Update | Sketch refinement of the body

The latest sketches made over the last few days, to check the body refinements that will be made this weekend on the clay model.
A rather quick and dirty tool is to pick some photo's from the clay model, from the right angle and perspective, drop the visibility in Photoshop to 10% and sketch over it with a black pencil. I printed quite a few shots, and sketched during our holiday in the Spanish sun!
Basically I am looking for the right lines of the lower part of the tank-seat. This will be a fairly straight line, giving this ride its forward leaning character and the feel of a true café-racer!

Video | The Fabulous Lifestyles of Professional Motorcycle Racers

For more cool video's check out http://RideApart.com

Thanks to Michael Ras via his Twitter @Michael_Ras, for sharing!

Update | a glimpse of the body..

Just a few "spy shots" of the body design. I am progressing slowly with the clay modelling job, due to a lack of time... In the meanwhile I am planning the next steps, towards mold making.

Keep in touch to follow the next phase, soon on this blog!

Video | Protest Rock a Rail presented by Monster Energy 2012

Protest Rock a Rail presented by Monster Energy 2012 - Teaser from Tim Schiphorst on Vimeo.

Nice teaser made by Tim Schiphorst; for Protest Rock a Rail presented by Monster Energy 2012 in The Hague, the Netherlands. The event will be hosted on October 12th 2012 in The Hague. Check out the recap of 2011 as well!

More info check out; http://www.rockarail.com/news

Update | Trimming the body

Last week I have been shaping the body of the café racer; the mid section of the body has been trimmed. The first set up of the clay model was rather bulk in the mid section and felt uncomfortable while sitting on the bike. The tank section is very slim, creating a comfortable yet dynamic riding position.
For this moment some close-up shops of the motorcycle, the overall view will be given later on.

In the coming weeks the clay model will be prepared for 3D scanning, after which I will design the motorcycle's body in CAD, making use of the 3D data generate by the scan. This allows my to prepare the molds in CAD as well, so these can be milled out of HD PU foam.

Even so this offers the possibility to manufacture multiple bodies in the molds instead of one! So last weeks I am playing with the thought to develop a small body-kit serie; if some people are interested in a unique kit fitting a Ducati Monster frame.

Video | MX deep sand practice

Kick ass video of some KTM's riding in the dirt; with Dutchy Jeffrey Herlings, Antonio Cairoli and Jeremy van Horebeek!

Update | Fitting the bike

Finally! This week I was able to sit on my café racer for the first time! It was a very pleasant “ride” as you can see on the picture below.
The Spark exhausts will be positioned a little bit backwards. The current position is not the final one, due to a connector I need to bend to fit the silencers to the manifold.

The automotive tape is applied on the clay body this week! This is such a great tool to check out lines on the body of the motorcycle and the planned transition of one surface into the other.
On the second photo you’ll see the two black lines of tape positioned lower than in the last two photos’. I have lifted the lower part of the fuel tank a little bit, to give motorcycle a more aggressive and agile feel.

The coming weeks the volume and surfaces of the café racer will be tweaked further.. Stay tuned!

Update | Main body volume refinement

The tank area appears to be a little bit too bulky; it feels too much like an Enduro type of tank. The top surface is trimmed down, so the bike leans forward a little more. This modification has increased the aggressive feel of the motorcycle enormously. The lower part of the tank will be tweaked this week as well.

The seat and the rear end of the motorcycle where a little bit too slim in my opinion, so I smudged on more clay to increase its volume. At the same time I fitted the seat on the motorcycle again, to have a proper overall view on this café racers volume. Pictures of the bike with seat will follow later this week..