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Excessive-end elements can wreak havoc on a customized bike construct finances, so it helps to have a supply for good second-hand stuff. For Pierre Dhers at Freeride Motos in Southern France, that supply is Surplus Motos.
Based mostly just some miles from the Freeride Motos workshop, Surplus Motos focuses on reconditioned motorbike elements. They’ve been supplying Freeride Motos for years, so it was inevitable that the 2 firms would finally collaborate on a venture. You’re wanting on the fruit of that collaboration—an Indian FTR 1200 road tracker impressed by the wild machines of the Pikes Peak Worldwide Hill Climb.
Pierre needed to imbue the 2019-model Indian FTR 1200 with the identical purposeful road tracker vibe that so many privateer Pikes Peak race bikes would exhibit (again when bikes have been allowed on the hill). It’s a form-follows-function method; Pikes Peak is a gnarly course with numerous blind corners, so clip-on bars are a no and an upright using place is advantageous.
With the final route settled, Surplus Moto laid down the gauntlet. Their problem to Pierre was to make use of as many repurposed elements as doable—and Pierre was blissful to oblige.
The work began with an overhaul of the Indian FTR 1200’s operating gear. Surplus Moto despatched over an entire KTM 1290 Tremendous Duke R entrance finish, full with its adjustable WP forks, yokes, steering damper, wheel, and twin Brembo monobloc calipers. Pierre labored his magic to adapt the KTM setup to the Indian, then switched his focus to the rear of the bike.
The again wheel is from a KTM 790 Duke, however putting in it was no straightforward job—particularly since Pierre needed to squeeze a 200-section tire onto it. The chain needed to be re-aligned, and a bespoke brake caliper mount needed to be fabricated.
Subsequent, Pierre welded gusset plates into the FTR’s tubular swingarm and wedged in a repurposed Öhlins rear shock. However many of the work is the stuff you could’t see. The bike’s normal ABS has been eradicated, and its traction management system has been reinstalled with new sensors.
With the chassis sorted, Pierre bought began on the FTR’s new one-piece physique. The place to begin was one other previous motorbike half; the tail part from a 1996 Honda RS 250.
Pierre used the Honda tailpiece to make a fiberglass mildew, earlier than making a second mildew from the FTR’s OEM tank covers, and a 3rd from the dashboard. He then spent numerous hours merging the three sections, filling the area between them, and sculpting a prototype of the brand new monocoque. As soon as that was accomplished, a last mildew was created to form the precise physique.
Pierre constructed the unit out of fiberglass and woven carbon, then propped it up on an aluminum gasoline cell that doubles because the bike’s subframe. The filler cap sits additional ahead, just under the place he’s integrated the inventory dashboard into the bodywork. A leather-based seat pad finishes off the tail, matching the myriad handmade leather-based particulars which are sprinkled throughout this construct.
BMC, a CNC-machining store in Brittany, lent a hand by making a bunch of refined aluminum elements to decorate the bike with. The entrance quantity board is one other CNC-machined aluminum merchandise and options cutouts for an array of LED lights to shine by means of. (The quantity 19 is Pierre’s race quantity, and it’s the final yr that bikes have been allowed at Pikes Peak.)
Perched behind the brand new quantity board is a set of ProTaper handlebars, with recent grips and Motogadget bar-end flip indicators rounding out the package. The ignition sits simply behind the steering neck, trimmed with a tidy leather-based encompass.
Pierre threw another handful of second-hand bits on the FTR to get it over the end line—together with the chain guard, carbon fiber entrance fender, and Akrapovič muffler. He additionally collaborated with a buddy at BAM (a welding workshop) to create the burly two-into-one chrome steel pie-cut exhaust system; it was a four-day job.
The FTR’s finishes are useless easy. Pierre handled the carbon fiber bodywork to a shiny clear coat, then added customized Freeride and Surplus branding in key spots—the right accompaniment to this FTR’s aggressive, purpose-built vibe.
Freeride Motos Racing | Fb | Instagram | Surplus Motos | Pictures by Clement Lazzaro
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