Nik Heer: from Rapperswil to Bonneville
At the last bike meetings, his designs once again outperformed all others: Nik Heer builds motorcycles that most competitors only see from behind. "Iron Lady" Katja Poensgen, successful German motorcycle racer, has it much better: She, who was the first female rider ever to win a race at Punk's Peak Sprint Race this year [...]
"Iron Lady" Katja Poensgen, successful German motorcycle racer, has it much better: She was the first female rider ever to win a race at this year's Punk's Peak Sprint Race (even though she had just given birth to her son four months earlier - or maybe because of that) and won two races at this year's Essenza, the 2017 Cafe Racer Festival in Paris, both on an Indian built by Nik Heer and his team at Young Gunds Speedshop in Rapperswil/Jona. "At the moment, we're winning quite a lot with factory orders" the 27-year-old is pleased to say, although - or perhaps because - his main focus at the moment is on a speed record of a special kind.
Record attempt 2017
Nik Heer wants to break the 63-year-old record, which was set in 1954 with an MG, with a Moto Guzzi. For months, the welding equipment has been glowing in his workshop, the Youg Guns Speed Shop in Rapperswil/Jona, heads are smoking, there is a lot of calculating, screwing and discussing. It is to be the fastest Moto Guzzi in history, the frame was built by Nik and his business partner Fabian Witzig (no joke, that's the man's name), the Moto Guzzi engine was tuned with the help of the best engine specialists in the world at the University of Stuttgart. For tech-niks: 1200 cubic, the unit is air-cooled, has tappet-controlled valves and runs on nitrous oxide. An unrivaled machine. Without fairing. For 63 years, the speed record has been stuck at 284 kilometers per hour. Nik and his team have calculated 309 (at 8200 revs in 5th gear). That's what they want to bring to the Salt Flat on August 12 at this year's Speedweek in Bonneville. 300 km/h would be tops, fear doesn't exist in the vocabulary of the pissed-off guy who has been riding motorcycles since he was eight years old. What can happen on such a salt flat, no barriers, no trees, no oncoming traffic. Whether life partner Claudia also sees it so casually is beyond our knowledge. In any case, we're keeping our fingers crossed for Nik and the entire Young Guns team, five of them flying over, accompanied by a multimedia team that wants to chisel the record in salt, sorry: film and photo.
Young savages
How do you train for such a century event? Nik rides dirt tracks, where he regularly finishes on the podium (most recently second with a 1971 Triumph at Wheels and Waves in Biarritz this year), and he rides his bike to work. And, of course, gets around on a motorcycle. But: Nik Heer is the one who can be found in Rappi with an "L" on his bike. Because believe it or not: the hero has not yet managed to get his two-wheeler driver's license. For him, the motorcycle is a piece of sports equipment, and he considers riding on the road to be far too dangerous.
Among friends
Without help, it's almost impossible to pull off a project like this. Nik has a lot of fans who believe in him, including Benci Brothers, Racerfish, Mahrs Bräu, the Moto Guzzi Garage Modi in Zurich and Shoei Helmets. And loud private wild guys, who simply have fun and joy to be part of a legend. We will stay tuned and will of course report after the record attempt.
