News

The New Orleans Motorcycle Community Is Building A Bike!

The Crescent Concept: Part 1

Photos: Cory Fontenot

April 7, 2016

This full-size design sketch is the culmination of all the Crescent Concept contributors’ creativity and ideas. The name “Crescent” refers to New Orleans’ nickname, the Crescent City. And the “Concept” part, well, that’s obvious.©Motorcyclist

It all began with a few tech talks at The Transportation Revolution, a multi-line dealership in New Orleans, and it’s grown into a series of hands-on classes that will culminate in a radical custom motorcycle, hand built by the New Orleans motorcycling community.

The Crescent Concept is the name given to a collaborative, educational bike build. Local professional designers and fabricators like JT Nesbitt, John Franco, Karl Vosloh, Patrick Tilbury, and The Transportation Revolution's own Max Materne will coach local enthusiasts on the topics of frame design, exhaust and fuel-tank fabrication, wiring-harness assembly, painting, dyno tuning, and more. And they'll build a bitchin' bike in the process. It's like high-school shop class turned up to 11 and taught by some of the best in the business.

The Transportation Revolution’s Max Materne, teaching engine tech during one of TTRNO’s seminars. Those “tech talks” were the kernel from which the Crescent Concept grew.©Motorcyclist

The project is already underway, with a 1:1 rendering of the Crescent Concept finalized and serving as a build template. JT Nesbitt, lead designer at Bienville Studios and the mad genius behind the Confederate Wraith, helped attendees transform their ideas into images and give shape to the Crescent. The next class—taught by Wicked Bros owner John Franco—will focus on frame fabrication, and subsequent classes will cover everything needed to turn the Crescent Concept from a concept drawing into a motorcycle that's sure to be distinctly New Orleans. The project is expected to be finished within a year, and the finalized bike will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to charity.

During the first Crescent Concept meetings on February 20th and 25th, JT Nesbitt guided attendees through the design process. Contributors were given a template with an outline of the Triumph Daytona 675 engine that will be used, as well as the wheelbase, rake, and trail. Everything else was left blank and open to interpretation.©Motorcyclist

You can learn more about the Crescent Concept at crescentconcept.com and get regular doses of the project via Facebook and Instagram, but rest assured we'll be documenting the build's progress here as well. If you're local to NOLA and want to participate directly, Crescent Concept classes are held just about every week at The Transportation Revolution—the jumping-off point for our NOLA-to-Barber road trip—and are open to anyone with an interest in participating. Classes cost $20 for adults, and free to kids 12 and under.