There aren’t many instances in my life once I’ve seen a bike command a price ticket of over half 1,000,000 {dollars}. However then once more, there aren’t many bikes that come fitted with a 3.5-liter V8 engine from the Ferrari F355.
Right here at New Atlas, we’ve coated Max Hazan’s bespoke HF355 from its early days proper as much as the dwelling, respiratory, pre-finished motorcycle. Now, not solely has the motorbike been accomplished, but it surely’s additionally been shortly purchased, fetching greater than US$500,000!
It took Hazan, an award-winning customized motorbike builder from Los Angeles, round 18 months to complete the HF355. What we see now’s a fire-spitting red-colored monster that revs to just about 10,000 rpm!
The HF355 is known as after its 1999 Ferrari F355 donor, which sacrificed its 3.5-liter V-8 for the customized motorbike. That engine produces round 400 hp on the crank, bolstering a high pace of 187 mph (~300 km/h). That type of energy on a bike that weighs 585 lb (265 kg) dry signifies that the HF355 boasts a power-to-weight ratio akin to some hypercars.
Shaik Ridzwan / Hazan Motorworks
After all, that type of engine could not probably sit in a standard motorbike body. So Hazan constructed a bespoke chromoly entrance trellis body by which the engine acts as a careworn member, with the transmission and rear suspension mounted to its rear and sides, respectively.
And for all the majority of that supercar engine on there, you’d assume the HF355 could be unbalanced. However as an alternative, the load is nearly equally distributed.
Virtually each part you see on there was designed, constructed, and put collectively by Hazan himself, down to each nut and bolt. That’s all of the extra spectacular when you think about he makes use of a 6,500-lbMoriseki lathe and guide mills to form components by hand as an alternative of CNC tools.
Shaik Ridzwan / Hazan Motorworks
The bodywork is made up of 16 distinctive carbon-fiber parts, which is hand-shaped from foam blocks. Each bit was molded and reproduced utilizing carbon-fiber resin infusion, a course of extra generally seen in aerospace manufacturing.
As for the parts on board, you get Marchesini wheels, Brembo GP4X brakes, Öhlins FGR forks, and a TTX rear shock. Electronics? They’re nearly completely stripped away.
Hazan took aside the unique Ferrari programs and changed them with a specifically designed configuration that makes use of an AMP EFI ECU. It retains a watch on every little thing and logs every little thing, however there may be zero intervention anyplace.
Shaik Ridzwan / Hazan Motorworks
For all its engineering, there are not any rider aids, no traction management, no cornering help, nothing on there that might match superbikes that price a tenth of the HF355. Thus, the quiet, analog-style cockpit.
However electronics are hardly the rationale somebody would shell out $500,000 on this motorbike. It’s the engine. “It seemed like an Indy automotive within the pits,” says Hazan. “At full throttle, it’s completely wild – like warp pace in a sci-fi.”
On an early check run, Hazan thought he had gone all out, solely to understand he had solely pulled on half of the throttle. Sheesh. However you’d think about one thing like this may be a menace to manage at slower speeds. Quite the opposite, it’s surprisingly “manageable,” as Hazan explains. And, for reference, right here’s the way it sounds in actual life.
This utter monstrosity wears a deep, bespoke pink paint job, which was carried out by Hitoshi, a famend professional in bespoke automotive paint and Hazan’s longstanding colleague. I like how the engine is left to be the primary attraction; every little thing else is solely in a supporting function.
The one-off motorbike not too long ago fetched greater than $500,000 to a fortunate collector we don’t know a lot about. What we do know is that somebody someplace could be sleeping fortunately tonight realizing they have a bike within the storage that would smoke most superbikes – and embarrass just a few Ferraris whereas it’s at it.
Supply: Hazan Motorworks by way of Robb Report
