The 2007 AMD European Championship results are up on their website and this bike from Art of Racer in France placed second. I thought the design was pretty interesting but I am having a little problem figuring out exactly how you ride it. Rear sets mean you are leaning way forward and the whole thing looks pretty uncomfortable even though the bike itself is neat.
Engine comes from a 1991 Harley Davidson Sportster and has a jockey shift to manipulate the 4 speed transmission. Again, looks nice but riding it might be a challenge.
Link: AMD Championship
Link: Art of Racer
Walt says
Nice styling exercise but why worry about riding it? That’s not the point. Headlight points at the front tire, rearsets at the axle – it’s all for show. Am I seeing drilled engine and primary covers? Like the Jesse James radial engine bike it’s all for looks, which is fine as far as it goes.
Willie Schmitz says
Show bike. Interesting widow motoocycle. Like the two front head sporty engine. Always nice to see how the Europeans think.
Sid says
The look of the rat rod/rockabilly car with white walls, red trim, and solid wheels is timeless. I always wanted to see a custom bike pull off that look beyond the spoke wheels you commonly see on bobbers.
this bike does that, but the proportions are out of whack…raise everything between the wheels and you have a rideable bike that would still do well at the “awards shows”.
Where has the moto public gone wrong to allow judges and promoters of such bike shows to think bikes that can’t be ridden not only do well at these shows, but actually win ? We are talking about motorcycles. In some ways, these bike shows (that do not take into consideration the “ride-ability” of a bike) are worse than beauty contests. At least the beauty pageants have to demonstrate their ability to walk in heels & answer questions.
Bob Horn says
Two front heads? That’s what that new XR1200 should have!
Is that negative trail at the front end?
todd says
Cute.
-todd
Sean says
Jesus, looking at the front I’m wondering how on earth you’re supposed to turn corners. Cute, very nice styling exercise, but make ’em rideable, not just lookable. Raise the entire thing up, give it less rake, a swingarm, and then we’ll talk. Til then, nice try.
M. Baker says
Did they bother putting pistons in it?
motoquest says
Seeing the AMD Site I’ve found some really wild rides.
This one
is somewhat similar in concept.
Sean says
motoquest, that’s an interesting way of doing suspension. Very interesting. Interesting like a Rube Goldberg machine. As in it’s really too complex and rather silly to actually put into production, but the different ideas are nice. Couldn’t for the life of me figure out how on earth it all went together for the first few minutes, though. Oh, and very glib M. Baker.
Duncan says
“Where has the moto public gone wrong to allow judges and promoters of such bike shows to think bikes that can’t be ridden not only do well at these shows, but actually win ? We are talking about motorcycles. In some ways, these bike shows (that do not take into consideration the “ride-ability†of a bike) are worse than beauty contests. At least the beauty pageants have to demonstrate their ability to walk in heels & answer questions.”
Just to let you know both the European and World Championship shows are judged by the contestants themselves. Each builder gets a voting form when they enter their own bike and are asked to pick their own personal top 12 bikes. The scores are then collated to get the winners.
RobC says
Looks like something a Comicbook Superhero would ride. I like it from a style point of view but I think these design compititions should factor in rideability as a criteria to be taken seriously.
rat rod says
I would ride that rat bike around town no problem, very clean.