Wooden V-strom
What better way to spruce up your v- strom 650 than this?
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a mahogany drinks cabinet got frisky with a 1950s Moto Guzzi Grand Prix bike, here is your answer: James Hay’s wooden Suzuki DL650.
‘I wanted to give the V-strom some better weather protection,’ says James, 73. ‘I’d seen this car that I really liked in a museum but unfortunately I don’t have the funds to buy an Hispano Suiza Tulipwood so I thought I’d build something that looked like it. One thing led to another and I just got carried away.’
He’s not kidding. The fairing is built like a sailing boat, with dozens of ribs forming the shape, and then tiny planks laid longitudinally. ‘It’s made from a wood called clear pine – I stained it to look like mahogany. The ribs are made of maple, and every rib is a different shape so I had to cold laminate them. It’s like building a boat hull or a canoe. The planks are all 5cm wide and run the length of each section. I cut a cove in each so they slot together.
‘It’s a tortuous process getting all these darned things to line up, because every single plank had to be planed along its edge to get it to taper at the end.’ That’s one of the reasons for the grille cut-out – so the planks don’t have to taper to nothing. As you might have guessed, James – who lives in Canada – is no carpentry novice. ‘I trained as a cabinet maker,’ he says. ‘I like woodworking, and I like motorcycles so I thought it would be a nice combination. I retired in 2013 and I had an itch to build things so I did a bunch of drawings and liked the one that looked like a 1930s grand prix car.
‘If I had the funds I would have run it through a wind tunnel, but it was really just a lark. I got to amuse myself for years.’
So what’s it like to ride? ‘It feels normal. The only time it gets a little lively is if you’re doing 60mph surrounded by cars and trucks – it gets pushed around a lot. In clear air it’s lovely and goes like a bullet. I’ve dropped it twice in the parking lot – I suppose I could sand out the marks and re-varnish it, but I just want to ride the thing.’