It took seven years for Revival Cycles in Austin to bring The Revival Fuse to fruition and display it at the company’s Handbuilt Motorcycle Show. The one-off custom is a collaboration between Revival Cycles and a customer who boasts a résumé of independent thinking in the corporate tech environment.
“Revival delivered an opportunity to not only build a concept bike,” Ed Boyd explains, “but rather welcomed me into their design house to collaborate on a fully 3D customization that utilized both high tech and low tech to accomplish the end goal of an unparalleled machine.” Boyd’s work history includes the positions of Senior VP of Design for Dell, VP of Product Design for Dell, Global Category Creative Director for Nike, and Technology Designer for Sony. Indisputably, Boyd is a customer as unique as The Revival Fuse.
From Revival Cycles’ perspective, “What Boyd purchased was an experience, not just a custom bike. Boyd claimed that he knew any other shop would have just taken his money and delivered a bike within a specified timeline. But Revival would work with him to provide a unique and uncompromising experience bringing his design dreams to life. Boyd collaborated with Revival Cycles for a fully immersive design experience unparalleled without corporate limitations or agendas.” It’s an abrupt change for a customer fully embedded in the corporate world.
Revival Cycles is the dream of Alan Stulberg, whose motorcycle career began at five years old. Rather than being handed a brand-new ride at his childhood home in Austin, Stulberg was presented with a non-operational Honda with instructions from his blue-collar rancher father to get it running if he wanted to ride it. Young Alan did just that.
Stulberg went on study applied arts and science at Texas Tech. Upon graduation, Stulberg entered the soul-killing corporate world, escaping in 2008 to found Revival Cycles. The company has a mission statement reflected in the motorcycles it builds: “We believe that the motorcycle should be more than a means to get around; it is an aesthetic expression that demonstrates the beauty of purposeful form. We are as focused on design, art, and architecture as we are on mechanics and engineering. When we blend our interests, the result is as much fun to ride as it is to behold.”
The Revival Fuse certainly meets those criteria. The build, nicknamed the “$1/4 Million Experience Build,” is inspired by the more-conventional Revival J63, with the spare design and air-cooled Ducati motor as carryover themes. Performance takes a more center-stage position on the 400-pound The Revival Fuse.
The Ducati powerplant used in The Revival Fuse is not simply an artistic statement. The 1100cc motor has high-performance modifications, including custom velocity stacks, a race-tuned ECU, and a slipper clutch.
The stainless steel exhaust is an absolute marvel. The sweeping asymmetrical bends required 150 feet of welded bead to accomplish its production. The result is a motor producing 140 horsepower, while retaining reliability and a vintage appearance.
Beyond the motor, virtually everything on The Revival Fuse is custom-made. Every part was sketched, translated to CAD, and then produced. The build represents over one thousand hours of custom fabrication time.
Stainless steel makes another appearance as the material tapped for the trellis frame. Above the frame sits an impossibly graceful structure that runs from tail to steering head, covering the fuel tank and providing a base for the custom leather seat. A seven-layer paint job and handmade aluminum fairing complete the motif.
Revival Cycles is particularly proud of the hand controls. The builders claim The Revival Fuse has the “only handlebars known to exist that are integrated into the top triple-clamp with integrated brake clutch and throttle controls, hidden cables, and integrated hydraulic reservoirs and electric switchgear.”
The rider keeps an eye on the motorcycle’s speed via an analog-style gauge with LCD accompaniment. Boyd will be reminded of the bike’s name every ride, as it is written in script on the face.
Rather than a wire linking the ignition and the electrical system, RFID technology makes the connection wireless. Turn signals are seamlessly integrated into the tail section, though we’re not sure where you’d mount a license plate, and we don’t see any provisions for mirrors.
Twin cantilevered shocks are implemented and bolted to a CNC-produced swingarm. The fork is also machined, and Öhlins internals are installed. Braking is courtesy of Hayes, who produced one-off calipers for The Revival Fuse. Like so much of the motorcycle, the calipers are polished. Dunlop created a set of one-off 18-inch slicks for the rims, which are laced to custom hubs.
The Revival Fuse is a spectacular build, worthy of its creators and the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show, which returned this year after a government-enforced two-year hiatus. Synchronized with the Grand Prix of the Americas at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show attracts the expected custom enthusiasts, and expands its scope by appealing to the hardest core motor racing devotees. A short eight years after its inception, and due in no small part to motorcycles like The Revival Fuse, the Revival Cycles’ Handbuilt Motorcycle Show is a must-attend experience for motorcyclists of all stripes, and it’s just getting started.
The Revival Fuse by Revival Cycles Photo Gallery
