DESIGNING THE LEGO® HARLEY-DAVIDSON ® FAT BOY ® MOTORCYCLE
THE CHALLENGE OF MAKING IT IN BRICKS
"LEGO® bricks are great for building square houses and rectangular structures
that are not meant to move. Motorcycles are not square, and they're supposed
A WORD FROM
to move, so from the start everything was a challenge! The frame was probably
MIKE PSIAKI
the biggest challenge because it is made mostly out of triangles and is very thin.
It was difficult to make something that matched the real Fat Boy ® motorcycle's
LEGO
®
SENIOR DESIGNER
Softail ® frame, but also had the strength needed to support the model in play.
For the final design, we used a hybrid combination of LEGO Technic
and System
™
Elements to create a model that is both rugged and beautiful, while delivering
a one-of-a-kind building experience; a true feat of LEGO engineering."
OUR APPROACH
"We wanted to build a working engine from LEGO system elements for this motor-
cycle and create the frame and motor so that both would be strong and reliable.
Overall, we made several different major loops on the model to make sure every-
thing was working from a functional perspective, a stability perspective and an
aesthetic perspective. Most importantly, we wanted
to deliver all that in an incredible building
experience, the core of what makes a
LEGO model cool."