"The Art-Carver" Lennart Pettersson

A different Yamaha Virago Custom

XV 1100 -96

in swedish

"Twinwood 1100"

The Woody Bike e-mail: lenn.art@home.se

About me: I´ve been riding bikes for most of my life. Previous bikes I´ve owned are: BSA 500 Goldstar, Norton 750 Commando fastback, Honda 400 offroad,Yamaha XT600 offroad and a Honda CB 900F.

For many years I worked as a wood sculpture together with Sten Ridderland. One of the themes we used for our sculptures was "The love/hate relationship between car and mankind". During the 1980 America´s Cup participated in the Swedish Information Centre in Newport RI by creating "The America`s Cup Challenger Prize" In Newport we also put up an exhibition showcasing some of our sculptures and we also built two bikes in wood, one Honda and one Yamaha. Both bikes had a Viking theme. These bikes can be seen today at "Honda and Yamaha Center" in Sisjön,Gothenburg,Sweden.

Both Sten and I have always had a big intrerest in motorcycles and crazy ideas. For example 25 years ago we rode our bikes 4000 kilometres all the way to Kiruna in the nothern part of Sweden in the middle of the freezing winter.

Nowadays I`m not carving as many sculptures as before and I`m not really working as an artist. Since almost 12 years now I´ve worked for the Göteborg Museum of Art. As for sculpturing and carving wood, I´m content using my spare time to create a different kind of bike.

I would also like to give big thanks to my wife Ulla who have been very understanding and supportive when it comes to all my projects.

Parts handmade by me:

Gas tank, front and rear fender, side covers and skull are made in massiv teak with intarsia in hard maple. -04

Steering handle-grip from XVS1100 redressed in brown lether. -04

Saddle with aluminum bottom dressed in brown lether. -04

Small relief of a skull on the saddle. -06

Risers made in aluminum. -06

Front footrest and raised footrest bar in aluminum. -06

Decor under the sides of the tank in aluminum. -04

Braces for the saddlebags in aluminum. -06

Reduced the length of the rear fender. -06

Braces in aluminum for the forktubes. -06