Unless you worked at a movie theater in 2008, you probably never saw Babylon A.D.
But there’s always a silver lining, and in this case, it’s a ‘99 Yamaha YZF-R1.
One of several rides that Ludovic Lazareth of Lazareth Auto-Moto — the crazy French firm that built this 470-HP quad cycle — customized for the film, the Yamaha YZF-R1 was actually ruined in a crash during filming and sat in disrepair for almost a decade. Until earlier this year, when Lazareth began tinkering with the bike, first rebuilding its front end with a new swing-arm setup before adding custom-built shocks and chopping off some of the frame. He finished it off with carbon fiber body panels and embedded LEDs to serve as taillights, upgraded the brakes, installed an Acewell digital speedometer and put the whole thing on 17-inch wheels.
“You are not free if you can’t make what you want with your hands,” Lazareth told Bike Exif. “It’s not enough for me to go on the road with a bike to feel free — I feel free when I build a bike.”
Although building it made him feel free, the YZF-R1 is not — Lazareth wants $53,000 for it.
Coincidentally, that’s what we’d charge to sit through Babylon A.D. a second time.
Images courtesy of Lazareth/Cédric Collao
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