Crazy Custom CR1000 Two-Stroke Dirt Bike

Someone told us hill climbing is great fun… We’re inclined to agree!

(pun intended, see what we did there)

There are some weird and wonderful motorcycle sports in the world, but one that often flies below the radar is the awesomely ridiculous French hill climb series.

The events and locations in this series are often found nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees and take place between August and October, the most infamous event being the terrifying Arette Mount Impossible. In essence Hill Climbing sees a brave bunch of bikers take on seemingly insurmountable ascents on board bonkers (and more often than not homemade) machinery.

What’s most amazing is the engineering involved in order to create some of these machines. These bikes are literally fabricated from scratch, with engines that are designed and built in ways that wouldn’t look too out of place inside an R&D department in Japan. The teams that compete in this wild world of hill climbing are one part genius, one part stark raving mad…

One such squad is Team LCH, who are four guys from a tiny little village not far from Toulouse. LCH when translated is shorthand for ‘Iron Horse’, which definitely makes a lot of sense when you see some of their machines.

LCH have a few bikes in their arsenal, but there’s one in particular that certainly sits as the jewel in their crown. They have designed and built a motorcycle that may well be the God King of all two stroke dirt bikes…a CR1000!

Team LCH

The team is led by Sebastien Comageille. By day Sebastien’s trade is creating and fabricating elaborate spiral staircases, which certainly came in handy when he needed to fabricate a complete motorcycle frame and swing arm for his special machine.

So what is the CR1000 exactly?

After building his first hill climb bike a few years ago, a bike which boasts a 998cc four cylinder Suzuki GSX-R1000 engine, Sebastien decided that they needed something lighter but equally as powerful in order to take things to the next level. With this in mind he started work on designing and building his own twin cylinder two stroke machine using two Honda CR500 cylinders. For most mere mortals one CR500 engine provides more than enough power to handle, so putting two of these motors together is utter insanity!

First off, using CAD and 3D printing technology Sebastien designed his own crankcases that are home to a Ducati dry clutch and gearbox to drive the monster machine. You’ll see from the photos that the pair of CR500 cylinders look right at home sitting on top of this billet masterpiece and it all looks much more compact that you would expect.

The frame on the bike is pretty amazing too. Manufactured over a six month period in Sebastien’s own workshop, it’s made from aluminium, and he designed it to incorporate both the fuel tank, coolant and the radiator too. The fuel tank only takes 1 litre of fuel which lasts approximately five minutes, which is more than enough for a hill climb run.

The exhaust system is also a work of art and was also designed and welded by Sebastian himself. The suspension was custom made elsewhere in France in order to fit and work correctly with the custom frame. The plastics and seat on the bike come from a 1998 Honda CR 250, which gives the bike that genuine CR look and is something that we are sure the Honda twin cylinders below would be proud of.

The entire project from conception to completion took 18 months. Initially they had a couple of issues with the gearbox breaking, but the parts were reinforced and the bike has run faultlessly since. Sebastien estimates that the bike runs around 140 BHP at the rear wheel and as it only weighs in at 134 kg - it’s safe to say that the CR1000 is a certified rocket ship!

According to Sebastien the bike is, “quite playful on the flat, like a motocross bike, but not so much on the jumps!”.

It’s the only parallel twin 2 stroke of its kind in France, and it’s certainly the only one being used in the Hill Climb series.

To get the bike fired up they use a battery powered starter direct to the crank, this device was actually made to start tractors but does a fine job on the huge two stroke too. When fired up the sound from the CR1000 is something to behold. The bike doesn’t run silencers, so it’s hard to explain how intoxicating (and deafening) it is to experience in the flesh. The closest you’ll get to understanding (without seeing it in person) is to watch the video below and times that by 100…

All we can say is that we are glad that there are people like Sebastien and Team LCH in the world, they certainly make it a much more interesting place! You just have to admire the passion, engineering ingenuity and sheer determination involved to pull off a build like this.

Let’s have a show of hands, who’d love to take this monster for a spin?

Watch the CR1000 2-stroke hill climber in action with Team LCH

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