Just in from Icon Motorcycles across the pond—a tribute bike to the late, great Barry Sheene. Looks like only one’s been built so far, but the plan is to build 52, each with a playing card held by a bikini-clad tart painted on by Mike Fairholme, the man who painted Sheene’s bikes. As a matter of fact, the whole enchilada is hand-made in England, says Icon founder Andrew Morris, by many of the same craftsmen and engineers Sheene worked with in his heyday. The new Sheene “ultrabike” supposedly produces over 250 horsepower from a turbocharged 1400cc Suzuki four-cylinder inside a Spondon containment vessel, with only the finest rolling gear of course, including a hand-made alumin(i)um tank (that took a month to build), carbon-fiber bodywork and wheels, etcetera, etcetera… and yours for only £107,000. Quick! Get me that exchange rate!
Icon’s Andrew Morris says:
Barry Sheene was a hero – of mine and everyone else. Supremely talented on a high speed race bike, courageous, determined, magical to watch in action, he was also irrepressibly cheeky, funny and seemed never without a smile. He did things his own way, and always with passion and spirit.
When I decided to create the world’s ultimate road bike, the image of Barry and all he represents was foremost in my mind; I believe the Icon Sheene is a fitting tribute to this remarkable man, and I’m very fortunate to have his family’s backing for the project.
And because Barry was so extraordinary, I knew my bike had to be, too. So it’s handmade. In Britain. It features extreme levels of power and performance. And it’s massively entertaining to ride hard. And in creating it I’ve felt proud and humble to work alongside many of the talented individuals and companies who helped Barry to win two World Championships.
The Icon Sheene, of which just 52 will ever be made, is a new breed of road bike, the ultrabike.
I think Barry would have approved!
Andrew Morris, Founder of Icon Motorcycles
+44 (0) 844 870 0032
iconsheene.com
ICON SHEENE – TECHNICAL DATA
Engine 1400cc, four cylinders, turbocharged
Cooling Oil-cooled, with two high performance polished oil
coolers
Con rods Carrillo
Pistons Wiseco
Turbo Garrett hybrid turbo, with bespoke dump valve and waste gate
Max power 257 bhp
Max torque 133 ft lb
Gearbox 6-speed quick shift, ratios to individual specification
Exhaust Hand made, stainless steel, hydro formed, aurally tuned
ECU Motec stand alone unit with full data logging and bespoke mapping allowing
full control of boost
Clocks Polished aluminium clocks with digital readout and multi-functional display
Seat Trimmed in alcantara with Sheene 7 in back pad
Frame Aluminium alloy by Spondon
Front suspension Bitubo inverted racing specification fully adjustable forks
Fork yokes Hand crafted and engraved with Barry & Stephanie Sheene signatures
Rear suspension Bitubo racing specification, fully adjustable
Swinging arm Hand crafted aluminium alloy with integrated paddock stand location slots
and unique aluminium hugger
Wheels Carbon fibre, ultra-light, racing specification
Front brakes ISR billet machined six piston calipers, with floating discs and race pads
Rear brake ISR billet machined, single disc, four piston calipers
Headlamp HID with LED halo surround
Bodywork Hand laid carbon fibre, with stainless steel louvres
Paintwork Designed by Mike Fairholme
Fuel tank Hand crafted aluminium with alloy race-style filler cap
Fuel capacity 24 litres
Kerb weight 200 kilos
No related posts.
just wondering- if YOU could name a new bike, would YOU have the nutz to name it after your own late, so called, ‘hero’? seems like a crass marketing move to me, particularly the chick thing… yes, BS often played the ‘crumpet’ card to relieve the stress of what he did, but I hardly believe he would have gone along with this idiotic venture had he had the choice… not unless he could have had some along the way, perhaps… anyway, the one thing he was not was cynical, which this REEKS of…
Comment by andrew sheehan — August 8, 2010 @ 2:57 am
ok, the more I look at this the worse it gets… both as an object, and especially as an article… tell you what John, please publish the following as verbatim as you can; My name is Wane Rainy and I’m going to produce my own mediocre sportbike someday (uninspiring cgi images, 1/43 scale, available as needed), as long as some magazine can publish whatever I ply them with so I can raise as much money as possible with a bunch of unsubstantiated claims about what I plan to do with my limited run of 42 bikes (of which one may ask ‘why 42?’… but of course the answer is obvious to anyone over 20 years of age, so why bother to explain, huh?)… how about this- 5000 horsepower, carbon fibre engine castings and silk bodywork that will bring the overall dry weight of the bike down to 90 lbs (since that’s how we all ride them anyway- gotta’ say I really hated putting oil and gas in my current bike just cause it seemed like SO MUCH EXTRA WEIGHT… oh, yeah, and since the new breed has already been defined, let me just call my new category the BS bike while I’m at it. Does Egan know you did this John?
Comment by andrew sheehan — August 8, 2010 @ 3:22 am
Why the negativity Andrew? Mrs. Sheene is on board with the idea, so are a bunch of Sheene’s old buds including Steve Parrish, if you check the website. How do you feel about Hailwood Ducatis and Roberts Yamahas? Deep breath, let the anger go…
Comment by jb — August 9, 2010 @ 11:41 am
Honestly, I think it’s kinda ugly. The front reminds me a little of the original Katana, but I’m just not feelin’ it. Kinda looks like a catfish.
Comment by Justin — August 10, 2010 @ 10:24 am