FLATS Movie Top Speed KTM
This is a tale of a dirt bike and the age old question of “How fast will it go?”
To answer that question would be simple, find a stretch of road and go till you can’t go anymore…… But what if I wanted to extract the most out of this situation? Manipulate the bike to reach its full potential…… It turned into a little something we called the FLATS Movie.
It didn’t take much to answer the question, my KTM topped out at about 130kmh with the gearing it had, a quick search in the lanspeed record list showed the 350CC record wasnt much more than that at 140kmh. So I had all the parts to set a landspped record, if I got down out of the wind and created a sleek structure and geared it right I should be able to reset that landspeed record, my inspiration came from a plastic model made by Revel in the 1970’s and thats how this story begins.
The opportunity to tell this story in film was an opportunity too good to pass up, Matt Cox was directing and editing and Dean Walters was tasked with a supporting role along with director of photography, a role he took very seriosly.
The build of the bike followed the inspiration of the Revel drag bike kit, the proportions were set to my body and then it was just a matter of joining the dots.
The work took place at night, we all had day jobs and we were all making plans to fit each others schedule. To do this properly we needed the ability to film at Speedweek, an event that uses sacred salt flats in South Australia to run cars and motorcycles for one week a year, our friends and family put up the required budget that was required to lock all this in and then we obtained approval to film through the government, a process that meant we were deep in this plan and there was no backing out.
The build of the bike was done in one week, it used standard components apart from the tyres, frame, fuel tank and exhaust.
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I remeber this night, I finish welded the frame, finalised the tank, the exhaust and welded all the tabs on for the engine, I worked for 35 hours straight to make it to the sunrise shoot that would be the first shakedown. In the rush I even forgot my helmet and this photo of the bike helmet depicted the feeling perfectly, but the show must go on.
I might have been tired, stressed and a little pissed that I forgot my helmet but when I opened up that trottle and felt this bike accelerate it made me realise what I was creating, a landspeed bike that was set to go faster than any 350cc had ever gone before.
I powdercoated the frame and finalised all the requirements for the bike to pass scrutineering, it was time for another test run.
Helmet on this time I could really open it up and run through the gears. I didn’t find the bikes true potential on the road, I ran it up past 120kph but I was only mid way through the gears and I knew it had a lot more to give. Dynamically though the bike was solid, we were set to go.
The plan for the movie escalated and the idea to ride from home in Victoria to the middle of South Australia was hatched. I started getting nervouse about the race bikes 60+ hours on the engine and if it would sustain the 14,000 rpm for minutes on end. I decided the bike I would ride to the Salt Flats needed the same engine so I could use it as a spare should the worst case scenario present itself.
This was a KTM 350SX-F and my plan was to make it look like a street bike, use the rego off another KTM and ride it 1,500km.
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Dean was set to do the ride with me, I made him up a KTM 690 Duke custom with a Honda tank, a custom subframe, seat and exhaust.
And my KTM 350’s were all set and ready to go.
Thoroughly tested.
The ride to South Australia was anything but boring, you will have to watch the movie to get a true taste of the action.
See it all unfold in this feature length documentary.
BTS of the production. Not only did I reset a Land Speed Record with this bike I managed to complete numerouse runs over two days for the film.
With the adventure complete the team went to work on the production of the film.
Fastforward a year and the film was complete, I struck a deal with Triumph to take a pair of modified Street Twins up the east coast to premier the film in QLD and NSW. Of course Dean and I made a an adventure out of that opportunity.
We spent two weeks on the road meeting up with people and Premiering the movie to rave reviews.
This was an advevnture we will not forget.
With Australia done and dusted we took this Premier across to New Zealand where our great friends from Feldon Shelter hosted a viewing in their workshop.
Pizza and good people, forever grateful for the hospitality.
To wind things up we spent the day getting sideways at Sam Smiths farm (RIP Sam), make sure you checkout the film and see the entire adventure unfold.