Category: Lazareth

Lazareth LMV 496 La Moto Volante Rides and Flies

Post author By Wade Thiel
Post date March 20, 2019

By Road or Air La Moto Volante Will Get You There

Have you ever been riding along and got stuck behind a lot of traffic? That’s where a flying motorcycle would come in handy. Well, now there’s the Lazareth LMV 496 La Moto Volante, which is “the flying motorcycle” in French. It’s a bike that can transform from a motorcycle into a flying vehicle.

Unlike Jetpack Aviation’s Speeder we recently reported on La Moto Volante uses 96,000-rpm JetCat jet turbine in each wheel hub. This allows the wheels to act as the mechanism that propels the vehicle into the sky. The wheels have to move from their upright orientation to a horizontal one in a slow-mo Transformer-ish way. Watch the video below to get an idea of what I mean.

The jets need about 60 seconds to heat up before launch. At the moment the bike only gets a few feet off the ground. The company doesn’t have a completely functioning machine as of yet. They just recently did a test run that allowed the bike to hover at one meter (3.3 feet) above a platform. Lazareth tethered down the machine for safety.

With that said, it definitely works. Now, all Lazareth has to do is fine tune the machine to make it into the vehicle that people have been seeking for decades. According to New Atlas, the company plans to start accepting pre-orders after a showcase of the product in October of this year. Pre-orders won’t go cheap. The company plans to ask for about $560,000. Only the super rich will be able to afford La Moto Volante.

However, this could be the start of a very cool movement in the motorcycle industry. This is the second flying motorcycle concept we’ve seen recently with the Jetpack Aviations Speeder being the first. Both seem to show the technology is finally here. Now it’s just a matter of making it actually usable, affordable, and legal.

The post Lazareth LMV 496 La Moto Volante Rides and Flies appeared first on Web Bike World.

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Euro Fighter: Lazareth’s crazy, futuristic Yamaha YZF-R1

Post author By Wesley Reyneke
Post date February 22, 2017

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.
It’s pretty common for a crashed bike to become a custom project. But how often does a bike get built for a movie, crashed on set, and then rebuilt? It’s the kind of weird story—and motorcycle—that could only come from Frenchman Ludovic Lazareth.

Lazareth is a man in demand. When he’s not filling customer orders, he’s designing and prototyping for other brands. So it’s fascinating to see what he does with no customer or brief to tie him down.

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.
“You are not free if you can’t make what you want with your hands,” says Lazareth. “It’s not enough for me to go on the road with a bike to feel free—I feel free when I build a bike. I want to shape what I want… sorry for the purists!”

What you’re looking at is a 1999 Yamaha YZF-R1 with a storied past. It’s one of several vehicles that Lazareth customized ten years ago for the Vin Diesel sci-fi film Babylon A.D.

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.
For the last year, Lazareth has been putting his spare time to good use: He’s reimagined the retired movie star as a futuristic café racer.

The biggest visual hit comes from the revised chassis. The R1 had already loaned its forks to another stunning project, so Lazareth decided to build a new front end—with a swing-arm setup.

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.
There are now single-sided swing-arms at both ends, each holding a 17” Triumph Daytona 955 rear wheel. The shocks are custom-built units from TFX Suspension, and there’s also a new floating linkage system at play out back.

The frame’s obviously undergone extensive modification to make the system work, but it’s also been abbreviated at the rear. There’s a new perch up top, sitting neatly in line with the extended exhaust can. Take a closer look, and you’ll notice LEDs embedded around the end cap, acting as a taillight.

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.
The tail hump, belly pan, and various other body panels are all carbon fiber numbers. The fuel tank’s outer is carbon too, but there’s an aluminum reservoir hiding underneath. Lazareth designed the tank to taper towards the seat, offering the rider a glimpse of the velocity stacks doing duty below.

Other superbike-worthy upgrades include Brembo brakes, and an array of high-quality Rizoma parts. The cockpit’s sporting drag bars, bar-end mirrors and an Acewell digital speedo.

