George Woodman Garage produced motorcycles from 1901 until the 60s, including the famed FN Four—the world’s first production four cylinder motorcycle. The M70B was first able to ride through the Sahara desert and also the one draw in the famous comics “TINTIN”. A piece of the motorcycle history.
The centerpiece of the build is the new seat unit—a wood and aluminum sandwich with a dollop of leather. It’s sitting on a custom-made hinge-and-spring system, with the original seat springs re-purposed out back for a little extra compliance.
Everything’s been designed to use the frame’s original mounting tabs, minimizing changes to the original chassis. The handlebars were cut and re-welded for a more vintage-race feel, capped with wrapped leather grips.
Woodman’s continued the wood theme with a neat headlight cowl and some smaller pieces—like a protector plate for the velocity stack and a nominal rear fender. All the controls are original, so the rider still has to control air, fuel and spark manually—like they did back in ‘29
As a finishing touch, Woodman has etched into the black paint of the FN’s fishtail exhaust, earning it the nickname ‘The Smoking Black Fish.’ The hints of gold are from earlier repairs, made at some unknown point during the 87 years of the FN’s life. The bike is running but for sure it’s more an art-work waiting for a lovely location.
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Photo Credit By George Woodman
