For all that we try to contrive things to happen the way we want them, serendipity sometimes plays a part. I was working in the North East of England and, as is my want, I had a mooch around the neighbouring industrial estates to see what other companies were there. Tucked in a corner, just off one of the service-roads, in a modern industrial unit, was the home of ‘Xenophya Design’. The sign on the door described them as ‘Designers of Motorcycles’.

I rang the bell and introduced myself. After copious mugs of tea and just the crumbs from scoffing a packet of ‘Rich Tea’ remaining, we’d got the bones of an approach to working together on the design of a motorcycle that I’d had in my mind’s eye for a while.

Mark and Ian’s enthusiasm for all things motorcycle, coupled with their encyclopaedic knowledge of ‘British iron’, marked them out in my mind as a talented pair of young turks.

Using the Buell ‘Blast’ engine as the basis of a 500cc single, I set them a short brief, on the condition that they went nowhere near a computer, until the design concept was frozen.

Here’s a few pics from ‘the family album’ which tell the rest of the story.