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| This bike may be for looks but at least they made it damn cool |
Does It Take A Motorcycle To Sell A Watch? Maybe for Bell & Ross it does, but the praise should be sent over to Shaw Speed & Custom out of England. They are known for some great custom builds, but this one is decidedly different. Most likely this bike will never see a land speed racing track so in all reality its a poseur, but the details are so on point, its hard not to like.
Check it out on Wired
"In the same vein as the gorgeously impractical Lotus C-01, we have another motorcycle too beautiful for mass production–let alone to ride. It’s called the B-Rocket, and it was commissioned by Bell & Ross and built by British Harley-Davidson specialist Shaw Speed & Custom to give the French watch-maker something special for its booth at the Baselworld Jewellery and Watch show in Switzerland.
The B-Rocket follows the success of the Nascafe Racer, another two-wheeled collaboration between Bell & Ross and Shaw, which won numerous awards, including a trophy from the Sturgis bike show. But Bell & Ross wanted to go bigger and Shaw was happy to oblige.
“The B-Rocket’s look was inspired by speed-bikes and the ’60s experimental U.S. aviation,” said Steve Willis from Shaw.
To that end, Shaw started with a Harley-Davidson FXS Softail Blackline cruiser, which it then stripped to the frame and added a handmade body that cribs heavily from the hyper-aerodynamic, record-breaking land speed racers that blast down the Bonneville Salt Flats. The front fairing is pulled from a vintage land-speeder, and the bodywork is coated with an aircraft anti-glare coating to evoke the aesthetics of vintage planes. Other interesting bits include a hub that remains upright when the front wheel is rolling–just like a Rolls-Royce–along with two small wings on the forks that can be adjusted to increase the front downforce.
But for all its beauty, the B-Rocket isn’t about setting records–it’s a marketing accessory for the BR 01 B-Rocket watch. And with a price tag of 4,500 euros, you’ve got a better chance of seeing the bike on the road then seeing the watch on someone’s arm."
