Regular readers of Cafe Racer magazine know we’re deep into several custom bike builds. Though each motorcycle project, whether it be classic or contemporary has its own wow factors, we’re constantly surprised by the reactions we get from people digging on our Fat Featherbed Triton project. For the uninitiated, the build centers around creating a 21st Century version of the vaunted half-Norton, half-Triumph special that helped establish custom cafe racers as serious performance machines back in the 60s. Ours is equipped with a 2004 Triumph Thruxton 900 air-cooled engine wrapped in a replica Norton featherbed chassis made by Union, Illinois’ Framecrafters. This small, family-owned business is unique in that brothers Randy and Karsten Ilg are among a select few chassis engineers capable of fabricating- from scratch, no less- replicas of the best motorcycle chassis ever made. When negotiating with the Fc crew about our Fat Featherbed – so called due its beefier tubing and overall robust construction – Randy mentioned that he was contemplating designing a replica of an Egli Vincent chassis or even a featherbed replica designed to house a modern Ducati superbike engine.
Offers like these don’t come along often and the idea that such desirable pieces of historical tech are still available is enough to make us salivate. Around the world, the number of such gifted, small-batch chassis makers has dwindled quite a bit in recent years, with everyone from England’s Spondon and Rickman retiring or simply closing up shop. You can still get ahold of a replica of one of Colin Seeley’s lightweight Condor racing frames from Minnovation Racing in the UK and there’s a few Stateside concerns handcrafting classic Harley and Indian frames, but such shops are think on the ground.
The aforementioned Fritz Egli has sold his business to a new team who continue the brilliant Swiss engineer’s legacy, but their frames are now sold only with the commission of a complete Egli Yamaha special. Randy Ilg has admitted that he’s unsure how much longer Framecrafters will be offering their unique services, so if you’re eager to create a one-off custom bike upon the bones of one of history’s great frames, contact them while you can. ride on!