In July 2009, Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first flight of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which occurred on July 17, 1989.
As a visual centerpiece of its year-long celebration of this milestone, Northrop Grumman Corporation, the Air Force’s prime contractor for the B-2, unveiled a custom B-2 themed motorcycle designed and built for the company by famous Orange County Choppers (OCC), Newburgh, N.Y.
The design, development and production of the B-2 Stealth Bike will be featured on the 2009 season premiere of the cable TV series “American Chopper”.
Northrop Grumman will feature the Stealth Bike at B-2 20th anniversary events throughout 2009 including social events, trade shows, and air shows. One of the highlighted events will be a B-2 first flight re-enactment ceremony in July in Palmdale, Calif., site of the original B-2 production and first flight.
The B-2 Stealth Bike is named “The Spirit of Innovation” to celebrate Northrop Grumman’s leadership in innovative air systems and the spirit of partnership with the Air Force that enabled the successful development of the B-2. Its “tail number” is 0789 to commemorate the date of first flight.
The Stealth Bike’s design mimics many of the visual details of the B-2 stealth bomber:
– Its gas tank and extended front cowling are shaped to resemble the B-2’s unique cockpit and fuselage; major components are painted to match its color.
– Each side of each wheel contains five machined aluminum B-2 models positioned in the shape of the Air Force star, each model engraved with the tail number of one of the 20 B-2s in the current fleet;
– The “aft deck” of the bike is made from a scrap piece of titanium used for the original B-2 aft deck;
– Top view of the bike reveals that its handlebars and aft deck are set parallel to the “leading edge” of its gas tank, mimicking the B-2’s unique “planform aligned” design.
Source & Photos: Northrop Grumman
What an amazing piece of work. OOC always kicks butt in their design and implementation!
i thought the B2 stealth bike was a awesome bike and i hope to see different ones each time they have been doing well and i wish them all the best,,signed tim from natick ma
That is the ugliest P.O.S. I have ever seen roll out of OCC.
I agree with kbbcoop. It never ceases to amaze me how people go for the most well known and publicized things rather than do a little research to find something better. OCC is not even close to the last word in bike building. All they do is piece together things that are either pre-made or have most of the work done out of house. Northrop should be ashamed to showcase how they spent $150K of taxpayer dollars on this ill-conceived hunk of junk when they could have at least gotten a real quality, artisan piece from the likes of WCC, Martin Bros. or Paul Yaffe.
Yes this bike is indeed unusual and strange but I believe that northrop decided to go with occ due the fact that occ has a reputation to keep with custom themed choppers, seeing the workmanship in the bike is second to none and in that time frame. Some people are devoted the main style of choppers and I reckon they will call other occ bikes like the commanche helicopter bike or the black widow “hunks of junk” , some people need to grow up understand other peoples point of view.
Don’t look very good but its looks like it’s ready to go on a mission to fight..
It’s a shame Northrop Grumman went this route. With virtually all of the major defense contractors suffering under savage program reductions imposed under the new adminstration, how can they spend this kind of money on such a useless trophy? And as far as OCC is concerned, they may have been decent builders at one time, but I feel that they have become sad parodies of themselves. The only build that moved me was the NYFD 911 memorial bike.
Huh ?
This bike is derivative and unoriginal. A completely borrowed design. Are you kidding me?
This looks like something Mattel toys would have designed for a 3 year old. It’s goofy, ghastly and unpleasant to look at. A sight gag. A transvestite among designs. Why not make a Barbie bike? A Corvette bike? A Gov Mark Sanford bike?
Lookit bros — give me something original. A girl in a stealthy thong bikini would have been infinitely more interesting to celebrate the B-2.
Stealth technology, as hatched by Kelly Johnson’s crew, was a total original – driven by a one-time technological insight and shop skills worthy of the adjective “genius”. This motorbike mocks that level of brainpower, creativity and problem-solving. It damns with faint praise.
Maybe OCC should design dresses and shoes and sets for Britney Spears.
great bike!
It was at the 2009 USAF MArathon and looked very cool, and sounded even better.
view photo here @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/scotthuckphoto/3935334304/
what a cool design. Favourite part has to be the wheels.
Haha, that is thee most dumbest looking one of those I have ever seen. What a load of crap. Looks like something a kid would ride at the local fair. Oh Lordy.
What a waste of time and money ..WHO PAID FOR THIS AND WHY??????????????????????? It is a P.O.S
I would have loved to have seen the wings coming from the gas tank to signify the B2s unique shape. I also expected them to make the handlebars similar to the bombers shape. I do love how the handlebars go through the gas tank though. Even the haters have to admit thats very innovative. The colors is way too light though. The bomber seems much darker. Overall 7.5 out of 10.
cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool it looks like DA real Northrop Grumman b-2 i want to be yore friend………………:)
@ Karl O;
I like the comparison with mattel toys. My first thought was that of action man equipment…
Check this out:
http://www.toywonders.com/site09/diecastB/O_C_C_Comanche_1_18_78911_235p2054.html
Haha…
With the assistance of Bill Anderson my father designed and built the simulator and computer for the Northrup wind tunnel development for the B-2. He died after doing ballistics experiments at Stringfellows, Riverside County, CA.
A team of 15 and 13 died of cancer. My father made the B-2 fly, and Northrup had him do experiments at Stringfellow, then die of cancer.
Paulie was gone before this bike, nee catastrophe was rolled out, for those who thought he may have had something to do with this eyesore. This bike is exactly what happens when the real creative force behind that company left and senior’s “they could never build a bike like we could” nonsense ran wild! Those guys are still making a living off Paulie’s genius and many of the clients don’t even know he is gone. All of OCC’s stuff is awful now, and senior has surrounded himself with sooo many “yes” men to appease his ego that OCC will be bankrupt and gone in the next few years, and senior still won’t know why…there is no one left to tell you that you’re “idears” of what looks good and is “cool” just isn’t!