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Bienville Legacy, for Those Who Believed that Confederate Was Too Crazy

Enter Bienville Legacy, a custom machine which will change your perception on what is crazy in the two-wheeled world. If you thought that Confederate are extreme bikes, prepare to meet something even more extreme… funny or not, created by the former confederate creative designer, JT Nesbitt.
Bienville Legacy 17 photos
Photo: JT Nesbitt
Bineville Legacy: bespoke parts down to minute detailsBineville Legacy: top viewBineville Legacy: an organic trellis frameBineville Legacy front and rear CF girders are identical, inetrchangeableBineville Legacy: mountain bike dampersBineville Legacy: a killer exhaust designBineville Legacy: flowing shapes for the collectorsBineville Legacy: fork detailBineville Legacy looks like a million bucksBineville Legacy: this is one headlight we just don't see every dayBineville Legacy: custom looks to the maxBineville Legacy: a steampunk "dash"Bineville Legacy: beautiful rear endBineville Legacy: JT Nesbitt (left)Bineville Legacy: the red piece is a composite leaf springBineville Legacy: only three exist
It’s rather hard to say whether the Legacy must be looked at as a real motorcycle or as motorcycle art. It has the best of both worlds… and in fact, it has the best of all worlds. Read more and you’ll find out why we’re sort of hyperventilating about this stunning machine.

Nothing really new in the business, so Legacy

A very vocal presence in the business, Nesbitt was never shy to hide his disappointment for seeing how the motorcycle design has been kind of stuck for decades. He wanted to take a bold step outside the box and build a machine which was more than trying to fit an engine into a frame. The result of his struggles and anguish is the Bienville Legacy, a bike built in a completely different manner.

Instead, he wanted to choose an American engine and build a new bike around it, a motorcycle which would show to the world that there are still many untrodden paths that lay ahead. Nesbitt joined efforts with the American Design and Master Craft Initiative (ADMCi), a non-profit organization based in Chicago, Illinois whose aim is to promote sustainable user-focused designs in all forms, be it industrial design, music, visual arts, physical or digital.

Since the ADMCi provided JT Nesbitt with complete freedom, you can already start fathoming that the result is striking. No deadlines, no stress related to constantly delivering designs for a mass producer, and no intervention in his ideas provided Nesbitt with a dream-like environment to create the Legacy.

Linked, interchangeable ends, mountain bike suspensions and the composite leaf thing

The Legacy is indeed not the bike you expect to see rolling down the streets. The carbon fiber girder forks and swingarm will turn heads, just like the almost organic trellis design of the frame. Still, the bike has more stunning features, and its bow-type leaf suspension is definitely one of the most intriguing things about it.

Both front and the rear end are linked together by means of a giant leaf spring. Made from a composite material to prevent the fatigue which often affects metal designs, this bow-like spring is attached to both ends of the bike creating a chassis which is constantly under tension, by means of pull rods. The design decouples the steering forces from the suspension and the brake forces, with the sole tension points being the central spring mount and the swingarm pivot.

And believe it or not, the damping is provided by top-notch mountain bike elements. They are almost impossible to bottom out and have a virtually infinitely progressive damping.

The fork girders are identical to the swingarm ones, and almost all the bits and pieces of the front end are interchangeable with their rear end counterparts. What’s even more intriguing is the fact that the architecture of the Bienville Legacy can be altered fairly effortlessly. Just use an Allen key to loosen a pinch bolt then rotate a worm gear. It will cause an eccentric adjuster to rotate and make the needed changes in trail and chain tension. The same goes for the seat height, headlight angle and rear ride height. Plus, everything looks really trick, too.

All things custom, save for the Motus engine

The Bienville Legacy is a custom bike almost in its entirety. There are only few parts which have not been manufactured in-house. These include the Motus V4 engine, ISR masters and radial brakes and battery. The carbon fiber wheels are BST, but they are also custom made, with special hubs. The rest of the bike was crafted especially for the project, adding even more credit to the act of building.

As cool as the Motus engine was with its half-small-block V8 looks and its 185 horsepower, Nesbitt went the extra mile. A Rotrex centrifugal supercharger was installed and took the power figure to over 300 hp, but there is a very cool reason for such an upgrade.

Nesbitt will be heading to Utah once the only three bikes he plans to build are ready. He aims for no less than three Bonneville land speed records as the final proof for the might of his design. There is no telling what will happen with the bikes once they arrive back from the Salt Flats, but one thing IS certain: there will be no more Legacy machines built, as JT will most likely channel his genius to a new project.

There is no price announced for the Bienville Legacy, but one thing is for sure: these bikes are going to be anything but cheap. And if they also do well in Bonneville, the price tag will go even higher. However, the cool factor of JT Nesbitt’s legacy is still higher than anything.

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