The Stonebridge Motor Company is a new outfit set up by Nick Gale Custom Cycles and the Ace Cafe for their combined effort to build a bike for the S&S Cycles 50th Anniversary build off in late June. Their new web site will detail all of the build up using one of the S&S SB-Series engines. They’ll be building a limited edition of 100 of these bikes to be sold in Europe, America and Japan followed by a wider variety of models later on.
The S&S Build Off which was mentioned on The Kneeslider last October has an amazing lineup of competitors. This could be one killer competition.
Link: Stonebridge Motor Company
Please be sure to read both updates below due to a bit of controversy caused by the first.
UPDATE: Anyone notice a similarity here? I started thinking about it and digging back on The Kneeslider found this. And how about this comment by hoyt below that post:
“Maybe ACE Cafe will add diversity to the S&S 50th celebration by building a bike along these lines.”
I guess that was a pretty good idea. 🙂
UPDATE 2: I just had a very nice telephone conversation with Nick Gale where we discussed this similarity in drawings and how everything came about. I’ve removed most of the comments below because they were based on limited information which is often the case in Internet controversies, both large and small.
Nick Gale wanted to create an impressive web site to represent the build up of the Ace Cafe Racer, giving the world a sense, not only of what was going on with this particular build but to put it in the perspective of cafe racer history and the Ace Cafe itself. After reviewing the work of several individuals and portfolios of possible directions for the site, they decided on the current layout along with the various photos and illustrations used throughout.
One of the illustrations, the drawing eventually subtitled “The Stonebridge Ace Cafe Racer,” was found on the web by the web designers and it was changed to have an S&S engine to represent what was going to be built. The drawing, it seems, is Mark van der Kwaak’s CADbike 39, changed a bit for illustrative purposes and unfortunately, not credited as based on Mark’s work. Nick Gale was not aware of the drawing’s source.
When I originally updated this post on The Kneeslider, I was drawing attention to what appeared to be a collaboration between Nick Gale and Mark van der Kwaak, which Mark, soon pointed out with a comment here, did not exist. Mark sent off an email to Nick Gale asking why his drawing was being used without his consent and when Nick heard about it, apologized and offered to credit him as the source. It’s important to note, this drawing was never intended to be an accurate representation of the Ace Cafe Racer actually being built, it was only a representation of the cafe style of bike with an S&S engine.
Although things seemed to be working out between the two parties, further emails back and forth have shown that not to be the case just yet so Nick has decided to completely remove the drawing from the Stonebridge web site and put up something depicting more closely the design of the actual bike.
Again, there was no intention by Nick Gale to use Mark’s drawing as the source for any actual motorcycle build, a bike that is already under way, and the display of the drawing on the Stonebridge site was intended by the site’s designers to be representative only. That point and lack of credit for the drawing’s source led to considerable confusion but hopefully, everyone can move forward from here and just get back to work.
And just a few more words: I received an email from Mark van der Kwaak with an explanation of some of the telephone and email exchange and it seems some miscommunication between the two parties, you know the kind, where you say one thing and the other person repeats it back all wrong, not intentionally but aggravating nonetheless, is what caused this to go on longer than it needed to. It seems everyone is back on track now.
And even more words: (This should be the last addition here) I received an email from the web designer who wants to point out he did not just “find” the image online but received it among some other images with assurances it was ok to use. With hindsight, he might have confirmed that more carefully and he probably wishes he did but he in no way made any intentional misrepresentations and he thought he was following all appropriate guidelines.
Now then, … where were we?
Duncan says
I’ve been talking to Nick Gale about this project for a while and at some point I’ll be going to the workshop to get some pictures of the bike in production. I’ll keep you updated as to when it happens.
Additionally, of interest to anyone in the UK the bike is planned to be on display at the London International Custom Show in April – http://www.internationalcustom.co.uk/
Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" says
My comparison above was intended to point out what I assumed was a partnership between the builders and Mark van der Kwaak. That partnership does not exist.
Since this is probably better sorted out in a non public forum, I’m going to close comments here, temporarily. I’ll post an update when information becomes available.