‘Brakes? Best to assume none’
has just racked up Thorsten Schlesinger 10,000 miles on his homemade Triumph-bsa mash-up. How he built it is equally bonkers…
Motorcycling characters don’t come more gloriously crackers than Thorsten Schlesinger. The German product designer built this TRIBSA (Triumph engine, BSA frame) as a tribute to an imaginary American, then made his own leathers and set off on a 2000-mile round trip to Biarritz, breaking down dozens of times…
‘It started by accident in 2008,’ Thorsten tells Bike. ‘I was at a friend’s place and he had a frame from a 1949 BSA A10 lying around and he was talking about putting a Honda engine in it. I didn’t like that – I thought it should have an English motor, so I asked him to sell it to me.’
A few years later Thorsten is visiting relatives in America when he sees a 1972 oil-in-frame Triumph 650 engine for sale and picks it up for $555. With the main ingredients sorted, he then comes up with a plan: ‘As a designer you have to think about the story of the product. This was always in my mind with this bike: what would have been the story of the owner? ‘I have a relationship with the USA [his dad was in the military and the family was posted there several times] and so I invented a story for the bike. This guy comes back from Europe after the war, buys a BSA, then forgets about it for 20 years while he has a family, then around 1965 he gets the bike back out and builds it into a street racer with a Triumph engine.
‘It took me years to build, because I was busy with my family and job. Also, it cost a lot to get all the parts so it took a while as I saved up.’ With the bike nearly complete, a friend suggests Thorsten ride it in a parts catalogue photoshoot in Biarritz. Obviously Thorsten decides to ride the 1000 or so miles there and back. ‘It was tight on time because I hadn’t got the TUV [Germany’s strict MOT equivalent]. But actually it wasn’t that difficult because in Germany the rules depend on the frame, not the engine. So the bike had to comply with 1949 rules, and there were hardly any. ‘The TUV tester said he had to go for a ride to test the brakes, so I started showing him that the back brake is on the other side and he said “forget it, you do the ride”. So I did and said it brakes perfectly. Which it definitely doesn’t! It’s best to assume you have no brakes.’
So he sets off for Biarritz with a tent and WW2 waterproofs strapped to the back. ‘Riding through the Alps was like a dream – I was filled with joy. But the vibrations were quite bad though.
‘I had a lot of breakdowns. One day I only managed 20 miles. It was the first and only time I’ve thrown my helmet on the floor. The carburettor kept sticking, then there was no spark, then an oil pipe broke off.’ Thorsten and his riding buddy fixed that with some pipe from a toilet.
‘It was a lot of work to get to Biarritz but it’s light, fast and fantastic fun to ride. I really love it.’
‘Riding through the Alps was like a dream’