Falcon Motorcycles was founded by sculptor Ian Barry in Los Angeles in 2008 to produce the Falcon Ten, a collection of ten unique motorcycles designed and engineered and sculpted by Barry around ten iconic engines. The project explores the concept of the motorcycle, pursuing the highest level of design, craftsmanship, and performance by investigating the history, contemporary application, and latent potential of engineering.
The first motorcycle in The Falcon Ten series, The Bullet, was a customized 1950 Triumph Thunderbird. Since completing The Bullet in 2008, Barry has stopped customizing factory-made motorcycles and instead has developed his practice of designing, engineering, and machining the entire motorcycle, with the exception of the engine, carburetor, rims, and tires. Barry starts each motorcycle with a rare engine, creating an overall design. He uses drawing, clay + foam modeling, and CAD in his engineering process, and machines parts both by hand and with CNC machine tools, blending time-honored techniques with advanced engineering and machining technologies.
Designing and fabricating each element individually and finishing each part by hand in what is often an extremely detailed process, each motorcycle requires thousands of hours to complete. Though Barry has historically engaged a number of artisans and assistants as the needs of a given project vary, he has scaled back his studio. With the exception of his CNC programmer, Barry now works primarily alone. This allows Barry to develop the ideas behind The Falcon Ten, which requires his intimate involvement with every step of the process.