Vintage
When Mark Barnett first handed me the pictures for this feature, my eyebrows almost shot off my forehead as it began to sink in exactly what I was looking at. I gotta admit I’ve got a penchant for fast, sporty bikes and this one sure caught my eye. The aggressive style immediately had me mentally riding it hard down a twisty road and then I noticed the cylinder heads that today make Briggs and Stratton a household name. What the…? I guess I should have noticed the lettering on the side of the tank. Laurent, you got me. Reading the specs, I did see that it was a TURBOCHARGED Flathead and that is an oxymoron if there ever was. In typically elaborate French custom fashion, Laurent just didn’t stick some turbo he had lying around on an otherwise stock engine for shock value, but built a one-off engine that combines a 79 Shovelhead with a WL45 and a 95 Sportster and an IHI turbocharger from a mid-Eighties Japanese motorcycle sales mistake, the Suzuki XN85. Laurent took the heads and cylinders from the WL and all its internals and inserted them in highly modified Sportster cases along with the Sporty’s 5-speed gearbox. If I recollect correctly, I don’t remember any unitized Flatheads or ever seeing or hearing that combination of words before, or ever will again. Somewhat hidden behind the rear cylinder, the turbo is spun from the short, wrapped Old School header pipe and stuffs the mixture from a rare, flat Lectron carb that appeared in small ads in the back of magazines or on one of Kenny Robert Sr.’s flat trackers years ago. Nice choice of mixer to add to this rare concoction. The way cool, giant bellmouth velocity stack made from an air horn looks like it could suck your pants leg into the pressurized mixture. Jamming out and up on the right side is a Dutruel-made aluminum muffler that appears like it could push the bike along with spent gases. Laurent added some gorgeous head-matching finned covers to the cases, modified primary and front sprocket that give this engine its own timeless look. Continuing with the incongruity of this assemblage of parts, he added an electronic ignition just to keep everything running on the up and up. Laurent may be sly, crafty, and ingenious, but he ain’t stupid. Unfortunately, no dyno runs were included, but anybody want to venture a guess as to what this mind-boggling power plant is making?
The quickest way to make horsepower more exciting is to give it less weight to push. Laurent decided to make his one-off frame out of aluminum for a number of reasons. It only weighs a third of what a comparable amount of steel does, it polishes to a finish a lot of us like better than chrome, and he is comfortable in this medium as he also makes high-end aluminum furniture on the side. The single tube frame cradles the Franken-Flattie with a curved tubing swingarm that playfully looks like it shouldn’t be strong enough and which pivots an upward arm to the Öhlins piggyback shock that’s mounted and exposed on the top tube where the back half of a gas tank would normally be. Be careful where the boys are when the spring compresses! Speaking of tanks, Laurent hand-hammered this aluminum, engine hugging, gem of a tank. Up front, he built his own (What a surprise – not.) springer fork unlike any other, straight and slab-sided with another Öhlins called into play to control movement. It’s everything the swingarm is not design-wise, yet they look so right together.
Classic Akront aluminum rims were powdercoated to match the Öhlins’ blue springs and provide the only color to this bike, if you discount the black engine as a color. They’re laced up with 40-spokes each on ancient Ducati drums. From my own experience, stopping power should be nothing to write home about, but Laurent must be counting on the astounding looks of his bike to make other vehicles stop and stare and keep him out of harm’s way. Narrow Avon tires, front and rear, with tread patterns of days gone by (you haven’t lived until you’ve experienced a straight-ribbed front Speedmaster’s reaction to California highway grooves) have nary a fender in sight. Maybe it doesn’t rain much in Nice. Must be nice.
Boardtrack-style bars with stark built-in levers contrast with the knockout mid-mount foot controls that delicately do what they have to. Like I said, Laurent likes to build aluminum furniture as his other passion and I can only assume that sitting on one of his creations is a wee bit more comfortable than that stylistic excuse for an ass perch. Ouch and double ouch! Make mine with comfortable foam and leather please. Oh yeah, he made the headlight too and probably any stuff you can see that I didn’t mention. Let your eyes do the walking.
Anyway, there’s apparently not much Laurent can’t do and do well, very well. I can’t wait to see or imagine what he’ll do next. In the meantime, pass the absinthe please.
This bike feature originally appeared in Barnett’s Magazine issue #57, September 2007.
Builder: Laurent Dutruel
| SPECIFICATIONS | |
|---|---|
| Owner: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Year/ Make: | 2006 Dutruel Custom |
| Fabrication/ assembly: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Build time: | 1200 hours |
| Engine: | 45″ WL45/ Shovelhead/ Sportster |
| Cases: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Rods: | WL |
| Pistons: | WL |
| Cylinders: | WL |
| Heads: | WL |
| Cam: | WL |
| Ignition: | Accenzione |
| Carb: | Lectron |
| Pipes: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Air Cleaner: | Air horn/ Laurent Dutruel |
| Transmission: | 5-speed 1995 Sportster |
| Primary: | Sportster |
| Clutch: | Sportster |
| Frame: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Forks: | Laurent Dutruel aluminum springer |
| Rear Suspension: | Ohlins |
| Wheels: | 21″ 40-spoke Akront rim/Dutruel hub |
| Tires: | Avon Speedmaster MKII/ Safety Mileage MKII |
| Brakes: | Ducati drum |
| Fuel Tank: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Oil Tank: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Handlebars: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Headlight: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Taillight: | Bullet style/ Laurent Dutruel |
| Hand Controls: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Grips: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Foot Controls: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Electrical: | Laurent Dutruel |
| Seat: | Laurent Dutruel |