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Thunderbike Hard Attack
When the “Hard Race” was presented as the trend-setting concept study for the 280-clientele during the Dortmund Motorcycle Show, everyone was thrilled with everything that goes on the Yamaha basis. Tom from Germany’s south also found the style and the line bewitching, but was not impressed with the engine performance. As well, he was already the proud owner of the hitherto hottest Yamaha custom that Europe had ever seen, the “Freestyle”. On the spot in Dortmund, he put Andreas Flausen in the head, he would still like to build something hotter, shorter, deeper, and push in more gas.
Text & Fotos: Andreas Kirsch
Hard Attack
Power-Twin from Hamminkeln
The Thunderbike team then not only followed their customer’s dirty requests and psychedelic motorcycle fantasies, but also thought about blowing themselves upside down to be able to build new news for themselves. Exclusively. Nights were thought through, much emailed and processed a few pounds of metal blanks. And because it all went very well, the name was “Hard Attack”. Following the germ cell “Hardrace” deliberately wrong linguiert.
Mother Hardrace was not weak, so the “Hard Attack” had enough power. With a big bore kit, the engine was brought to 1800 cc, with a magnificent torque curve that says 87 hp at 174 Nm. The overall torque curve is stronger overall, for example, at 80 km / h over 40 Nm more than in the standard version. Over the entire speed range, higher engine power will be achieved at lower speeds. The unit was implanted in a reinforced original frame. There was the first hurdle: The & nbsp; Battery built too large. A smaller model did not work because the starter consumed that little bit of energy and then went on strike. So much piston and compression you want to be overwhelmed …
Quote Andreas: “We sneaked around the bike with the right battery under his arm for an entire afternoon. We realized how many times we said that’s not possible because of the swingarm. Why not? A swingarm is empty in its middle? “So the swingarm was removed again, disassembled, built into the battery box. So the battery came in the middle of the rocker, what a solution!
And just this swingarm was the linchpin of the entire rear, because Tom wanted a swingarm, which is significantly shorter than the Hardrace comes along. And he wanted to sit deeper. Matching the new swingarm, there was & nbsp; an all-metal rear that combines fender and frame. The flat seat is embedded in it. And in order to be able to really “low”, the “Tricky Airride System” ensures virtually zero travel – if you want. The short, wide Fender makes the 280s really brutal come to bear. At the front provides a wide 4 ° stretched fork for the appropriate appearance. The flat handlebar, the side plates and the strong black paint added visually together what technically worked so well. If there were still discussions in the hard race, if the wildcharger Mikuni-Rüssel should not be better forward aggressively, then Tom put an end to that. Attack is now the direction, off to the front! And when everything was built and finished, Tom saw that it was good.
Metric Parts in the Thunderbike Onlineshop
The times have changed!
But we will continue with a small portion of specially produced metric parts. That’s why you can still find some of the Metric Parts on these bikes in the Thunderbike Onlineshop!