Big Twin Racers

An early pioneer in building a sport chassis around a big twin engine is Curt Winter of Big Twin Racers.

Curt is an "enthusiast's enthusiast". Seldom do you find someone that covers this wide range of motorcycling at a high skill level:

• fabrication skills
• hands-on engineering
• mechanical skill
• ability to paint show-quality finishes
• form his own carbon fiber parts
• design & build an array of bikes
• capable of racing in the dirt or on a roadrace course.

(http://bigtwinracers.com

One of Curt's first big twin sportbikes was finished in 1997. Whoa, nearly ten years ago! Click on the article below & check the fine print. Also note that Curt got the attention of Erik Buell with this bike.

click on photos to enlarge. (You can zoom in on the article with the icon. The icon will appear after placing the mouse pointer over the article).

This bike was a 2nd iteration of the "Big Twin Racer" (BTR)



wouldn't wanna be on a high-strung 4 in front-of-a BTR....

[there's a road song in there somewhere....punk rockabilly, alt. country, metal....your choice]

This is his latest beauty. If you are interested in a custom bike but not a big twin sportbike, give Curt a call. He can build a wide variety of bikes including hill climbers, motards, cruisers, small road racers, etc. Curt designed, welded, painted, & assembled this entire bike himself, including creating the carbon fiber fenders. Look for an updated website and kit from him....

Think about pulling up to a bike hangout after romping through some winding asphalt and someone asking you who makes that bike ? Curt's answer would be...

Ecosse Moto Works

click on the picture to get a closer look at this killer stance

Ecosse is another small batch manufacturer using an air-cooled Big Twin for Big Fun. I first saw their bike at Bike Week in Daytona about 4 years ago. This was before the sportier updates (raised seat height, raised foot pegs, carbon fiber wheels, etc.). The bike looked good then, so the sportier options must look even better now (cost a bundle more, but....)

Baker Drivetrain designed the ultra compact drivetrain with an Ecosse machined case. The drivetrain and the carbon fiber wheels are impressive. The Patrick Racing round jugs are pretty, too. (I used this engine and drivetrain on the 999 chassis - see links on the right).

carbon fiber wheels with radial-mounted brakes on a big air-cooled twin? sure, why not? click on picture for a closer look.

You can begin to see the differences across the spectrum of bikes displayed within this blog. On one end is the hand-built beauties (from ACR & Big Twin Racers) and on the other end is the mass produced MT-01. In between somewhere (depends on the beholder) are the small batch manufactured bikes. Where is your threshold for character and soul? Best of all, these builders have the knowledge & skill to build in performance that will rival production bikes when ridden on the street.

Modern machining techniques also add character and impressive quality when done right (ex. Bimota Tesi frame - more on that sometime later). The more accessible CNC technology becomes, hopefully we will see a combination of modern machining & craftmanship in bikes across the entire spectrum.