The H9C Project: SCOTT Goes Gold
At this year's eurobike exhibition in Germany SCOTT held a release party for the ongoing H9C project. Swiss artist and bike chopper builder Danny Schneider was given the task to rebuild a SCOTT E-Sportster and when he was finished it was clear that he gave our E-Bike a totally new meaning. Once unveiled, the bike became an eye catcher at the SCOTT booth and impressed thousands of Eurobike visitors.
Watch the third webisode of the H9C project, featuring Danny's first ride in a very special location, and with a very special testrider:
Danny is a "chopper" whose passion is customizing motorcycles. He is a legend in the scene and has presented his work at many motorcycle shows around the world. His latest project was a bit different: a SCOTT E-Bike equipped with a Bosch motor. The result was nothing below stunning. The design featured gold paint and trim, Canti-Brakes, a custom fork, Brooks leather saddle and bags, oldschool pedals and handlebars as well as many other unique details.
H9C is considered to be the annual SCOTT artist project. SCOTT has put together several similar projects before such as the Color your City campaign to highlight the SUB city bike line and the OTG Fixie Bike project with French artist Grems. The H9C mission was to bring this lifestyle theme to the E-Bikes in SCOTT's line. As with all precious things, this piece of art will remain a one-of-a-kind bike and won't be in shops for sale.
"I believe in simplicity."
Interview with artist Danny Schneider, Owner of H9C:
"What was your goal with the H9C project?"
Danny Schneider: "There are thousands of E-Bikes out there. With the SCOTT H9C I wanted to create something which is really unique and outstanding."
"What makes things unique in your opinion?
Danny Schneider: "Today, it is easy to copy stuff - but it's hard to do something that nobody has ever seen before. Most bicycles are overloaded with unnecessary stuff! I believe that less is more. I think the outstanding feature of the SCOTT H9C bike is the whole bike itself. I made lots of detail work on this bike, you have to look at it for a while till you find everything!"
"So what have been the major challenges and what is the dominating item?"
Danny Schneider: "As I rebuilt the H9C bike from scratch, all parts of it are major parts for me. Everything - exept the Bosch motor and battery - has been challenging, because customizing a bike is not like building a motor bike. I wanted to bring the influence of my chopper bike building experience into this project - I think the result shows that influence pretty good. The most dominating part is the upper tube which is lasered out and rewelded in the frame again."
"What has been your motivation to do a project like this with SCOTT?"
Danny Schneider: "For me SCOTT is an innovative company with cool and professional people. I've always liked the brand."
About Danny:
As one of the pioneers in Swiss FMX, Danny started his company Hardnine Choppers in Switzerland in 2002 after he had an accident during a training session where he broke his ankle 18 times, which finished his FMX career immediately. After spending 4 months in a hospital, it started to become clear that he wouldn´t be able to get back on a dirt bike due to his stiff foot and chronic bone infection.
Instead of taking the insurance money or starting an eight-to-five office job, he decided to build something of his own and open Hardnine Choppers garage. His first project was the D`MX bike and over 20 International major motorcycle magazines reported his achievement. He started to get invited to all the major bike shows, like "AMD World Championship of Bike Building" where he finished in 3rd place in the modified Harley category. He also went to the "Artistry of Iron Master builders Championship" and was the first European bike builder to ever be invited to the "Yokohama Mooneyes Show" as a special guest.
Last year he built a Triumph 5s from 1942, which became even more successful than the D´MX, and Danny travelled to shows all around the world to present it. Over the course of a year he took it to Europe, Brazil, Sturgis, Las Vegas, LA and even back to Japan. In his downtime Danny worked on 2 vintage flattrack bikes, simply for the fun of riding them afterwards.
More info on Danny: http://www.hardninechoppers.com/