If you think stuffing a three liter Ferrari V8 into a custom frankenstein motorcycle is a bit looney, you’d be right. But would you believe this wasn’t the first ridiculously fantastic creation by former two-wheeled racer Andreas Georgeades? And it wasn’t the last either.


After Georgeades realized he was pretty good at motorcycle racing, he spent the later part of the 1960s in the pursuit of creating the ultimate racer. In his quest, he became the first to successfully build and win first place with his Honda 600 four cylinder automotive engine powered Gran Prix racer.

The forums at CBX International chronicle a brief history of “George the Greek’s” two-wheel exploits. After achieving a fair amount of racing success including a podium in his first year at the Isle of Mann, he went on to tour the European and Canadian racing circuit in a Matchless 500 GP50 gran prix racer that he took possession of as payment for work in the restaurant business.


Exposed for the first time to Honda while in Canada, he found their small, four-piston car engine a nice fit into a Norton Manx frame. Deleting the water jackets and machined fins on the block, it was converted to air cooling. Cylinder heads were then swapped in favor double of overhead cams with four valves per cylinder from a Honda 250 Twin race kit. Sleeves were added to the cylinders to strengthen the block and tighten tolerances.

Andreas also had to also fabricate his own couplers to connect the cams and converted the chain driven cam gear to belt drive proving he was years ahead of what manufacturers were offering. The resulting build was a 500cc race bike that lumbered through corners but was fast as blazes on the straits and won several races in South Africa and the USA.

The ASG (Andreas Susan Georgeades) special received many revisions including a complete set of fairings, custom curved megaphone exhaust and even disc brakes.


With a successful racing career behind him, including a Canadian National Championship, Andreas decided to hang up the racing suit and continue to pursue his passion of homologating car and motorcycle into one fantastic vehicle.


Between 1978 and 1998 Andreas went on to build three Ferrari powered custom built motorcycles. Two Ferrari V6 powered called “Dino” and the the third a 308 Ferrari V8 called “Andreas”.

His first two-wheeled creation with a Maranello mill resulted in this Honda CBX stuffed with a Ferrari 2.0 Dino. This V6 appeared in Ferrari’s very first mid-engined road car and produced nearly 200 hp. Ferrari later later handed the motor off to Lancia for use in its WRC-champ Stratos in the early 1970s when they updated the Dino to eight cylinders.


The Ferrari Dino originally had gear/chain driven cams which were converted to belt drive and the motor was also modified to accept the transmission and clutch from a donor Suzuki motorcycle. It looked good and rode great, but there was still something missing.


Andreas’ next evolution was to obviously add more cylinders. A 1978 Ferrari 308 engine with a hand-built aluminum frame that uses suspension components from a Kawasaki 900 Ninja became the next radical iteration. The rear wheel came from a Yamaha V-Max but the drive shaft was ditched in favor of a conventional chain drive. The four-cam, eight cylinder Italian motor pumps out a credible 250 hp and would cost nearly $55,000 in 2015 dollars. Andreas had to trade a prize bronze trophy from his podium finish at the Isle of Mann TT to source this prancing horse power plant.

Modifications to the bike also include a new cam-belt drive that also powers the water pump, and a three-gear transfer case between the engine and Honda CBX transmission. A bank of Yamaha V-Max carburetors fuels the front cylinders while Suzuki GS1100 carbs feed the rear. Suzuki GT750 radiators mount at the rear of the bike to keep the wheelbase down to a short 59 inches hence the massive ducts on the back to aid in cooling. A truly glorious Frankenstein.


Andreas went on to create a third and equally amazing bike based around the same Ferrari Dino motor that powered his first. But why use the same engine again? A new level was achieved by bolting on a home-spun supercharger to force performance to unprecedented levels. The blower was designed personally by Andreas and machined from some seriously big chunks of billet aluminum.


If you’re in the market for a custom built, Ferrari motorcycle from the personal collection of an acclaimed retired motorcycle racer, you’re in luck. This rare beast recently hit the market for a cool $250,000. Where else would you expect to shop for what could possibly be considered a museum quality bike? You guessed it, head on over to the Craigslist and try to out your best offer.


You’d think that three separate Ferrari powered motorcycles would be the crown jewels of any collection, but no. Georgeodes has continued his search for the most insane build. Next on the drawing board is a 2.0 liter V12 Honda CBX. Yes, that’s two six-cylinder CBX engines welded together.


The front end is from a ’98 Yamaha YZF. The rear wheel and brakes are Suzuki ’98 and the transmission is from a Honda CBX, which he also used on the Ferrari V8. All 12 intake manifolds are fueled by three Weber carburetors and the exhaust is a complex 12 into 4 system muffled by modified Yoshimura cans, and by modified, I mean gutted.




Just listen to the roar of this quad exhaust V12 as Andrea fires up the beast and takes it for a spin around the neighborhood.

After 26 years and four crazy bikes under his belt, Andreas was not content to sit idly and while appreciating his own accomplishments. He is now in the process of attaching two flat-eight cylinder engines to create an enormous H-16 based off a British Racing Motors Formula 1 design used to win the 1966 US Grand Prix in a Lotus 43.


Four Yamaha YZF600 engines gave their lives in order to be reborn into one mega motor. The gearbox has to fit between two of the flat eight engines so two separate shifting drums are used and then connected with a chain. One of the sprockets will be slotted for perfect timing between the drums. If one is off a little bit he can engage two gears at the same time, which would be a very bad thing.




While the H-16 is still five years in the making, you can be assured that one day it will roar to life and Andreas will be cruising to his favorite coffee shop in La Jolla rattling windows and setting off car alarms along the way.

If you’d like to keep up with his build process and learn more about this crazy genius, checkout this Facebook group, V12 CBX that’s dedicated to all things Andreas Georgeades.


Photos: George Dilloway