John Britten, the Christchurch shed and the motorcycle that frightened the factories - NEWS WIRE

In a Christchurch workshop in Carlyle Street in early 1991, John Britten, then 41, toiled on the V1000 despite having no engineering degree and dyslexia, many calling him New Zealand’s most original mechanical mind of the late 20th century. The bike sat half-finished on the concrete floor, pink and luminous blue, with a radiator tucked where the petrol tank should be. Britten worked around the clock, taking catnaps on a flattened cardboard box when he could still function. Born August 1, 1950, in Christchurch to a family with a cycle shop, he built his first go-kart at six and motorized a 1927 Indian Scout by thirteen, combining scribble pads with lathe and weld work.