We are no strangers to building choppers but when we were initially approached to build a chopper with a difference, for a major movie-studio, we asked for some more details… and the comms went quiet.
We never thought about it again until over a year later, they contacted us again saying that they needed the bike and were sending through a sketch…but we weren’t allowed to tell anyone as it was a big secret.
“we need the bike, in Florida, in five weeks to be used in the movie promo”
They literally sent a sketch, no dimensions no detail, just something dreamed up in a designers head. We do love a challenge, then they dropped a bomb… “we need the bike, in Florida, in five weeks to be used in the movie promo”.
If we were going to do this, we needed to put the existing projects on hold. So a quick ring around the owners and we had their blessing to take the job.
The sketch reminded me a little of a Yamaha Dragstar and luckily I knew where to find one. Doner bike secured and it was out with the grinder, welder with copious amounts of head scratching.
First thing was to give the bike a load more rake to kick the front out, then we extended the forks to fit the tiny 10” wheel (repurposed from a crashed Lexmoto Milano).
We designed the wheel inserts in Fusion 360 then sent the files to our local engineering company to have them cut. We made the rear wheel in-house matching the design of the sketch and the front wheel.
We also made the bars in-house, testing our skill and patience as they had a sharp, pointy effect, just like everything on this bike.
We designed the axe blades on the computer and cut them from 4mm aluminium sheet, then bolted to the bike and aged to look mean and moody.
"Turning a 2D sketch into a 3D model for the bodywork was a fun challenge."
We bent a new exhaust system so the up-sweep of the pipes matched the angle of the forks (it’s the small details that count).
The body work was made from a mix of alloy sign-board, fiberglass and body filler. Turning a 2D sketch into a 3D model for the bodywork was a fun challenge.
We were given the paint-codes, however they were USA paint codes, and as we know everything over there is wrong so we used our eyes and came up with a perfect match to paint the bike.
We also composed a paint methodology, so that the exact match could be replicated in the USA should it be required. Everything we fabricated had to be accompanied by a methodology, explaining the materials, their use and how the pieces were constructed.
This seems like overkill, but on projects of this type they leave nothing to chance. In the event that something gets broken or stolen (which it did!) they know exactly how to recreate it.
Mark, our trusty painter absolutely smashed the paint job, so much fine detail and a mix of satin and high gloss in parts, it was a complicated finish, but he killed it as always.
The bike was wrapped up and delivered to the DHL plane in Belfast international airport and in 5 weeks exactly it was on set in Florida. It may have been a tight timescale but it was a thrilling project and one we are very proud of.
After using the bike to shoot the movie promos, it was then repurposed… but not before a bit of drama.
We received a call to say that one of the rear cones had “gone missing”. Apparently this happens more often than not when someone will take a little keepsake… Thankfully we had our fabrication methodology and we quickly remade the rear cone, had it painted then packaged up and over to the states.
So if you find yourself in Universal Studios in Florida, and you go into the Minions experience, while walking through you look up and see a mental looking chopper… I built that!
