Spartacus On Wheels
SPARTACUS ON WHEELS
FROM FRANCE WITH A BIT OF GENIUS
DOES AN ARTIST’S ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE HIS ARTISTIC vision? Painter Claude Monet, famous for impressionistic views of his garden, probably would say it does. So would Thierry Henriette, proprietor for the last 14 years of the Boxer Bike Evolution workshop in Toulouse, in southwestern France.
Henriette has a growing reputation for design innovation, and his latest creation, named Spartacus and built around a Kawasaki ZX-7 engine and chassis, does nothing to dim that reputation.
Henriette took an early-out from medical school to answer his passion for executing custom paint and seat designs for motorcycles. Then he met Claude Fior, as free-thinking when it comes to suspension and chassis design as Henriette is with paint and bodywork. As their handiwork indicates, the resulting partnership bubbles with imagination.
The pair’s theory for most of their prototypes is the same as that of other custom builders: Come up with an aluminum chassis developed from grand prix technology, install a powerful production-based engine, then dream up the wildest bodywork possible. When the pair began collaborating, this was a bold concept that led to immediate artistic and commercial success, with more than 150 copies of Boxer’s various limited-production models sold in about two years.
But then Henriette, whose operation (Boxer Bike Evolution, 16 Boulevard Carnot, 31000 Toulouse, France; phone 011-33-6162-8898) is separate from that of his partner, hit the same shoals of commercial profitability that have eaten the bottoms out of so many small-volume motorcycle operations. So he bailed out of the limited-production end of his business to concentrate on sponsored showbikes.
He produced several well-received showbikes, and his progression through those machines, and the dawning realization that it is quicker and less expensive to use a core bike’s stock chassis instead of a custom design, brought him to this one-the 750 ZXS Spartacus, so-named because its profile is intended to mimic that of the helmet worn by Roman gladiators. Henriette sought and obtained sponsorship from Igol France-a petroleum company that shares a race-sponsorship program with Kawasaki France-and initial sketches, done with help from designer Sacha Lakic, soon were followed by scale models.
Those models were followed in December, 1991, by the finished product, as Spartacus was premiered at the Paris Motorcycle Show, where the Fior-designed aluminum engine sub-fairing, the unified color theme, the front-fairing tab-which offers three positions so that the bike’s aerodynamic downforce can be tuned-and the saddle unit with its integrated, 4-into-l-into-2 exhaust system all drew rave reviews from journalists and show-goers.
Though Spartacus is exactly the same size as a stock ZX-7 and uses the stock ZX-7 frame, swingarm and fork, the fluid nature of the bike’s lines make it appear more compact than a stock bike. At least it is lighter than stock-Henriette claims a dry weight of under 400 pounds. Specialty parts and features are found throughout. These include a rear subframe to carry that wild seat/tail unit, an Öhlins shock in place of the stock unit, special footpegs machined from billet, Performance Machine wheels, custom-designed speedometer and tach, and hidden routing for the bike’s front-brake lines.
A short ride on Spartacus is enough to show the bike’s promise. Because Henriette geared the bike lower than stock, as soon as you drop the clutch and crank the throttle you are glued to the rear of the saddle as the rev counter rockets up the scale. Because of its gearing, Spartacus gives up top speed in favor of acceleration, but the bike’s light weight provides astounding agility, which makes the modified ZX as much fun to ride as it is to look at.
Fun is, after all, the whole point of motorcycles, whether you’re in Europe or in the U.S., and Henriette’s work keys straight into that concept. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever actually see something like Spartacus coming off the hot end of production lines. What’s important, however, is that designers like Henriette continue to draw on their environments, and on whatever else fuels them, to come up with concepts that keep us all interested.
-Leguevaques/Galtier Associates
