One-of-a-kind casestudy : Ferrari bike
The “Ferrari bike” as we came to call it evolved from a customer who owned a 612 scaglietti Ferrari. The car was painted in Grigio Silverstone and the customer wanted a Harley to match that would really turn heads. Working with Shaw Harley Davidson, one of the most innovative go ahead Harley dealers in the country, we set to work on creating a concept that was sophisticated, understated but truly innovative.
Working with Shaw we developed the concept, talking to the customer to understand his ideas and then evolving, introducing and developing our own. This was an absolutely key part of the process to ensure that we understood the customer tastes and preferences so that we could create something stunning. It was also important to develop the budget in this case £40,000.
Shaw came up with many of the ideas for the components of the bike and Altamura the bodywork and frame designs. The key was to put the whole concept together. The first step was to visualise the design. We created sketches and models of the key components. We wanted to reflect much of the styling on the car but it was equally important to give the bike its own character.
Originally, we planned to use artwork to reflect the car sculptured sides on the tank. Our tests showed that this would only work in some conditions. So it was back to the design studio to solve the problem. Working with our fabrication people the final design for the tank emerged and it was going to involve some cutting, welding and shaping if it was going to look anything like our concept.
Fabrication was the next step on both the frame, tank and the under seat battery cover which was hand built in GRP. Cardboard templates were cut to allow the metal gussets to be formed and welded onto the frame smoothing and shaping the rather ugly and unsophisticated castings around the under seat, swing arm area and the engine mounting brackets.
A new tank was purchased and the cutting lines scribed onto the sides of the Tank. The two tear drop cuts were then made in the sides. The cut out pieces were then reshaped and reversed and welded on the opposite side of the tank. This was an interesting process because although they were the correct shape all the curves were in the wrong direction.
Once all the cutting, welding and fabrication were complete it was off to the paint shop for moulding and finishing and getting ready for paint. Once all the components had been primed, wet flatted the base coats were applied, the silver for the pinstripe added the masking out of the design and then finally multiple coats of lacquer.
The next stage was to add the detail, the prancing horse on the oil tank and the front mudguard, the 113 cubic inch logo on the oil tank and the centre of the air box cover and the badges and logo’s on the tank. This was all done by hand in the airbrush studio after each component had been wet flatted to allow a good key for the detailed work. Then the final coats of lacquer and polishing to a deep mirror finish.
Attention to detail is key to the creation of a truly stunning motorcycle. To complete the paint work and to make sure the bike reflected the owners car the engine cases were painted in Ferrari red as were the brake callipers and of course the starter button.
The final touches were to cover the seat in grey leather with an embossed prancing horse finished with double silver stitching. Two Harley Helmets were painted with subtle striping to complete the effect - a breathtaking motorcycle.