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.
According to Lazareth the R1 handles like any other street bike on the road—but turns heads like nothing else. If you’d like to test that theory, he’ll let it go for a cool €50,000—which is $53,000 if you live on the other side of the Atlantic.

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.

Pricey? Oui. But you can guarantee there will never be anything else on the road like it, ever. And in a cookie cutter custom world, that’s got to be worth a lot.

Lazareth | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Cédric Collao

An insane Yamaha YZF-R1 cafe racer by Lazareth.

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Getting Personal: Ludovic Lazareth’s Suzuki RG400

Post author By Chris Hunter
Post date June 15, 2016

Ludovic Lazareth builds some of the world’s most extreme custom bikes. You know the type: they appear on websites that wouldn’t normally feature motorcycles, just because they’re so outrageous.

So when Monsieur Lazareth decided to build a bike for himself, we expected to see the ultimate clickbait. Instead, he’s exercised more restraint than usual and created this beautiful ‘neo classic’ Suzuki RG400 Gamma.

The RG400 is not a common bike outside of Japan. And Lazareth came across this example in a most unusual way: Via a phone call from his friend Franco Sbarro, of the Swiss sportscar company, asking if he wanted to take away some motorcycles that were lying around in the Sbarro factory.

The bric-à-brac included an RG400, and it’s an inspired choice for a custom—a lightweight and fast mid-80s two-stroke.

It weighs a mere 153 kilos (337 pounds), and is based on Suzuki’s contemporary square-four racebike.

Sold mostly in the Asian markets, the RG400 had a shorter life than the more familiar RG500, but similar slab-sided styling.

But the heavy-set fairing of the original has now gone. There’s a new tail unit to match the refurbished stock tank, and the cream-and-black paint is immaculate.

The rev-happy water-cooled engine is one of the highlights of the RG400: Even in stock form it’s fed by four 8mm Mikuni VM28SH flatslide carbs.

So M. Lazareth has left it alone, and focused his efforts on creating a new chassis with slim, elegant tubing.

That new frame is now attached to a full Yamaha YZF-R1 suspension setup, with the forks and swingarm modified to fit.

They’re hooked up to 17-inch Excel rims shod with Michelin superbike rubber. Other top-shelf goodies include an Öhlins shock and a full Brembo brake system with plate-sized 340mm drilled discs up front.

Lazareth can fabricate almost anything he wishes in his factory, so he’s gone to town on the exhaust system—with four custom-made pipes and expansion chambers, hooked up to simple cylindrical mufflers. He describes it as sounding like “four engines in one.”

As a point-and-squirt bike, it looks like huge fun. And we’re guessing it’s a little easier to ride than Lazareth’s most famous creation, a motorcycle powered by a 4700cc Maserati V8 …

Lazareth | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Cédric Collao

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Custom Bikes Of The Week

Post author By Matt Neundorf
Post date March 6, 2016

A Maserati-powered monster from Lazareth, the one and only custom BMW G 650 Xchallenge we’ve ever seen, and rip-snortin’ Indian Scout Sixty flat tracker. We’d happily put any one of these machines in our garage.

BMW G 650 Xchallenge by Hyde Designs Hyde Designs is small shop just starting up in Cape Town, South Africa. Owner Jens Henkel is a one-man-band and he has a mantra: “To build bikes where detail is important and craft is crucial.” Judging by his work on Octavia, I’d say it’s Mission Accomplished.

Starting with a G650 Xchallenge, Henkel essentially stripped everything bare before creating his vision. The new subframe design was key in this build, and is designed to showcase both the main structural frame and the swingarm. The tank is a one-off, welded unit that gives the Beemer an incredible angular shape and proportions, leading into a compact fiberglass tail that mirrors its silhouette.

Octavia came together in just six months—which is extremely impressive for any shop’s first kick at the cat. [More]

Lazareth LM 847 Back in 2003, Dodge rolled out a concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show that strangled everyone’s attention. The Tomahawk was a 4-wheeled ‘motorcycle’ built around the Dodge Viper’s 500hp V10 engine. It was bonkers, but in the best of ways.

