Cerra GT865
Melbourne Royal Enfield dealer Mid Life Cycles last night hosted a reveal of the beautiful new Cerra GT865.
Starting out with a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650, designer Carl Cerra set out on a long and laborious design and prototyping process to come up with something really quite special.
This is not going to be a ‘one-off’. Cerra is tooling up to produce a limited run of 25 Cerra GT865 to go on sale to the public. How much? Our intel suggests that the bikes will sell for around 45k.
According to Cerra and his crew, “The inspiration behind Cerra GT865’ was to create a retro 80’s-inspired TT-style race bike with a proper, full fairing. The vision was to differentiate it from a generic custom bike and make it look and feel as a special edition production motorcycle. Further, taking inspiration from the 80’s motorcycle culture, the motorcycle has been endowed with interesting elements and shapes. This creates the impression that each motorcycle part was designed separately then amalgamated together to look like a perfect modern custom motorcycle with a distinct personality.”
For me I get that sure, but I would refuse to pigeonhole it and put any ‘box’ around it. The nicely lit photos do not lie, I saw for myself that it is every bit as gorgeous in the real light of day. It truly is a bit special.
A not too overly pretentious video series that is really enlightening in regards to the design and prototyping process will soon be released.
From the design process right up to the layering up of the carbon I found it quite fascinating. The way the clay is modelled and then wrapped to study reflective angles I found particularly interesting.
The processes used are a great insight into the way design language is developed in this day and age, a mix of old school clay shaping combined with the modern conveniences of computer aided design and CNC machining.
As for the details of the machine… Custom CNC triple clamps hold the front fork tubes from a 2015 GSX-R complete with Brembo stoppers while the beautiful custom stainless headers bend around nicely before terminating in a set of SC Project slip-ons.
The engine itself was sent to Melbourne’s Hallam Cycle Works to transform it into an 865 cc with a big bore kit, and this was complemented with a Revelry Cycles throttle body set-up.
It’s a tight, compact package with more cubes as well as a lot more horsepower that has to shift 30 kilograms less weight than a regular Royal Enfield Continental GT.
Carl Cerra
“The thing I really loved about this project was the support I got from my network of creators; they believed in the project and they didn’t hesitate to help out. They are real supporters of Australian design and manufacturing and were glad to be given the opportunity to let the world see what we have to offer Down Under.”
Skunk Machine design studio was created by Carl Cerra whose roots originate in Automotive Design and concept prototyping for world leading automotive brands spanning over a period of 20 years.
