Zeppelin Boardtracker

Here's a project that's different, it's the Zeppelin, Harley Davidson WR powered, hub center steering, board track racer. It's the work of Roel van der Heide, a retired Dutch steelworker, who has been building the Chiqane series of motorcycles where he developed his hub center steering design.

After the article announcing that ISR was offering a hub center steering kit, Roel van der Heide left a comment about his hub center design, and then he contacted me about his latest project, called the Zeppelin Boardtracker. His Chiqane motorcyles, built in the late 1990s and early 2000s, were ridden by Alan Cathcart who was very impressed with the latest version and they seem to work quite well.

Jump ahead to the present and Roel is working on this design, powered by a WL 750 engine upgraded to a WR with a Mikuni carburetor and a 4 speed BSA gearbox, a Norton primary shaft and Norton dry clutch plus a home made belt driven primary, home made chassis and components, and all based on the Chiqane system.

Roel is not only working on this bike but is also planning to open Zeppelin Works, where he will be offering this Zeppelin boardtracker as a custom motorcycle with various options for engines, gearboxes and wheels. All, however, will be built with his unique hub center steered front end.

If this boardtracker handles as well as the Chiqane motorcycles evidently do, this could be very interesting, and as a custom motorcycle offering, it's not something you see everyday.

Source The Kneeslider.com   Zeppelin Works