This New ‘Landspeeder’ BMW Is 150 MPH Of Motorcycle Art
Update Feb 11/2016: Revival Cycles reached out to say the motorcycle’s one and only public appearance will be at the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show this April—plan to be in Austin, Texas!
Wow. Just look at it.
If you’re up on your motorcycle history, you’ll recognize its shape from Ernst Henne’s “Landspeeder” BMW, a bike that in supercharged form topped 160 mph by the mid-’30s. Revival Cycles’ recreation was triggered by a customer who wanted a motorcycle, as Bike EXIF says, to be a static display as part of a large collection.
Revival chose Henne’s insanely fast and hand-developed machine as inspiration, but went far beyond the requirements in making a “static” bike. From the start, the team demanded that it had to be a fully-functioning motorcycle, if only until delivery.
It’s slightly longer than Henne’s bike, with its engine mounted lower in the frame; its high-speed stability should be good, and the team’s target of 150 mph sounds reasonable. The flat-cut steel frame is both stronger and heavier than more traditional tubing, and allowed for some seriously sensuous curves.
From its reengineering of a trailing link suspension to its adjustable shocks, from its unique hand shifter to its custom wheels, it’s a wholly original design—albeit in somewhat traditional-looking garb. The ever-awesome Bike EXIF has the full scoop on this motorcycle, with the promise of more from Revival Cycles: they’re building a second one, only this time it’ll be supercharged.
H/T to BikeEXIF
