01x04 - The Mind of Igor Akrapovic, Inspiration from Sound

[bunniefuu]

Am I turning left here?

Am I turning left here?

You're not
on the left lane.

I'm not, but...

I'm gonna see if I can
get a ticket in Slovenia.

We're in Slovenia,
going to Akrapovič.

Yeah. Hard to believe.

When did Akrapovič
come across your radar

just as an exhaust
system, as a brand?

I don't know if it was so
much before we were developing

our bike, before Arch.

Yeah.

But certainly when, at
that point, when I was looking,

I was initially
impressed with...

just the visual aesthetic
of their exhaust.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Akrapovič, I see
the sign already.

In the world of MotoGP,
Igor Akrapovič is a legend.

His approach to engineering
and design is visionary,

and he has changed the
world of motorcycle racing.

If the engine is the
heart of a motorcycle,

the exhaust is its lungs,

and Akrapovič is known for crafting the
most elite exhaust systems on Earth.

I mean, if we
think about mavericks,

what better example is there
than Igor Akrapovič, a pioneer?

- I mean...
- You've seen those photos of him riding?

- Like...
- Yes, no helmet.

No helmet, knee down.

Like, blaaaah!

Championship, championship,
championship, championship.

Championship, yeah.

We founded Arch Motorcycle
to challenge the perception

of what an American
motorcycle could be.

Our ambition is
to create a beautiful,

aesthetically interesting,
seductive machine

that you can ride.

Curiosity has been our
lifeblood since the beginning.

And we're fueled by far more than just
a passion for designing motorcycles.

Arch is a mindset,

a lens through which
to see the world.

This is a quest
for inspiration.

To witness visionaries
pushing the bounds of innovation,

to understand why
inspiration strikes,

and where human
creativity comes from.

I think... are we there?

Where are we going?

- Wow, look at that. Oh, my God.
- Oh, motorcycles!

Yeah. What the...

- What?
- Nice R1.

Motocross.

Engines.

Yeah, man.

What?

- Good morning, good morning.
- Hello.

Hi, I'm Keanu.

Igor Akrapovič.

- Very nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, sir.

- Very nice to meet you.
- Thank you.

It was amazing, like...

...coming out of the elevator, and
then seeing all these motorcycles

and all of the fitment,

and, like, it's
like, it's fantastic.

Yeah?

Yeah.

- It's amazing.
- It is, it is.

On the Arch journey,
we've found inspiration

in unlikely places,

but Igor Akrapovič hits
much closer to home.

In fact, we're working with
him to design and manufacture

our exhaust systems,

ones that will carry his
signature aesthetic and sound.

Was there a point where you
decided to focus on exhaust

that you remember being
driven by an emotion?

Just below Igor's office,

where he can hear
that roar on high,

is what's known
as the race dyno,

short for dynamometer.

A machine built to measure the
torque and power of an engine.

Sounds good.

So, who
dictates the sound?

Does the team not really care
as long as it meets the...

- No. No.
- But do you care?

Yeah.

This is probably the noisiest
place in this building,

and you wanted your
office over it.

This dyno is a tool to
test exhaust and performance.

But for Igor, it's a symphony.

I grew up in a place
in Toronto called Yorkville.

And Yorkville, at the time,

when I was a little grommet,

uh, in the summer,

bikes would... bike
gangs would come through,

and come into Yorkville.

And so, in the summer, you'd be,
like, looking at these bikes.

This culture, these
people, these bikes,

and it was very exotic.

It had a kind of pirate feel.

It was attractive to
kind of the outsider,

and the machines were beautiful.

And they sounded amazing.

You know, but to me it has always
just been about the feel of riding,

Uh, you know, the
sound, the wind,

the smell.

Um, the sensations.

Bikes. Whoa!

Hey.

This is my old helmet.

This street racing
course along the Adriatic Sea

is known as Preluk.

It once earned a
reputation as the Monaco

of motorcycle Grand Prix,

and ignited a spark
inside Igor Akrapovič.

Giacomo Agostini
makes his entrance.

From the time Igor
first heard Agostini's engine,

he was hooked on the sound.

The whir of an engine,

and the roar of an exhaust

speaks directly to his soul.

This room is a
testament to that obsession

with the music all around him.

Akrapovič
certainly has a fire.

Interesting, I wonder how
much of it comes from the cultural

experience of growing up
in a communist country.

It would be an interesting
conversation to have with him.

- Yeah.
- I can't imagine, that,

in living through this period
of gaining independence,

I can't imagine it's not
a huge part of who he is,

and how he does things.

But it would be interesting to
have that conversation with him.

Yeah, yeah.

In the 1970s,
the Soviet Union

loomed large in Eastern Europe.

But Igor Akrapovič found
inspiration by looking to the West.

Nearly 45 years ago,

Slavojka and Igor lived on
the back of motorcycles.

Now, it's a partnership rooted
in that kind of shared vision.

It's cool to have a company
with a brand mission

that's obviously the
excellence, et cetera,

but just their mindset
of their brand,

of Igor, and the way
he wants it to be.

It's so clear.

It has a certain strength, and that's
why people wanna work with them.

- Yeah. I can see that.
- You know?

I think when you start to just search
for the dollars and the volume...

- Mmm.
- ...then maybe some of the soul

and the creativity and the ambition
that drove you to start something

- and build it to that, and...
- Yeah.

...put everything you have at
risk... Not just in the beginning,

'cause I'd heard that
in the beginning,

he had to sort of, like, sacrifice
everything to start the company.

- Yeah.
- The idea of,

"I'm proud of what we
make. It has my name on it.

- Yeah.
- And if you don't wanna be proud

that it's on your
project, then, okay!

