The 100-year -old GSX-R
An homage to American boardtrackers, this custom has the riding position of a GSX-R750. What’s not to like?
This astonishing boardtracker really is a once in a decade bike – because that’s how long it took Niki Smart to build it. In between a full-time job running General Motors’ advanced design division and the arrival of children, he made the frame, forks, swingarm and even those colossal 26-inch wheels himself.
‘In the early 2000s I’d been to an exhibition and learned about the
board track racing that used to go on here in LA a hundred years ago,’ says the ex-pat Brit who cut his teeth designing the Ariel Atom car. ‘I was mesmerized by those old bikes – they’re proportionately so cool and I love the way the riders stretched out on them. I thought I’d really like to build a bike that captured that era with a modern execution.’
For five years it remained an idea wafting round Niki’s head, then in 2005 he started sketching and eventually sat down at the computer. ‘I spent hundreds of hours modelling it and adjusting proportions,’ he says. ‘I was committed to making sure I was really, really sure it’s what I wanted before I started making parts.’ Niki decided on a Hossack front end, and true to his perfectionist style consulted an expert on the system: ‘I talked to Norman Hossack via email about the front end, which I thought would give me a lot of freedom. Coming from a car design background, I understood the double wishbone setup and it gave me options to build all the parts so it looked consistent with the rest of the bike.’
So will we have to wait until 2030 for his next project? ‘Well, I’m set up at home now with a lathe, mill, tig welder and pipe bender so I can do stuff when I have spare time. The next bike will definitely take less than ten years.’