American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 234 January 2019 | Page 33

It has to be said, but when we first saw the
run test video that Orkonyi Károly (Hungary)
submitted for ‘Speedster King’ a couple of
weeks before the 2018 AMD World
Championship, it may be our imagination,
but it did look like he was engaging first
more in hope than expectation!
But then again, isn’t it always thus for every new
build that has been brought forth from nothing but
the imagination, creativity and craftsmanship
of any and every ‘builder’?
And a “rider” it certainly is!
mpionship.com
Widely admired for its swoopy 1930s
retro meets science fiction gallery grade
avant-garde styling, it was one of three Eastern and
Central European custom builds to populate the top
four in 2018, and were it not for the extraordinarily
high quality of the field compared to many other
years, it may well have been placed even higher by
the competitors than its well deserved third place.
From the rigid frame to the 1700 cc V-twin engine,
almost every part that could have been handmade is
an original one-off design, lovingly handcrafted for
the bike and yes, that does
indeed include the drivetrain - from
the crankshaft and the centrifugal clutch to the
planetary gear 3-speed transmission and Marusius
front end, with all the machining done in-house by
Zoltan Balint - leaning heavily on his day job, training
and experience as an industrial and agricultural parts
and product designer and engineer.
With the possible exception of a Suzuki 15” rear
spoke wheel, where parts have been sourced, they
certainly haven’t been ‘off-the-shelf’, and they are
not what any of us would normally describe as
“stock”.
For example, check out the 19” front wheel from a
1950s/’60s/’70s Hungarian made Pannonia
motorcycle and the cylinders and heads -
modified from a 1970s Soviet austerity
era East German Robor LO 3001
truck!
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JANUARY 2019
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