![]() ![]() This worked out well because I have always been interested in hub-steering and it suits the Boxer motor as it is wide and you can mount the bike’s front end and suspension to the engine so you don’t need a frame. Then I saw the BMW HP2 Sport at a Swedish trade show and I thought it was really amazing and for the first time I felt the Boxer engine was cool, usually they are too ‘old man’ for me. I made my name building old style bikes, then a few years ago I saw the Confederate Wraith and it made me want to try and build a modern machine. I really wanted to capture that R6 or R1 style swingarm as the bike is sporty, so we built it from scratch, then everyone thought we has just used a stock R1 swingarm! Shoot, we put all that time and effort into it and because we ended up doing such a good job people just thought it was made in Japan! That sucked. Thinking about it, you know what really annoys me with the Ren Star? The swingarm was a total experiment, we had never made one out of bent plate before. Yeah, some people like it and enjoy that look, but it doesn’t do any favours for the handling, on my own bikes I don’t go over 180-section usually. Although I’ve done some big wheel stuff I don’t go over 240-section. For example in 2003 I started putting Öhlins forks and radially mounted brakes on all my bikes to give them better performance and handling, and I don’t subscribe to the large rear wheel philosophy. For me this is the one factor that sets me aside from most of the other custom builders, I’m not saying they don’t do rideable stuff, but mine is on a different level. My background is road racing and I design all my bikes to be ridden hard, they are there to have fun on, not just look pretty. One of the main styling points is the gas tank, I tried to build a really cool one that was chopped up, flat at the sides, and really reminiscent of the old café racers. I tried to chuck a few different styles in there with the Ren Star, it’s a combo of flat track with a little bit of road race thrown in as well, I wanted to mix things up. I think for production bikes it’s too much, but if a customer wants something scary I can do that - with pleasure! And I would probably use a 180 section rear tyre, this bike has a 300-section, a smaller tyre would make the bike handle better but the Americans like their fat rears. When you open the throttle the sensations are just whooo… The Slug makes over 130bhp and it’s difficult to use the throttle wide open, especially as the bike is very light. The Slug took about a year to make I found building a sportsbike with a big V-twin engine very difficult because of the size of the motor, however I think I have found a good balance between look and function. ![]() I like Ducatis, MotoGP, the new VMAX and even motocross bikes, I also wanted to prove to the Americans that France is not just a country of wine and cheese. The bike was influenced by everything I like in motorcycles. I reckon the production bikes will cost around £44,000, making them more affordable but with the same quality and unlimited range of options. I’m aiming to make the rest available to buy in either a higher or lower specification, depending on what the customer wants. My main priority when building custom bikes is making them rideable, and if they happen to be fast then even better! This bike is the prototype for a series of 12 Slug bikes, hence its name. ![]()
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