Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Rapid Art



F1E Motorcycle Works is a New Zealand based company dedicated to producing racing prototypes and some very special race-bred road bikes. F1E Motorcycle Works specialize in building and racing Ducati TT2 replicas which what first drew my interest to this company.

Owner Steve Bridge is at the same time a superb engineer, brilliant designer and a successful racer. He has developed his Rapid Art range of performance motorcycle accessories for a wide variety of street bikes.

I visited Steve's workshop recently where I got a first hand look at some of his latest projects...

Steve's successful TT2 post-classic race bike

Steve's Ducati 999 / 900 Superleggera hybrid

The little beauty shown above uses a Ducati 900 superlight engine fitted to a Ducati 999 frame, tank and seat. A custom exhaust, special bellypan, mini-fairing and a lot of detail fitting and special parts creates a bike which exceeds the sum of its parts.



It was Steve Bridge who transformed the 500cc Pantah engine, Verlicchi TT2 Frame and bodywork I had laying around in the garage, into my dream Ducati TT2 road bike (shown below...).


As a modern replica, this bike has been updated with upside down front suspension, lightweight 17" wheels and 4-pot front brake calipers. The addition of Rapid Art, components a lot of special fitting and superb attention to detail has produced a standout Ducati road bike.

Sadly, as I am soon returning to Europe, I have decided to sell this bike. Anyone interested in buying it should contact me at the e-mail address shown below. I will be writing more details about this bike and its pending sale in a future Blog article.



Update: The TT2 has been sold. To all who contacted me, thanks for your interest.