There’s an extended historical past of purpose-built cars that use bike engines. Mix a powerful sufficient motor with a light-weight sufficient chassis, and the outcomes will be very passable. However what about sticking a automotive engine in a motorbike? That’s a wholly totally different ballgame.

Followers of classic German engineering ought to acknowledge the facility plant on the coronary heart of this hand-built chopper. It’s powered by the air-cooled four-cylinder boxer from a VW Beetle—and, as you’d think about, it took slightly little bit of ingenuity to place collectively.

It’s the work of Paul Clark—an English hobbyist that builds {custom} bikes for the love of it, moderately than for business achieve. A fan of older and rarer marques, he’s constructed up fairly a group of machines (and spare elements) over time.

“I’ve constructed a Dnepr chop, and a J.A.P. rotavator-engined bike, in addition to others,” he tells us. “These bikes will not be shiny—removed from it—and they aren’t one thing the place somebody will pull alongside and say ‘I’ve acquired a kind of.’ They’re distinctive to me, my model, and I like them—but it surely’s additionally good when different folks admire them too.”

Paul additionally likes to maintain his initiatives low-cost, through the use of as many up-cycled and scratch-built elements as doable. This one kicked off with an eBay discover; a £300 [about $379] VW Beetle engine begging for a house. “Utilizing the engine as a base, sat on my workshop ground, I began to visualise the completed bike in my head,” he says.

The primary problem was to connect a transmission to the motor. Paul mated a Dnepr MT 650 gearbox to the VW mill, through concentric flanges that have been waterjet-cut from aluminum. A Dnepr clutch and flywheel have been tailored to work, too, together with the alternator from a Kubota mini digger.

Wassel Evolution carbs inhale by means of an Amal velocity stack, connected through a {custom} manifold. The snaking pipes on both aspect of the engine appear messy at a look, however for those who hint them fastidiously you’ll be capable to make out the road of Paul’s bespoke stainless-steel, four-into-two exhaust system.

“As soon as they have been fitted, they have been dangerously near the rider’s legs,” he provides. “I didn’t need exhaust wrap or warmth shields, so I opted to purchase some knee excessive boots to put on when driving; the issues we do to maintain the aesthetics as we would like them!”

With the fundamentals out of the best way, Paul arrange a makeshift wheel alignment jig utilizing a metal beam. 16” rims have been laced to a Dnepr entrance hub and a Honda Goldwing rear hub, shod with recent rubber, and set within the jig, together with the engine and gearbox.

Beginning with a partial 1983 Honda Goldwing body, Paul mocked up the chassis with bits of spare tubing and broom handles (sure, broom handles). The ultimate body was welded up out of metal tubing, once more procured from eBay, with the triples and forks from a Yamaha XJR1300 up entrance. The body’s 50 mm stainless-steel prime tube additionally acts as an air reservoir, for a TC Bros ‘Air Journey’ system that sits beneath the slim chopper seat.

“I feel that the seat at all times seems to be higher as near the tire as doable,” says Paul, “particularly as there isn’t any rear mudguard. It occurred to me early on that it might be nice to have a seat that goes up and down—however I didn’t need springs, so I opted for an air bag. It seems to be nice when the bike is parked up, and is basically comfy when driving.”

A small 12 V air compressor ‘fees’ the highest body rail to round 40 PSI, which is sufficient for the seat to go up and down about 4 instances. Look intently, and also you’ll spot a small air strain gauge mounted simply in entrance of the seat.

If the gasoline tank seems to be acquainted, it’s as a result of it got here off a Triumph Bonneville. Paul cut-and-shut it to sit down wider, and tailored it to suit his body. Simply in entrance of it are custom-made handlebars, with Huge Port Beston-style grips, a throttle, the brake and clutch levers, and little else.

Paul doesn’t like new and glossy bikes, so the body was shot blasted and zinc plated, then wiped over with a firearm coating and range polish. That gave it an aged solid look that may match the engine. First Alternative Physique Store dealt with the crimson paint job, Central Wheel Parts did Paul’s powder-coating, and Brimscombe Platers tackled all of the sprucing and plating jobs.

As a ultimate contact, Whiteway Craft Foundry constructed a small battery field that doubles up as an alternator mount. The truth that it seems to be slightly like an previous VW bus isn’t any accident.

With the venture nearing the end line, Paul contemplated if his 132-pound body would be capable to kickstart (sure, he opted for a kickstarter) the chunky VW boxer. “Sure, it began—what a reduction” he quips. “It’s really fairly simple to kick over.”

Virtually prepared for his first shakedown run, Paul then hit the most important snag of the venture. “I’m a little bit of a hermit when constructing,” he explains, “however recommendation about unusual technical particulars is at all times readily available from my oldest pal, Neil Baxter. He came visiting for a cup of tea one night and casually stated, ‘are you certain the rear wheel isn’t going to run backwards with the shaft on that aspect of the wheel?’”

“The propshaft was intently becoming with no room to alter something. We tried it, and, shock and horror, the wheel was working backwards! I used to be so dejected at this that I practically scrapped the entire venture—however with some encouraging phrases, it was a case of finding out this unexpected drawback.”

Ultimately, Paul needed to scrap the Goldwing rear wheel and bevel field, and exchange them with a repurposed Dnepr ultimate drive and hub. With a {custom} metal cowl on the ultimate drive, the entire association solely simply match into the body—however the necessary factor is that it did match. Two weeks later, the VW bike was prepared for its shakedown.

“I acquired 20 ft, and it died,” says Paul. “A burnt-out coil gave the impression to be the issue. Two additional coils later, it turned out that that the Lithium battery wouldn’t behave with the alternator, and changing it with a small gel battery sorted the issue.”

Lastly on the street, Paul’s comfortable to report that the bike pulls sturdy, topping out at round 60 mph. However for the reason that Dnepr transmission has a 4 gears and one reverse gear, he may modify it so as to add a fifth gear.

“It’s not humorous once you’ve spent quite a lot of hours constructing a motorbike, solely to seek out that it has one ahead gear and 4 reverse gears. Having to chop up a freshly constructed, laced and painted wheel is annoying within the excessive. That individual drawback practically did it for me—however I’m so glad it acquired sorted and the bike acquired completed.”

“The bike has its personal emblem, which is a reverse VW; the W on prime with the V beneath, as a reminder to examine such issues a lot earlier within the construct subsequent time. It additionally goes by the identify of ‘Bootsy,’ a reminder to place my new very excessive boots on except I wish to set hearth to my trousers.”

Pictures by, and with due to, Del Hickey