V-Twin, low seat height, pullback bars, floorboards, big ol' brake pedal. Where have I seen that before?
Posted on 01/19/2009 11:26:16 AM PST by BenLurkin
PALMDALE - As part of this year's celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the B-2 stealth bomber's first flight, manufacturer Northrop Grumman Corp. commissioned a special-edition motorcycle which echoes the iconic aircraft's design. The "Stealth Bike" features details which mimic elements of the distinctive bomber, including a gas tank and front cowling shaped to resemble the cockpit and fuselage and a rear fender made from a scrap piece of titanium used for the original B-2's aft deck.
The motorcycle was built by Orange County Choppers of Newburgh, N.Y., and will be featured on an episode of the cable television series "American Chopper" on TLC.
"We named the bike 'The Spirit of Innovation' to honor the engineering innovation and spirit of partnership between Northrop Grumman and the Air Force that enabled the development and on-going modernization of the B-2," said Dave Mazur, Northrop Grumman's vice president of long range strike and B-2 program manager. "It is also a tribute to the men and women of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., who fly, service and maintain the fleet."
The name also echoes the "Spirit of" moniker given to each of the bombers, which are named in honor of individual states.
Among the design details are five B-2 silhouettes on each side of the wheels, positioned in the shape of the Air Force star. Each bears the tail number of one of the 20 B-2s in the fleet.
The motorcycle itself bears its own tail number: 0789, to commemorate the date of the first flight.
The Stealth Bike will be featured at various events throughout the year to commemorate the anniversary.
The highlight of the yearlong celebrations will be a re-enactment of the first flight from Palmdale this summer.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
sweeeeeeet!....
Nice.
Well, you know what they say about opinions........
Yep! Now why is it that its harleys that get chopped?
What did I win? {:0)
Nothing. I was merely asking an innocent question to an individual whom I thought might have some insight into that type of thing and then you dropped in.......
Well, actually, you made a statement... and then I barged in... FReegards!
Guilty!
That just brought back some old suburban “Middletown Dreams”
from the 70s. Banana seats: they were even making them with a metal flake vinyl finish usually purple or gold, the plastic fenders, and the only thing missing, the fork extenders. Kids used to trawl the neighbors refuse when old bike frames were present, saw the forks off and slip them over those on their own bicycles to “chop” them. For about a five year period no disposed bicycle ever got hauled away with the front forks intact.
I played a bit part in the construction of the assembly facility for the ‘ice cream maker’ (as they then referred to it) at Plant 42. Security was pretty tight back then.
No matter how much you stressed the NO MAGNETIC MEDIA rule to the construction crew, some yahoo would mess up & leave a cassette tape in his vehicle. We’d lose the guy for half the day while security ‘checked him over’.
Some guy tried to smuggle in a camera, hidden under the spare tire in his trunk. He got his car back two weeks later, in pieces, minus the camera . . .
More what I’d like to ride, if I could:
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r46/Motorbiker_photos/Dakar2007/Dakar2007-Despres-01.jpg
YEP! Same in my neighborhood!
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