March/April The big thing happening at the moment is the release of 'Fast & Furious', the fourth movie in the Fast and Furious 'franchise'. Well this 'car' movie just happens to have one very cool BIKE making an appearance - the mighty V-Rex! Here's a couple of shots from behind the scenes, showing Paul Walker and Vin Diesel enjoying some V-Rex coolness. The first weekend screenings in the US has set box office records so who knows maybe F&F 5 will be set on bikes? :-) In other news, the new hybrid motorcycle design continues to get press all around the world, with Bike India, Moto Magazine in Greece, Austria's Touren Bike and Cycle Canada running stories this week, as well as the Faster & Faster motorcycle blog and AutoBlog Green running stories as well on the web. We have been working hard on an extremely exciting local vehicle design project too which, of course, I can't say anything about (yet!).   January/February 2009 The big news this month is the launch of the new hybrid motorcycle design concept called the CAF-E. This has already been picked by the European press as I guess it is quite timely. Tougher emissions rules and rising fuel prices have been threatening to put a damper on the current performance party which has been featuring some of the most awesome performance machines ever built. My aim was to say that the party can still go on, simply by application of existing hybrid car technology to motorcycles. My focus as a designer was packaging all this technology in a fairly 'standard' looking design rather than anything as outlandish as the current crop of hybrid concept bikes. I chose the British cafe racer as a source of some lines (you can see a little Norton Commando in the ducktail) and I thought it would be fun to blend some older lines with brand new technology. There is a page for it in the gallery HERE, and you can contact me for a press release and high res print-ready images as well, via email September/October/November 2008 Unbelievably busy few months! Our next major motorcycle design is now tantalisingly close to completion. You'll know about it as soon as it finished! Highlights over past little while include a two page story about the VR-2 appearing in the UK's MCN magazine, more US V-Rex press and exposure including being featured front and centre at the awesome Siggraph (Special Interest Group, Computer Graphics) conference in L.A. The bike's story was documented as a major fixture at the Newtek stand, since I used Newtek's Lightwave 3D to design and render the original 3D version of the bike. There are TWO V-Rexes (Rexii?) currently to be seen at the massive SEMA show in Las Vegas, one on the K&N stand and the other with the gents at Prospray. Other V-Rex highlights include confirmation of where and when the V-Rex makes its movie debut in 2009! On slightly disrelated other news, 'Wired' featuring my 'space fighter' design in their on-line gallery.   Siggraph! Who's that up on the screen?   Hollywood star Paul Walker looking mighty cool on a V-Rex. VR-2 coverage in MCN. The Spacefighter featured on Wired magazine's website gallery. August 2008 This month I can confirm that the V-Rex will be appearing in a major motion picture in 2009! And although that's pretty much all I can say about that, a sniff around the web would probably enable you to work out exactly which one it is. The bike is also making an appearance in LA at the massive and awesome Siggraph conference. Newtek, the makers of the software I used to design and build the original 3D concept, will have a 'real ' V-Rex on their stand for the week, as well as a video interview with yours truly explaining the finer points of the design process. I have finally gotten round to rendering a short 'demo reel' featuring some of my designs in quicktime format. You can download it HERE. June/July 2008 Another two months just went zoom! As usual, there's plenty happening around here and I finally get time to sit down for an update. On the V-Rex front, the bike continues to get media attention, this time a little more 'mainstream' in the form of U.S. Playboy magazine. Other items this month include some actual progress being made on the Skeletor project. I have a been working on a very interesting internal structure for the frame, requiring no welding with the idea of making the bike entirely 'kit-buildable'. Have also discovered the coolest website in the known universe of bike-dom, check it out.   May 2008 What a month so far! The new Diablo design has taken off with both German an Spanish magazines running stories about it, I am thinking of putting out one of the Diablo renders as a nice big wallpaper (1024 x 768). If you want it, just drop me an email Also there is a series of articles appearing in 3D World magazine which trace the development in diary form of the V-Rex from my original idea and sketch all the way to rolling down the streets of the U.S. I am also working on some car designs which will be added to the gallery shortly. April 2008 The latest design, the Diablo has already gotten some press, with this month's AMCN featuring it in the news section. There are more new designs on the way, including our first hybrid. Vids vids vids! Clips of the V-Rex are all over the web. It looks GOOD in motion! Click on these images below to see some of them.     March 2008 Some more stories are appearing in the USA this month, as various motorcycle publications both web and print-based, get to ride the V-Rex for the first time. One of the best articles so far is over on motorcycle.com (direct link here) complete with a video showing the bike cruising around Huntington Beach. My favourite quote is the opening paragraph: If Angelina Jolie strolled down Main Street naked, perhaps with her hair on fire, she might come close to attracting the amount of attention the Travertson V-REX does. - Kevin Duke I'll add links to the various other stories as they appear. February 2008 Two big stories have come out in the USA this month, the V-Rex made the front cover of the Robb Report and Cycle World's Mark Hoyer reported on what it was like to be mobbed whilst riding the world's coolest bike around Los Angeles. Quote: "...nothing else on the planet makes an impact like this bike." To top it off, I've added the first of a bunch of new designs I've been working on. You can check it out here.   January 2008 I've taken the opportunity to give the website a bit of a going over. Both the 3D Design section and the Motorcycle Design sections have had 'the treatment', and I'll be adding some new material over the next few weeks as well.   