Blog Image

To Build a Bike or.....

Virtute-Singulare

All the ins and outs that go into building my bikes.
Tips tricks and challenges I face.

004 A New Passion

Motorcycles Posted on Tue, January 12, 2016 10:34:13

And so with that image of this Street tracker made by Mule I was totally smitten.
The stance, the looks, It was in my opnion the way a motorcycle should be and so I was drawn into a new segment of bikes for me: The cafe racers.
I was surprised by the enormous amount of bike builds and so there should be a market for them. But cafe racers are not the thing for me in the way you sit on them, leaning forward or leaning backwards (choppers) are not really my favorite riding position so I only focus on building Trackers or Scramblers. (Scramtrackers)
But then multiple questions arise like:”how would I build a bike?, How should it look?, should it have a signature?, what segment of the market should I build it for?” and so on.
Like questions , insights evolve and so I have quite a clear view in the direction I’m taking.

My bikes wil have mono rear suspension, multiple exhausts and wire spoke wheels or other really light wheels.
And with that in mind I have started upon my first project which is a learning curve for me as wel.

I was fortunate enough to have had a very good education so skills like welding(all sorts), milling and turning on a Lathe were allready mine.
The real challenge lies in new techniques I all want to do in house like powder coating, pipe bending and designing new solutions for problems I encounter.
These all take so much time that my first project is evolving very slowly.
Meanwhile I always keep an eye open for buying opportunities and so there are 6 projects now, on which to think and work on.
My goal is to public as soon as I have finished three bikes which will all have the same theme.
I will never build a same bike twice so every bike will be Unique.



003 Turning point

Motorcycles Posted on Tue, January 12, 2016 09:22:03

When I was around 45 I cme to a crossing point in my carreer.
You can say I had it all: a wife, a kid, a Nice home, an SUV, a sportscar, A powerboat, but I can truly say I worked harder than all of my colleagues and didn’t mind to do so.
So next to my work I did all kinds of extra work.
Education had been having cutbacks in a way that teaching was getting harder and harder, due to no means. The money just wasn’t there to buy new models, materials and inventory.
Management was increasing and the money was flowing there instead of where it needed to be, which was in the classroom.
So when I was given the chance I took the opportunity to make a career switch, which turned out quite dramatic.
Having just started at my new employment, I was confronted by problems that had been kept from me and they were stacking up to more and more each week.
In the end, the stress and the hours of work took a toll on me.
I woke up one morning with a lump in my neck and was diagnosed with cancer, suddenly I was in a whole new ball game.
My employer wanted to get rid of me because I was sick.
Surgery and radiation therapy took away my energy.
And so I was extremely unhappy.
Anyway time passes and solutions tend to appear spontaniously.
So eventually I made my way back into the working process, being extremely disappointed by a large number of people. You really learn to know who your friends are and they were the best!
And now for something completely different: MOTORCYCLES !

Being back in education led me to new insights and one of them is : LIFE IS TOO SHORT, ENJOY EVERY DAY !

So I decided to go and do something else alongside my job (bills have to be payed).

It all started when I saw this picture: