La Road Créature de Paul Scott / roadcreature3 07/03/2004 |
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Another reason for the organic theme was that, in nature, you can see a myriad of perfect designs. An oak tree, for instance. The perfect form for not being blown over. When you look at a skeleton and bones, they are the perfect answer to whatever particular task it has to perform. Keeping the skeleton theme in mind, Paul made his own to help with the build. Well nearly. To help him get a better idea of how the bike was going to fit him, and how it would look with him sat on it, Paul laid on the floor and drew round himself. He then took these patterns and made a hardboard mannequin, with pivot points where all the body joints are. Attention to detail or what?
The bike took 18 months to construct, due in no small part to the fact that everything on this bike is one-off. No bolt on custom catalogue parts for our man Paul. He even made the rubber castings that make the seat, well the bits of rubber that fit into the cast tail piece. By his own admission, it's not the world's most comfortable seat, but it looks really good though. He says the hardest job of all was the left hand exhaust pipe from the rear cylinder. This is made up from loads of small pieces welded together, and follows the shape of the engine casings perfectly. The hours of work that must have gone into this beggar belief, but then again, it's details like this that separate the great from the good. Both exhaust pipes meet up in a silencer, again made by Paul, which gives the bike a snarl to match its feral appearance. The belly pan represents the adrenal gland, connected with tubes, sending signals to the rest of the body. It actually houses the horn, starter solenoid, light relay, CDI black box, starter button etc. It has a strong piece of steel running down the centre of it, shaped like a skate blade, in case of grounding out, due to being so low. Foreseeing problems like that before they occur can only come with years of experience building bikes, something, undoubtedly, which Paul has. Mind you, that should be immediately obvious to anybody looking at the photos.