FEATURE
P84
PERE TARRAGÓ
An MV in the works…
headlights and taillights also
work - thanks to an artfully concealed tiny lithium battery.
These are true fifth-size replicas of the original motorcycles,
manufactured in authentic – that
word again - materials like steel,
brass, lead or aluminum, not
plastic. And in creating them,
Tarragó employs many of the
techniques used to make the
originals, including sandcasting
and lost wax casting techniques,
machining components on his
high precision lathe, and even
using carbon fiber – though not
to save weight, but to obtain
complex shapes more easily.
Here's how.
After choosing the next new
model to make – and this can
be a one-off commission from a
single customer, or a series production model that still requires a
prototype to be hand-crafted for
copying – Tarragó must first get
his hands on an original motorcycle to replicate. That's one reason why, until now, most of the
bikes he's built have been Spanish models, original examples of
which are plentifully available locally.
Besides the Metralla, Brio and
Impala, the different dozen-plus
miniatures he's made to date
also include the Derbi 50c RAN
(replica Angel Nieto) customer
GP racer, Bultaco Sherpa T trials bike, and streetbikes like the
Ossa 150 and Spanish-made
Moto Guzzi 65. The next model
to come is a 250cc Ossa MAR
(Mick Andrews replica) trials
bike, and there on the workbench at the time of my visit was
an original example that he was
in the process of painstakingly
measuring up and photograph-
