Hayabusa Wannabe
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I am close to a professional artist who does embroidery for fun. After buying each bike I asked if they would consider making me a patch of the bike with a knight rider. They created these patches which are sewn onto the shoulders of my jacket.
For each bike the artist photographed the bike and subsequently took a photo with me sitting on it in order to capture body position and the perspective of the rider. Using illustration software they drew a knight freehand. Some bike detail had to be simplified or removed due to the size and the creation process. The photo was ingested into embroidery software. Colors were assigned like "paint by number" with each color representing a distinct thread. Then the stitching sequence of each thread was altered manually. The proper layering of the stitches is another key to a great appearance but the default choices that the software makes are not ideal.
I cannot recall the specifications but for the Hayabusa there are something like eight distinct threads merely for the blue colors. Those blues create all of the reflective appearances of the blue fairings in addition to the blues in the knight. If I recall correctly there are more than a dozen colored threads in total.
Each patch has something like 15,000-20,000 stitches which generates a significant amount of machine time. The operator must switch the threads each time a color is complete. Thus with the artist doing this at home the total job time ends up being several hours as they swap threads when they get the chance to do so.
The background mounting is a fabric that the artist had laying around which looks very similar to the Hi-Viz color of the jacket. With such a perfect background the patches look like they came with the jacket.
When I am looking around at the innumerable cool details, the kill switch of the Hayabusa might take the cake for me personally. How about you?
I was assured that the artist will not be making any more of these, no matter what bike I may purchase in the future. So I guess I am stuck in keeping these two bikes forever.
These are a treasure for me and a nice way to distinguish a generic riding outfit.
For each bike the artist photographed the bike and subsequently took a photo with me sitting on it in order to capture body position and the perspective of the rider. Using illustration software they drew a knight freehand. Some bike detail had to be simplified or removed due to the size and the creation process. The photo was ingested into embroidery software. Colors were assigned like "paint by number" with each color representing a distinct thread. Then the stitching sequence of each thread was altered manually. The proper layering of the stitches is another key to a great appearance but the default choices that the software makes are not ideal.
I cannot recall the specifications but for the Hayabusa there are something like eight distinct threads merely for the blue colors. Those blues create all of the reflective appearances of the blue fairings in addition to the blues in the knight. If I recall correctly there are more than a dozen colored threads in total.
Each patch has something like 15,000-20,000 stitches which generates a significant amount of machine time. The operator must switch the threads each time a color is complete. Thus with the artist doing this at home the total job time ends up being several hours as they swap threads when they get the chance to do so.
The background mounting is a fabric that the artist had laying around which looks very similar to the Hi-Viz color of the jacket. With such a perfect background the patches look like they came with the jacket.
When I am looking around at the innumerable cool details, the kill switch of the Hayabusa might take the cake for me personally. How about you?
I was assured that the artist will not be making any more of these, no matter what bike I may purchase in the future. So I guess I am stuck in keeping these two bikes forever.
These are a treasure for me and a nice way to distinguish a generic riding outfit.
