Motorcycle specifications Merlin (Australie) 4500 Kneeslider 1985 Bomber Bike

In the biker fraternity, as in many other fields, there are people who are completely mad. Some do just about anything, others feel the need to express themselves through exceptional creations. Like Allen Millyard, John Levey, Nick Argyl, or here Lucky Keizer. An Australian who has created one of the most extravagant motorcycles, especially in terms of its engine. A twin, but look at the engine. Straight out of a... 27 liters of displacement.

You had to have a serious desire to embark on a crazy project. And that's how the most astonishing creations are born. Let's start at the beginning, in 1982. Lucky found an old 1938 V12, a Rolls Royce Merlin type 25. This block was mounted on the famous Mosquito planes, World War II fighters. For comic-book fans, they appear in the album "Tintin - Coke en stock".
From this enormous mill, Lucky set about creating a V2. Not by cutting it up with a chainsaw, as that would be too dirty and make too many shavings. Rather, it's the result of a tremendous amount of machining and design work. The creation of the bike itself required 2300 hours of labor. Just the design and manufacture of a crankshaft to match the image and balance of this twin-cylinder took 300 hours. At birth, it's a huge 4506 cm3 mill developing 150 horsepower. Admittedly, the displacement/power ratio is derisory, but that doesn't matter given the exuberance of the design.

Skeptics at the time feared that the vibrations of such an engine would totally dismember both motorcycle and rider. Observers' testimonies showed that this was not the case, and that the twin's trepidation remained within the realms of reasonableness. One of the small problems inherent in this work is starting it up. A DC3 aircraft-style auxiliary starter is required to bring the engine to life. To do things properly, the designer added a compressor and an additional nitrous oxide system. From Mad Max to Fast & Furious, you couldn't ask for anything better.

M.B. - Photos D.R.