- You made this?
- Yeah!

Yeah?

Yeah!

- It's very beautiful.
- Yeah.

The kind of the dance, the
dance of the pipes and the shapes,

the way that they
intertwine and come around.

And where it meets
the engine block,

- this has to be very strong, right? Very.
- Yes, yes.

This, for me, feels like
an archetypical Akrapovič shape.

Yeah, yeah.

Yummy, yummy.

- Yep.
- Yummy.

Yummy.

You can take out lower or
higher or mid-frequencies

- depending on the fabric?
- Yes, yes.

Yeah.

If I cross the yellow line...

Okay.

This is your first?

If every innovation
begins with a grand ambition,

it was with this machine that
Igor first made his mark.

It's called a tube mill,

and it processes flat strips of
metal, forming cylindrical tubes

that make up the backbone of
Akrapovič exhaust systems.

And this gradual roller set,
yeah? Until it closes the tube.

- Do you have a name for it?
- No.

- No special name?
- No.

Not Bernie?

- No.
- Harry?

No, no, no.

Johan?

No special name.

So that was you.

That was you.

At night, when
nobody's bothering you.

- Did all the tube bends.
- Exactly.

When did you start going
from your 25 people

and thinking about,
like, how do they scale,

or what our next
steps would be, or...

- Not on the machine.
- Really?

Yeah, yeah.

Wow.

- And wider radiuses.
- Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ah. What's the name?

- Sabrina.
- Sabrina.

Sabrina? Hello, Sabrina.

Get on it,
Sabrina. Let's go.

Let's go. Yeah!

It's a bit slower shift.

There we go.

"I'm alive!"

What component on a commercial exhaust
are usually the most critical to look at

for breakage or failure?

So does Sabrina have a sister
where you go over the jumps?

- No, no.
- And land on the...

- No.
- For the... for the...

Oh, really?

It's amazing to have that one moment
that influences your life so greatly.

Do you ever think back, "What if
I hadn't gone to that one race?"

One thing that's cool about
getting to do what we're doing,

this sort of search
and exploration for

creativity and ingenuity
that can inspire us.

Yeah, I mean, getting to
do the tour with Igor,

you know, I really got a
sense of how personal it was,

even with all of everything,
you know, just how personal,

and his vision for it.

I felt like I was...

- You know, it was his.
- Yeah.

That whole facility
was about moving innovation,

research and development, understanding
what you do, what can you make, right?

It was problem-solving.
It was new opportunities.

It was design,
function. I mean...

I mean, it was so
impressive, wasn't it?

You know, how they
were speaking about...

really, how each exhaust system
is bespoke to the engine.

And then aesthetically, right?

We have that old, classic
form and function.

But it's nice to hear echoing
things that we feel strongly about,

and to be working with people
that, you know, feel the same way.

- Yeah.
- You know?

I love being a part of
making these motorcycles

because there's gonna be
nothing like them on the planet.

- I agree.
- Arch Motorcycle.

Yeah.

Since our beginning, Arch has
been about rethinking what's possible.

Now Akrapovič will
be part of that.

Oh, look. It's our
baby. Oh, my gosh.

This is the prototype of our
next-generation Arch Motorcycle,

equipped with a signature
Akrapovič exhaust.

Oh, there's our
baby. The Bambino.

Wow.

- Oh, my gosh. It's here.
- Our baby.

Can I take a picture?

Absolutely, no problem.
It's your bike, you know.

I know, but I'm not at home.

We nicknamed this
when the project started.

Alessandro was saying,
"What should we call it?"

And I said, "It's our baby,
let's call it the Bambino."

So that's what we've been
calling it.

Ah, the Bambino!

Everybody, Alessandro Giussani,
technical director at Suter Industries,

and he's a motorcycle genius.

No, just freak.

He's a motorcycle freak.

Very much of the Bambino
is thanks to Alessandro.

- It started.
- Yeah.

Is there a
noisy test in here?

- So you see the microphone in the back?
- Yeah.

It gives us a, let's
say, first idea where we are.

That doesn't
sound so good.

Does it need that to ride?

Yeah, it needs
a little bit of fuel.

Minor detail.

Yeah.

Every minute we have the
chance to run the engine,

it's just beneficial
to the project.

We learn something, like
putting fuel in the tank helps.

Unbelievable.

Do you think we can go
raise the RPM a bit?

It's pretty smooth.

Yeah.

Sounds good.

Awesome.

It's not like, "rah." It's
like...

Pretty unexpected to me.

Designing, engineering,
and creating a motorcycle

is a process that takes years.

From the first sketches to
a dyno test at Akrapovič,

it's all in anticipation of this
moment at Grobnik Race Track,

when we can finally
experience the ride.

Grobnik. Akrapovič.

I think I hear our motorcycle.

That's very cool.

That's kind of cool, huh?

Yeah, that's very cool.

That's really cool.

That's cool.

The track's a little bit still... You
know, got some spots that look damp,

so it's, psychologically, you
don't wanna push too hard.

But right now, all happiness.

Sounds good.

This is heaven.

"This is heaven."

You had some fun?

Oh, my... This is...

He is speechless.

Good?

Holy sh*t.

Holy cow. This
is not a cruiser.

It's not a cruiser.

Good? Didier, I think
we have to download the data.

I think the vibration
in the hand is good.

I could see how we want a little
bit more in that. Not too much, but.

- On the seat.
- In the seat.

- Yeah.
- But it's very smooth.

Yeah, like, after you
go the straightaway

and you come... come around,

and then you've got that
right into the first,

then you start to get to
the backside of the track.

Very, very, very damp,
just a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, and
then at the end here.

Yeah.

Holy sh*t.