There’s finally light at the end of a long tunnel for the van der Heide brothers...
IMAGES: STUDIO TARGET PRESS, KEL EDGE
It’s many people’s dream to build their own bike – but very few manage to achieve it. Those that do command our utmost respect, the likes of John Britton and Erik Buell created real legacies from their vision, engineering skill and dogged determination, while the shed builders like Allen Millyard (creator of the Viper eight-litre V-10) are also talked of in reverent terms here in the office and beyond.
But the process of building a bike from scratch, even if you’re using a donor motor, is one whose complexity is almost endless. Not only do you need the vision, but you also need a huge array of skills (and no little money) to get the job done. Being able to translate what you’ve got in your head onto paper is the start, and by the time you’ve got to the end you’ll need to have acquired CAD skills, Finite Element Analysis talents, be a quality engineer, become a materials expert, be able to get your hands dirty, know your way around an engine, be able to set a bike up, magic yourself into a marketing and website expert, and the list goes on.