Review: 8420 Lego Street Bike

[starstreak]

This review will be on the 8420 Lego Street Bike. I bought this back in 2005. For a 4 year old set, it holds the test of time. I believe they could release it now and it'll still look like it belongs on the road.

Set Name: 8420 Lego Street Bike

Theme: Technic

Released: 2005

Pieces: 506

Price: $49.95/39.99euro/35.45pounds

Wanna see some pictures? Let's start with the normal box arts and manuals!

8420 Box art front

I had to borrow the box art as I threw away my old box. Not bad picture although I think a different angle might have been better.

8272 Instruction books

Only one book. Kind of thick. Half of it is for building this bike. The other half is for the alternate set. A "Low rider" type bike. See picture below.

Alternate set- Low Rider

I never built this alternate. I was a sport bike kind of person. But..The more I look at this, the better it looks. Very low.

8420 Part list page

The parts list. I love the tires. They are large and very bike tire-ish. The front is thin low profile tire, and the rear is a fat low profile tire.

The build

Below is a new concept which I will try from time to time. It's a contact sheet of the build. You can click on the photo for the full size picture. Warning, it is large.

The build sheet

(Click on photo to view full size 2400x300)

Here is a contact sheet of 18. Yes, 18 build shots. This should give you an idea of how it was put together without ruining the fun of making it yourself.

The build shouldn't take too long for someone building technic sets. This is much harder to put together than the Snow Mobile that I reviewed earlier. There are tighter fitting and smaller parts in this set. More than once I had to use a flat surface to push a rod into place. Besides that, there wasn't anything difficult.

Features

For a bike, which looked like a wire frame, there is a lot of parts to this. My friend commented how real it looks until you examine it closely. He said, "Where's the gas tank? How does the muffler connect to the engine?" He's right, it has none. And the muffler doesn't connect to anything. As a detailed model, it's very good. As a realistic model, it's not.

I so love the tires. They actually made bike tires. As I said elsewhere, the fronts are lower profile and thinner than the rear. Which are low profile, but really wide. Awesome. The mono shock and spring works well. And the ability to adjust the spring to give it a tighter rebound and lower stance to the bike helps a lot for looks. In the final shots, I have the shock/spring set to "open" so the bike stands up taller.

The handlebar does turn the front wheel and the rear wheel does move the chain and pistons move up and down.

No decals. I don't think it came with any. Or I never put them on. It's not in any photos.

And here finally is the completed shots.

Side view

Sweet! Come on... I know you like it. :) 4 cylinder engine, kick stand, real bike tires not from a car. The shock is adjustable too! You can rotate the ring on it to give more compression if you wanted. Look disk brakes.

Front view

The windshield has non-sticker decals. I also love how the front wheel doesn't use a normal fork steering.

Rear view

Rear shot. Big fat tire. Now that looks like sport bike. I would've picked smaller mufflers, but I don't think there's a compromise Lego piece.

Top view

Oh look, there's a seat. Hmm. I would've stuck on some black smooth 1x5 strips over the dots. But I heard Lego goes out of its way to show the "dots" as proof it's Lego. Hmm, now that my friend told me, not seeing the gas tank is throwing me off.

Underside view

Yes, I flipped it over for a photo. That front gear you can see just behind the front wheel does rotate when the engine pistons move up and down. And that kickstand does fold up.

Closeup view of rear wheel

It just looks right. I even like the disk brake thats in there. Again, not the conventional fork holding the rear wheel.

Closeup of engine area

In this view, you can see the detail they put into this bike. You can see the cylinder heads, the brake handles on the handle bars. Even the sleek looking rear view mirrors.

Issues

Besides the whole not-being-authentic-to-a-real-bike, nothing except the kick stand. while very beefy looking, doesn't seem to hold up the bike very well. Really wobbly.

Final thoughts

I think this is a must buy. I would buy another just for parts if I could get it at the price I paid. $69, which is what it goes for now is OK if you don't already have it. Good for the tires.

To see the full size pictures, please goto my flicker site: Street Bike Pictures

My rating:

Playability: 4 out of 5. Works like a toy bike. I wouldn't fling it down the stairs, but its good.

