ONE MOTO SCRAMBLE: How The Hell Did We Make It...

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Updates have been pretty sparse for the past couple months. The short of it is about 3 months ago I got my One Moto Show invite. 2.5 months ago we moved into our new shop space. ..and 2 months ago I started the Honda Dream 150 build, destined for the show. I knew there was no chance in getting this bike into a presentable form in 2 months time with my current schedule. I still work full time at a design consultancy in Chicago so my building hours are restricted to after 6pm and weekends. To put this timeline in perspective the Yamaha SR250 took just under 2 years.

So I took a month off. 

It wasn't going to be enough, so I hired a good friend, and had many others jumping in from time to time to lend a hand. Every minute of help I had was the reason this bike made it to the show. At 5am on Wednesday the 5th we put our tools down, and at 8 am we left for Portland. A 40 hour straight drive through 2 major snow storms in a mini van on all-season tires. We punished our bodies (and that van) for 2 straight days with beef jerky and Redbull dinners. We began to lose count of the amount of cars and trucks abandoned in snowy ditches after it rounded the bend of 30. Instead we started tallying up lists of cars we'd never purchase based on their abandonment rate.

1. Crown Vic
2. Chevy Impala
3. Light weight RWD pick up truck
4. Tractor Trailer

The Chrysler Town & Country ended up being an almost perfect road trip vehicle. We Country'd the shit out of it for a total of 80 hours and it took it with class. We even averaged 24MPG with 4 grown-ass men and a tiny motorcycle on board. Somehow we made it there and back and had a hell of a time doing so. The show was amazing and in my opinion the snow packed streets of Portland just added to the excitement of it all. So did the floor mounted e-brake slide attempts with 7 people on board. We're from the Midwest. When it snows, you drive sideways. Thems the rules.

Here's a photo dump from the camera phones of the beloved crew who made this trip a success. I owe you all the beers.

























See you all at the Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee this weekend!


DAILY INSPIRATION: Daniel Simon X Lotus - The C-01

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C-01
By Daniel Simon for Lotus 


If you're outside of the design and concept art world you may have never heard the name Daniel Simon. For those within the industry he's something of a living legend. Chances are you're familiar with his work but have never had a name put to it. He started his career designing for Volkswagen, where he worked on vehicle design for Seat and Lamborghini. Later he would assist in the revitalizing of the Bugatti brand, working on the Veyron. He also publishes concept art books, the first being Cosmic Motors - a book that came out while I was still in design school. It stopped me dead in my tracks and made me reevaluate my entire approach to concept design. 

More recently he's been lead vehicle designer for movies like Tron: Legacy, Oblivion and Prometheus. He's just published his 2nd concept art book titled The Timeless Racer wherein he intertwines the fictitious story of  a race series from an alternate universe. I'd highly recommend both books. You can find them through the link above.

Most recently Daniel has been spending his time developing a new motorcycle for Lotus: The C-01. According to Lotus' website, this isn't just a concept. It's real, and Lotus IS building it. About 100 to be exact. There is currently a road registered prototype blasting around German streets. Beneath the gorgeous streamlined fairings lies a 4-stroke 200hp twin, and the bike clocks in at about 400lbs even. I could die happy atop one of these... and fast. 

With a repertoire like Daniel's he's obviously quite immersed in the world of motorsport and has cladded the C-01's fairings with some of the most desirable racing liveries in history: The above Johnny Player Special with a twist of carbon, and below shown in Martini and classic Lotus racing livery. The only thing I'm not totally on board with are the OCC bagger style wheels. With such a strong nod to racing pedigree I would have liked to see something a bit more technical like a forged lightweight multi-spoke.



“The design process of the C-01 was a labour of love, there were many challenges, ensuring that the bike not only touches your visual senses with its timeless blend of classic appeal and modern execution, but that is safe and ergonomically sound was critical to me. We have worked hard to create a motorcycle with very distinctive features such as a clean main body, an extremely low side profile, a bold stance, a unique air intake, logical partline solutions and clean graphics.”
-Daniel Simon


via Lotus