Labor horse speed shop wowed us two weeks ago, with a classic AMA superbike inspired by India’s FTR 1200 speculated to the hilt. But that’s just one of two FTRs Workhorse’s Brice Hennebert has been working. We’ve now looked at the other — and although the bikes are built for a pair of brothers, they couldn’t be more different.
This one is called the ‘Black Swan’, and it’s a rough carbon-coated superbike that takes cues from multiple sources. Brice’s mood board in this project includes ’90s sports cars, contemporary MotoGP racers and even Porsches by German tuning company, RAUH-Welt. Think of it like Batman meets Top Gun, just much more radical.
Brice first got the idea to build something this way a few years ago, while racing at the famous Wheels & Waves festival. “I had a vision to build a sport bike for road use — really sporty, built like a GP bike,” he explains. “It’s deeply inspired by ’90s sports bikes, all made from carbon fiber.”
“The owner of the bike gave me complete freedom around the project. So I pushed all the levels to my max. It’s quite unique and the most complex work I’ve done to date. ”
Brice doesn’t exaggerate — there really is one a lot of continue with this build. The biggest visual change here is the carbon fiber body kit. It combines the crank, barrel lid, and tailgate into one piece, and it’s very technical to make.
Working from his own concept sketch, Brice started by building a wire mesh around the antique bike. Next, he shapes the parts out of clay — or at least, half of them. “I didn’t need to create a symmetrical body entirely out of clay, just half the bike as an owner,” he explains.
“Once satisfied with the shape, I used the 3D scanner to pass the form to Formae Design, who worked with me to refine the virtual model, create full body symmetry, and integrate it all. accessories and accessories. Christophe in Formae helped me a lot with all the different parts of my body.”
The next step is to 3D print a prototype of the one-piece body. It then moved on to 13.8 Composites, where Robert Colyns recreated it with carbon fiber.
“When I decided to show off the carbon fiber and not paint it,” says Brice, “I gave Robert the freedom to choose the carbon fiber that looked best and still matched the design I gave him. After a few weeks of waiting, he’s back with a piece of hell. The whole body weighs only about 1.8 kg [less than 4 lbs]. ”
“Creating the bodywork is a major part of the construction. It was everything but realistic, but I was determined to have a one-piece body. ”
With her body ready, Brice began working on one of her quirky ideas. To make his mark on classic sports cars, he added a pair of collapsible ‘eyelids’ on the OEM headlights. The system is operated by two stepper motors, controlled by a custom programmed Arduino controller.
“It might look simple and easy for some people, but for me, it was quite a challenge,” says Brice.
There’s a lot of fabrication hidden under all that carbon fiber. This FTR 1200 has a hidden aluminum fuel cell, a one-off belly pad and a custom swingarm. Just like his ‘AMA’ project, Brice called on Tim at Vinco Racing to build the parts needed to build all those bits, along with new spokes and chassis reinforcement panels.
The entire exhaust system is Akrapovič’s, but it’s no exception. Brice actually went to the emissions company’s headquarters in Slovenia to have a look at it and only returned to his workshop in Belgium before the country’s borders were closed due to COVID-19.
As we’ve come to expect from Workhorse, this FTR is packed with highly desirable components. Öhlins offers a custom set of front forks and shackle shock absorbers for the rear, both of which are painted black to match the overall aesthetic. And Beringer has come to the party with an ultralight prototype brake system.
The hits continue to come with beautiful carbon fiber wheels from Rotobox and Dunlop Sportmax GP Racer tires.
Brice completed the build with new clamps and grips, a Beringer control unit and neat end-of-bar turn signals. Jeroen at Silver Machine Seats covered the seats with Alcantara, then re-upholstered the dashboard with the same fabric as a nod to supercars.
Brice admits it’s a completely pointless addition… but points out that it looks “cool”. And we can’t argue with that.
Brice’s other version of the FTR 1200 has certainly stirred the pot, and the Black Swan is likely to do the same. But we are engaged in it. It’s overdone, nostalgic and faultless… just like how we like it from Workhorse.
Labor horse speed shop | Facebook | Instagram | Image of Antoine Hotemans | With thanks Motorcycle India Europe
Workhorse Speed Shop thanks Akrapovič, Dunlop, Beringer Brakes, Cerakote, Liteblox, Silver Machine, 13.8 Composites, Formae, Rotobox, Öhlins, Vinco Racing, JoNich Wheels, Rais3d, Sunblast, REV’IT!, Veldt Helmets and Flybike.
