What we do for a living is a question that often comes up. And to which the answer is hardly ever the same. No, we are not mechanics. No, we are not garage holders. Even though, yes, we do mechanics in our own garage.
But our job is much more complete and complex.
We are custom motorcycle builders.
THE NEW GUYS
You may never have heard of such a profession, and that wouldn’t be a surprise. The motorcycle scene is a very large and crowded universe. On one hand, you have major manufacturers (such as BMW, Yamaha, Kawasaki etc.) who are mass producers. On the other hand, you have racing teams, who only seek performance and victory. And in between, you have spare parts dealers, specialized press, equipment manufacturers and so on.
In the last few years, among this crowd of professionals, amateurs, enthusiasts, we have seen the birth of a new kind of craftsman. Combining their taste for beautiful things and their vision with their skills and know-how, custom motorcycle builders bring a new approach to modern motorcycling.
They are professionals with creative and technical skills, in charge of the transformation of a motorcycle’s appearance and/or performances, thus responding to the growing need to stand out and feel unique.
It is therefore no exaggeration to consider them as artists.
HOW DO WE WORK ?
STEP 1 – GETTING IN TOUCH
All our projects start with a formal exchange. Indeed, for us to be able to build the perfect machine, we need to know as much as we can about its future pilot. In addition to its technical aspect, what we adore about our job, is the relationship we share with our prospects.
We therefore get to know them, understand their expectations, identify their tastes and evaluate their experience, until we are able to offer them a motorcycle model that we feel corresponds to their personality. Each machine that we manufacture can thus boast of being unique and in perfect osmosis with its rider.
STEP 2 – DESIGN
When we feel we know our prospect well enough, we then move on to the design phase. Together with our designers, we create a Photoshop render of how we imagine our client’s future bike, allowing him to get a clearer idea of what it will look like.
STEP 3 – CONSTRUCTION
The construction phase is one of the most exciting phases of any project. Not only for its manual aspect and the immense pleasure of finally being able to immerse oneself in mechanics, but also and above all for the technical challenge that each project represents. Designing a motorcycle is a thing, building it is another, especially when some of the parts are to be entirely created. The feeling of pride in having brought our ideas to life and having succeeded in creating something with our own two hands is also what makes this phase so special and enjoyable.
We always work from an already existing motorcycle that we start by dismantling completely. This allows us to check the motorcycle’s general condition, clean it thoroughly and assess the amount of restoration work that awaits us.
We can then start the custom process. All modifications we bring to the bike, whether they are major or minor, are made in our workshop by Charles and I.
It's only after the construction phase is completed that we move on to painting.
STEP 4 – PAINTING AND ROAD TESTS
The parts we send to our painter differ from one project to another, but we usually count the gas tank and both fenders. Everything is then assembled on the motorcycle, which is by then ready for road tests, so that all the necessary adjustments can be made : carburetors, suspensions, handlebar height, headlight adjustment etc.
Once all the tests have been completed, all that remains is the delivery. Whenever it is possible, we like to take the time to bring it to our customer ourselves. It gives us the opportunity to talk about our work on the bike, to have a live feedback, and to take a few pictures.
On the other hand, when hand delivery proves to be complicated, we call upon our partners, specialists in vehicle delivery, in France or abroad.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Charles and I first met in middle school, when we were 15. Back then, we weren’t close friends, we just knew each other. After high school, he chose to attend a business school when I became a law student. We had then completely disappeared from each other’s lives.
A few years later, a very good friend that we had in common, Josselin (our current photographer), decided to reunite us. After his internship at Diamond Atelier, Charles had just come back from Munich to start Panache while I was planning to travel a bit.
A new friendship was growing.
A year later, I was back in Lyon looking for a job as a communications manager in Paris. On his side, Charles was working on his second project, Smaug, but had trouble working on his own all day every day. When he shared his doubts with me about pursuing Panache, I offered him my help to finish Smaug.
Our collaboration taught me a lot about myself and about my professional expectations. I was given the chance to experience something I had never tried and of which I new nothing. I also discovered what true passion was : I had never seen together in a single person so much involvement, rigor and ingenuity.
The more time I spent at Panache, the more I learnt and the more I wanted to be part of it. So we talked about it and decided that we would continue as a team.
Things went on so well because we shared the same vision of how we imagined Panache’s future. If we were going to build custom motorcycles together, they had to be as finely tuned as possible.
We were going to become artists.
WHAT NOW ?
We are currently working on our third official project a 1992 BMW R100 R for one of our US customers and that we plan on completing by December.
In addition to that, together with French designer Rémy Roland, we have been developing our first custom motorcycle series, Bushidan, based on the Kawasaki W650 and now available for pre-order.
We have also launched a range of limited edition posters inspired by our own motorcycles and created by our photographer and friend Josselin.
To remain consistent with our quality criteria, we chose a refined and grained paper that we found in Hahnemühle’s catalogue. Once printed, our posters are rolled up in an eco-friendly and resistant packaging, ready to travel around the world to reach your walls. You can read all the details by checking one of our product pages.
More recently, we have been developing our own motorcycle parts, which we designed ourselves in our workshop, and which will soon be available on our website.
All these projects and those to come are the expression of our furious desire for creation and our strangely insatiable curiosity.
So be on the lookout, beautiful things are coming.
I WANT MORE !
If you have any questions or if you just want to chat, please feel free to get in touch with us !