye doesn't immediately go it's hit me I mean that's like I said the focal point of any motorcycle whoa look at that especially with custom bikes the kind of the diamond faced fins and that the kind of pizzazz of the engine I really wanted to dial that down so that you just read the lines of the bike and I love the fact you haven't modified the engine or that's just that's just to make it go yeah just to keep it honest and no I don't want to decorate something that's actually really nicely designed and I actually carried on the design aesthetic of the engine with the brackets around the engine so that it almost looks like a continuation of that original part yeah I got you is this all your brake fluid that's it yeah that's it I mean it only moves a very small amount I true so you can see if it's you know getting too low so yeah 10 cc's yeah yeah what's the piece you're most proud of us you had to pick one ones piece of a bike that really stands out for you which one is it I think the front suspension and this this arrangement it's so kind of interesting and most people when they first see the bike are drawn to see how it actually works I think pretty much every modern bike uses a telescopic fall right and it's often a unique aesthetic that doesn't really match the rest of the bike it's just a given that you're going to see those two stanchion right and then you execute the design houseware with this arrangement I could continue the aesthetic design of the rest of the bike all the way through the front forks as well yeah I agree I think your average motorcycles have picked this and the average person would pick the seat right if you're not a biker this is all what every motorcycle is whereas this is this is just pure design that's that's what's really cool I think to the average for all that seat is so neat but I have to admit I go with you here because I love the fact that my I did not immediately catch the speedo it took me oh yeah it's kind of hidden in there yeah because I was looking at like here really well really well done and the switchgear is that what does that offer is that it's actually just it's just your proprietary so I needed a little switch gear block and again I could just draw at the data a friend of mine has got a homemade rapid prototype machine that he made for like $1,000 and you can just print it out and tell us these two filler caps yeah so these are these are both brass or brass threaded so everything is all handmade and hand machined just the twin tanks that were invented the tanks are separate and then they collect on roots of the carburetor so there's a self level essentially okay when you film this one it will felt like it will yeah so as what a dummy tank and then Bob Harper no they're both open Oakley oh yeah this swing arm you make the swing arm yep I mean it's the same if you look at the section on the fork I really like the idea of these these deep narrow sections and I try to continue that same feel with the rear swingarm Wow very cool what are your mufflers Arthur III actually I look to use off-the-shelf parts but I grew up my father had a shop making exhaust manifolds and systems for all kinds of things so I grew up in a workshop welding so that was the one part I really wanted to do well I love the fact you can put mufflers on it because most people they just put straight pipes and it's easier I like the fact you make the concession that it's well it was another aesthetic that I think speaks to the kind of power and potency of the bike when you look at the bike I mean that silencer especially the way it megaphones out you know it contributes a lot so I think to just have a straight pipe it would look kind of unfinished right and the brake calipers are that they're off everything's off of zx-10r oh so I just wanted a relatively large diameter with four pot calipers it's you know just from every angle it really is beautiful and for lane splitting in California ah it's a relatively narrow yeah it's the greatest bike every yeah it really I love the way the two exhaust pipes are exactly the equally distant from the yep from the down tube I mean that gives a nice aesthetic that you don't know this right away takes a second that's really cool and again the blacked out engine is genius because there's a thing to just make everything shiny in the center draw the eye away I love the fact that the is drawn outward rather yeah the glossy finishes are on the the wheel so I mean you the wheels were a big part of the aesthetic but then everything is consistent with those I love that these pretty calm Road joints here yep are not black I like the fact you get to see the working part of the motors yeah it's a little yeah a little special you see those move as you turn it yeah it's it's really something it's really neat we got a fire it up around the block huh yeah absolutely you're the test pilot oh yeah when you got these big wheels same reason the 21 inch tires on my Tesla don't write as well as the 19th you know with a set of proper modern tires a little more compliance to them it's really it's not uncomfortable it seems like it looks like a small bike but it's not I find this rising of position okay obviously we're not doing anything crazy with the bike because it's a prototype II took 10 years to build but everything works suspension brakes reliable handles nice extremely lightweight I mean it's the most lightweight but I've been on a long time it wasn't a you know 125 or something look on your face I pulled away the thing I'd taken your woman you're like I'm just happy you're back no it's great you what obviously the tires are way too hard I mean every bump you don't get to your question about pressure early it may just be that they're too hard or really developed well you know I can feel a suspension working I can see work the seat is not that uncomfortable it's actually okay no it's great and it's so light it feels like a 125 or 230 you know it's really interesting seeing you on the bike because you're six foot something and yet you're stretched out you've got the same composure as those jockeys back in this winter but it's quite it's quite comfortable and it's it's not bad I mean obviously hours of this would be back-breaking look my age but no it's great and it and I mean the looks everybody thumbs up but what's that cameras are coming out and going along nice job thank you you give up that car things you learn to bike sit that car thinks a dead end I'll mix them up for the time being let's say hello go hey thank you for bringing this by and and you know the greatest thing about it is it actually works because the number of bikes we said hey we'd love time on the show you can't really ride it because nothing's connected there's no internals so the fact you make a working running prototype that works perfectly the lights work everything works is there a horn on it yeah yeah well it was what before you turned off it was yes yeah I got it very cool well once again I can't thank you no I appreciate it thank you very cool very cool check out his website\n"