December 2007 Since the bike hit California in late November, things appear to be snowballing rapidly, with all sorts of great publicity! There are a bunch of great magazine stories on the way, November The V-Rex #0008 was on display at the LA Convention Centre as part of the Los Angeles Auto Show (Nov 16-25), one of the major automotive shows in the world. There was a walk around video shot by Mr Jack Reynolds at the show click HERE and then click on 'Fleet' then 'Travertson' The first deliveries of V-Rex (Rexii?) are taking place in the U.S. at the moment. There's now the very first ride report written about the V-Rex courtesy of the purchaser of #0008, Mr Jack Reynolds. You can read about just what the bike is like to ride by going HERE and then clicking on the 'Forums' button. October Lately I've also been doing a lot of sketching of machines powered by hybrid powerplants. It is a lot of fun finding new looks which don't have to based around where the good old carbs, cases, barrels and exhaust pipes are going to be. There's great freedom in looking into these new layouts. I've always been of the opinion that bikes were by their very nature a great 'alternative' for transportation needs, and it would be great to see more people using them instead of dragging around a ton and a half of metal on four fat wheels everywhere they go. If new generation bikes are even more fuel efficient AND look cool as well, then I guess everyone wins! September Even more coverage of the Swann bike, with the latest issue of Two Wheels magazine featuring a nice big story covering the Swann bike, as well as the research work in motorcycle damage and repair being undertaken by IAG. Late August The press coverage continues this month, with the latest issue of Australian Motorcycle News this week features a big story covering the Swann bike, and what it means for future motorcycling. Matho also gives a mention in his editorial, which is great.   EARLY Huge media launch here in Sydney for a major design project I have been working on for about a year, in conjunction with Sydney-based research organisation, the IAG Technical Research Centre. This organisation has been looking closely into ways to make motorcycles safer as well as cheaper to repair in the event of a simple tip over, and asked me for some input, which lead to the 'Swann Insurance Motorcycle of the Future' design coming about. The media launch was kicked off by our very own Aussie motorcycle racing star Casey Stoner, currently leading the pack in the MotoGP series, who unveiled large images of the design, which features a virtual 'wish list' of items designed to make motorcycles both safer and cheaper to insure. A HUGE story has just appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald sparked by this launch, featuring nice big images of the design. The story is up online currently here         July We finally found a copy of this month's issue of Cycle World (July) out in the shops - both the US and UK based magazines take a good month to find their way over to Australia! It was worth the wait however, as Cycle World's Mark Hoyer wrote a fantastic two page story about the V-Rex. Four thumbs up!!! :-) In early August there is going to be a major media launch involving a motorcycle design I have penned in conjunction with the IAG Research Laboratory here in Sydney. This motorcycle is being used to highlight some deficiencies in current motorcycle design as regards ease of damageability and cost of repair. More details will be added as the launch grows closer. June 'Lotsa press' seems to sum up this month! Stories about V-Rex are appearing in major magazines stateside as well as in Europe, not to mention plenty of exposure here in Australia. On top of that, the announcement that Bruce Rossmeyers' chain of H-D dealerships will be distributing V-Rex has been made here. It looks like Travertson Inc. is going to be very, very busy! Also, starting to become a topic is something I have been working on in liaison with staff from the IAG Research Laboratory here in Sydney, Australia. Serious in-depth research is currently underway into ways that motorcycle design can be improved as regards the expense of damage ocurring after a simple 'drop'. With horror stories of bikes being 'written off' by insurance companies after simply rolling off the sidestand, there's plenty to be done. I believe this problem can be successfully tackled at the design stage without affecting the 'looks' of the bike very much, if at all. It would be no fun if your bike looked like a battleship just so that you could insure it! I will be setting up an entire page on this website to go into this subject much more in-depth. For now , here is a link to IAG's website on the topic, complete with QuickTime movies. Oh and I started building Skeletor, my original thumper design from a few years ago. See here for more info. April Here is an interesting comparison image between the original 3D data (white lines) for the V-Rex concept and the final CAD version (red lines) from Christian. Even now I still find it astounding how close the two wireframes are. Some stories are starting to appear about the bike. This week Ozbike magazine in Australia features the bike on the cover and in an 8 page centrefold pictorial. A french magazine called "maximoto' has also done a rather nice feature as well. Bit of a roundup from Daytona. First off the bike won its class at the Daytona Beach Boardwalk Bike Show and Christian has a HUGE trophy for the mantlepiece! The bike was also entered in the world famous 'Rat's Hole Bike Show' somewhat reluctantly as Christian explained that the V-Rex is NOT a one-off custom bike, it's a PRODUCTION bike, but, according to Christian, they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, and so for possibly the first time in history, a production bike placed in the TOP TEN out of 150 entries at this prestigeous show! March 11th 2007 Daytona Bike Week has finished up. There's so much to do just to keep up. The bike has been causing quite a stir around the place! The story has also been picked up by a lot of bike news websites and other media and there's been plenty of positive feedback from the public which is just great to see. My favourite comment so far that really seems to capture the mood is " I don't know what that is. But it's awesome!!!!!" All in all a bloody amazing week and words just can't really express how proud and excited we are around here. As soon as those new pics and hopefully some vid arrive I'll post them here. Cheers! March 5th 2007 Just received some more photos from Christian. The bike has just been on a 2 day photoshoot with reknowned photographer Mr Alain Sauquet. March 4th 2007 Last night we received the first pics of the finished bike. This morning had to look again just to check I wasn't dreaming! Stay tuned llike I said :-)   March 2nd 2007 Well, this it! I have some pretty huge news to announce. As you read this, the first public showing of the actual, real, finished V-Rex is taking place at Daytona Beach Bike Week! (March 2 - 11) At this moment I am still in shock at seeing the bike come alive and stay so close to the original concept. Pictures and hopefully some video are on the way and as soon as ANYTHING arrives here from Daytona, I'll put it up on this page. For now here's a couple of shots as the prototype reaches completion in the Travertson factory. Also, there are plans for a more formal launch stateside in the very near future, which I will let you know about as soon as details are nailed down. I know it's a hackneyed, trite and painful cliche but... stay tuned!