Bandit9 Motorcycle Design

Okay so the guys that run Pipeburn are like…my heroes. It is a magical place where beautiful bikes and unicorns live. I’ve spent several hours on that site in one sitting. That’s no exaggeration.

If you’re a machine maker, I suggest you shoot your work over to them. If your work is up to par, you’ll get amazing coverage. Nero’s been on there for about an hour and I’ve got 5 emails from people interested in the bike. Where else can you get that? And the boys that run the show are great to work with. I’ve met a lot of guys in this biz who have been drinking their own kool-aid for far too long. Something that’s supposed to be fun becomes…unfun.

Anyway, enjoy Nero’s 15 minutes on Pipeburn.

So this is a real breakthrough for us at Bandit9. Nero is on the cover of one of the hottest custom bike magazines out there - Iron & Air.

We are only about 8 months old so we’re really proud of the way things are going for us. We’re really thrilled to be amongst the biggest names in the custom motorcycle world and that is really encouraging for us. Some of these guys have some serious work and it’s quite a humbling experience to be a page-flip away.

There are 5 glorious spreads of the newest beast born from our very modest workshop in Beijing. The pages are filled with really gorgeous shots of Nero, which took us an eternity to perfect.

But here’s what’s cool about Iron & Air. While other magazines and blogs focus on specs and random nerdy details that wouldn’t interest the casual reader, Iron & Air invests a lot of time and energy to paint a holistic portrait of the builders, the bikes and the inspiration. They write great stories. And they wrote a good one for us. Michael Hilton’s words make us sound a lot cooler than we actually are…we’re just a bunch of motorcycle geeks that build bikes that we would ride. Nothing more.

So here’s what I suggest to all you folks that dare to start their own garage - go get yourself a subscription to Iron & Air’s magazine. There’s a serious wealth of inspiration in their pages and it’s just damn good training.

Okay…now I’m going to get into my creative ad mode and market the bejesus out of this bike. Make sure you visit our site and check out some more shots of Nero. Here’s another shot of Nero. Pretty hot stuff.

So you guys really have to follow Iron & Air. They’ve got the coolest bikes…including Bandit9 bikes…hehe.

As you can see, Iron & Air will be releasing their very first issue real soon annnnndddd we’ll be in it. We’re really excited about it…just as much as the opening to the Dark Knight Rises, which we’re traveling all the way to Hong Kong to see. In like 3 hours.

The countdown begins.

-d-

Hey guys,

I have to apologize for our recent radio silence. It’s not like I’ve locked myself in a room with 3 other nerds playing Diablo 3 obsessively with my now level 60 Demon Hunter.

That’s not me on the left playing Diablo 3.

Bandit9’s been busy. I’d love to tell you everything but unfortunately, we can’t disclose much. Top secret stuff.

The Bikes

We’re building two bikes that we’re stoked about. We’re venturing out of the Chang Jiang, which is exciting. We love Changs but it’s time to move on. Bandit9 is still in its youth so now’s the time to try new things.

The Business

I’ve been trying to find ways to get the Bandit9 business a little more automated. Automated in a sense that I shouldn’t need to be around to keep things moving, both in the design of the bikes and getting press. I’m juggling an ad job at the same time and it’s a real pain in the ass. It’s a love-hate thing. God knows this is probably one of the most dysfunctional, non-sensical industries but I’m not ready to leave it behind. Yet.

Expansion

Aha. I’m working like mad-cow disease to expand the Bandit9 business. A lot of partnerships, a lot of shows, a lot of emails. We’ve got an aggressive business plan but I can’t go into much detail about this one. Be patient. It’ll happen.

Press

We’ll be appearing in a number of sites and magazines soon with the release of Nero. We’re really happy to be working with the guys out there helping us get our 15 mins of fame. There are some really intelligent folks in the world doing some incredible things. Really creative minds with business sense. I like that.

Alrighty, that’s all for now. You should be hearing from us again soon.

Peace and love.

-d-