MOTORIEEP VOXAN SCRAMBLER

The French are revered for being able to create rather tantalising recipes, whether it be in the kitchen, fashion house or the workshop. Voxan celebrated their 20th anniversary this year and despite the challenge of competing against Japanese, Italian and British manufacturers as well as making it through a pretty deep recession, the company now offer more than just a quirky motorcycle; they’re forging ahead with a super-tech electric bike.

For now though we prefer the thump of a hydrocarbon burning motor and the heart of every Voxan is the stunning a 72° 996 cc V-twin designed by racing gurus Sodemo Moteurs. Henri Pescarolo’s Le Mans LMP1 entries and the BTCC winning Renault Lagunas were powered by Sodemo engines, proving the pedigree. However, Voxan’s Scrambler in stock trim isn’t exactly gorgeous and doesn’t do its wonderful engine justice. Enter stage left, Pierre from Paris based custom shop Motorieep.

Pierre usually boeufs-up Beemers to make aggressive street scramblers and trackers for his discerning clientele but this Voxan was ripe for a makeover and caught our eye. Using the engine as a stressed member allows for the unique perimeter frame to be fairly minimal, leaving the mechanical beauty on display. Pierre fabricated an equally unobtrusive subframe to prop-up the seat and battery box. With suspension being underslung the rear-end is also particularly neat.

The engine might look mighty but thanks to shortsighted red tape producers new motorcycles sold in France since 1985 must not exceed 100hp. The Voxan motor punches this out easily so internally it was left untouched for this build. Motorieep builds usually involve adding a degree of hooligan so Pierre removed the internal fuel pump, mounting a new high pressure version with adjustable regulator just below the tank. When required, the rider can wind up the dial and request a few more cheavaux to be sent through the new stainless exhaust system.

The fuel tank is wafer thin and of course hand-beaten to not only create a low profile vessel but to leave enough real estate beneath for the fairly cavernous airbox. With 10 litres onboard and a wet weight of 190kg the owner will need to make fairly good friends with the local fuel station attendants. But at least he’ll save on front tyres with those lovely Paolli forks being lofted skyward with probable regularity.

Continental’s TXC80s provide the off-road aesthetic and with 115hp available power slides on Tarmac shouldn’t be a problem but being 17 inchers a whole host of supermoto rubber is available.

Voxan might be an obscurity to most but this is one donor bike we’d like to see more of. Hopefully Pierre will be able to get hold of another one and continue to build the Motorieep portfolio.

via The Bike Shed