CUSTOM & STYLE: Speedway Superstar Ehinger Kraftrad's remarkable “Speedster ... - Cycleworld
While stylistic exuberance can shroud its origins, racing has always been the No. 1 starting point of most custom bike styles—Class C racing begat the bob-job, dragsters led to the chopper, GP the café racer, and dirt racing the tracker and... Uwe Ehinger of Germany’s Ehinger Kraftrad isn’t a typical custom builder, and takes his inspiration from the far corners of racing: hillclimbing, ice racing, and now speedway. Speedway bikes are absolutely minimal, and little about them has changed from their perfected golden era post 1930. A modern speedway racer could be set beside a 1930 Rudge-Whitworth or Harley-Davidson Peashooter, and one could justifiably wonder... Traditional custom builders usually shun small bikes, and speedway racers are tiny, with ultralight rigid frames, single-cylinder engines, no gearbox, and a flimsy fork. But two builds debuted this year have successfully captured the spirit of speedway: the single-cylinder “#7” by Jeremy Cupp, and the Ehinger Kraftrad “Speedster. ” Uwe Ehinger explains: “Jeremy and I both built speedway bikes—we discussed how two people can have the same idea at the same time. Source: www.cycleworld.com