At the Geneva Motor Show the other day, the French design firm Lazareth presented a Tomahawk of their own—and it’s the perfect mix of crazy and beautiful. Lazereth is no stranger to leaning things over with more than two wheels, but this is their most ambitious endeavor yet.

The LM 847 is a Maserati-powered ‘leaning quad’ with 470 horsepower, bar-end mirrors and a Panigale tail. Just take a peek at the work involved with the dual-Telelever suspension kits both front and back, and those snaking headers. My favorite touches are the cowl-ensconced intake, and that dinky little kickstand on the front left swingarm (see header shot). Utter madness. [More]

Kawasaki H1 by Mhc Workshop Originally developed by Kawasaki under the elusive N100 name, the H1 was Team Green’s answer to the escalating horsepower war in America. Known also as the Mach III when it debuted in 1969, the 500cc 2-stroke triple would smash through the quarter mile in under 13 seconds.

I don’t even need to hear the angry can of bees on Mhc Workshop’s H1 to know it could best that time. Everything that the Marseille-based builders have touched is in the pursuit of performance. The custom tank is leaner, the suspension stronger, and the overall package noticeably lighter and more nimble. The color scheme is a knockout, as is the weld work on that exhaust—and the intricate milling of the rearsets and head-mounted Mhc badges. [More]

Indian Scout Sixty by Roland Sands Design If you managed to sneak over to the Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee a few weeks ago, you’d have done well to attend the Hooligan Race at the Panther Arena. Meant to mimic a shortened flat-track, the slick concrete floor was coated with a syrupy mix of Dr. Pepper for (some) grip and a checkered flag was waved.

Sprinkled throughout the lineup of pro and amateur bikes was a team of Indian Scout Sixtys, specifically prepped for hooliganism by Roland Sands. The bikes were developed over several months, to coincide with the little Indian’s launch, and have been making the rounds at Hooligan events since. And they perform as well as they look.

The modifications lean heavily on suspension and geometry, to deliver flat-track ride-abilities. But in typical RSD fashion, there’s no skimping on the eye candy: that exhaust is a work of art. [More]

Moto Guzzi 1100 by Moto Studio Garage Bruce McQuiston and Ryan Arends of Moto Studio are no strangers to working with iconic Italians. Bruce demands that every build starts from a bike with soul—and a 1995 Moto Guzzi 1100 has that in spades.

Christened Cafe Nero, this blacked-out and raw aluminum racer is clean enough to eat your dinner off—but wouldn’t protest to a hard ride. Nothing is out of place or haphazardly strewn. Every wire, cable and tube has been routed with intent, to accentuate the work done to slim the Guzzi’s waistline and highlight its transverse V-Twin engine.

The milled aluminum subframe is worthy of its own Instagram account, let alone the carbon fiber work at the tail and front fender. Most impressive of all? This build was turned around in a mere 45 days. [More]

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Maserati-engined Lazareth LM847 busts out at the Geneva Motor Show

Post author By Sameer Kumar
Post date March 1, 2016

This is the Maserati V8-powered Lazareth LM487, which was recently unveiled at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. We're told that Batman and Darth Vader have both already ordered one

Trust the French to build the most outrageous, the most outlandish motorcycle in the world – the Lazareth LM847, which is powered by a 4.7-litre Maserati V8 that produces 470 horsepower and 620Nm of torque. With a kerb weight of 400kg, the LM847 still has a power-to-weight ratio of more than 1:1, so should be pretty intense to ride.

In addition to a fancy Italian V8 engine, the Lazareth LM847 also packs in groundbreaking technology in terms of its chassis, suspension and packaging. It employs four separate wheels (two at each end, mounted very closely), aluminium swingarms at the back and at the front, and hub-centre steering. Since each wheel seems to be independently sprung, the LM847 will lean in the corners like a proper motorcycle. And the thing also has monstrous stopping power, with two 420mm perimeter-type brake discs at the front, with Nissin 8-piston calipers, and twin 255mm brake discs at the back, with 4-piston calipers. The tail section is straight off a Ducati Panigale and is just about the only visible piece of bodyword on the LM847. What a machine!
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