Design: 4.5 out of 5. So close. They should make a UC version of this. :)

Build experience: 3 out of 5. On a technic scale. It's a little harder than the snow mobile. But you don't need to be in high-school to build it.

Overall: 4.5 of 5. Buy it if you like bikes or a good technic set.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

[5150 Lego]

Thanks for the review! I really like the front windshield. Its a shame there's not front suspention to go with the rear suspention, but oh well. I guess nothing a little mocing couldn't fix!

[Front]

I love this bike very much, it was my second technic set I built, following a Ferrari F1 1:10.

I got the set at a very low price, and now I just sit back and wondered why I did not bye four sets, because the wheels are so cool with a fat rear. Would be lovely to have this official one besides three moc's with the same wheels.

Thx for the reviev, very detailed with building steps.

Front

[starstreak]

I love this bike very much, it was my second technic set I built, following a Ferrari F1 1:10.

I got the set at a very low price, and now I just sit back and wondered why I did not bye four sets, because the wheels are so cool with a fat rear. Would be lovely to have this official one besides three moc's with the same wheels.

Thx for the reviev, very detailed with building steps.

Front

Thanks! I'm building the Alt for this now and proabably gonna add it to the review. Yeah, Lego did a great job on the tires. One-offs.

[CP5670]

I passed up this set when it was available, as I already had the old 8838 and 8422 motorcycles and this looked similar, but now I'm wishing I had gotten it. The wheels look quite a bit larger than the old bikes, and I believe that big shock absorber is adjustable. Maybe I'll try to find it on ebay.

There was some discrepancy with the color of that shock absorber in this set. The pictures and inventory show it to be yellow, but most (although not all) people got dark blay ones in their sets from what I've heard.

The one-sided front wheel attachment looks a bit out of place though. I don't know if there are any high end racing bikes like that in real life, which is obviously what this is.

Edited March 11, 2009 by CP5670

[starstreak]

It's has no front fork. I LOVE this bike. I'm still trying to figure out how to make it in lego.

click on the photo for other photos.

I passed up this set when it was available, as I already had the old 8838 and 8422 motorcycles and this looked similar, but now I'm wishing I had gotten it. The wheels look quite a bit larger than the old bikes, and I believe that big shock absorber is adjustable. Maybe I'll try to find it on ebay.

There was some discrepancy with the color of that shock absorber in this set. The pictures and inventory show it to be yellow, but most (although not all) people got dark blay ones in their sets from what I've heard.

The one-sided front wheel attachment looks a bit out of place though. I don't know if there are any high end racing bikes like that in real life, which is obviously what this is.

Edited March 11, 2009 by starstreak

[Front]

The one-sided front wheel attachment looks a bit out of place though. I don't know if there are any high end racing bikes like that in real life, which is obviously what this is.

A Dutch tuner company (Nico Bakker) made a bike based on a Honda CBR 600, featuring a single sided telescope fork. Instead of tubes the bike had a rectangular slider with roller bearings. I think the technic set look like a design like this, although the Bakker bike had the fork on the other side of the front wheel.

Nico Bakker

It's has no front fork. I LOVE this bike. I'm still trying to figure out how to make it in lego.

click on the photo for other photos.

Bimota has been doing "centre-hub" steering for many years, and I think the picture shows the newest generation of this Bike. Their alternative front suspension bikes have always been named TESI.

When you pull the rod above the svingarm (done by steering input) the wheel rotates about an axis. This axis is not perpendicular, but inclined at an angle, similar to the angle on a front-fork bike. This angle is determined by a rather complex shape inside the hub.

A relative easier thing to do in Technic, must be the double-wishbone type of front suspension, like on the wonderfull Britten V1000.

Britten

BMW has a similar design on a single of their bikes. The mechanism is basicly the same as in the front wheel of a formula one car.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Front

[starstreak]

yes. always did like the Tesi design. The new design "3D" is a very small frame bike. Doesn't look like a big bike when someone is sitting on it. :)

Bimota has been doing "centre-hub" steering for many years, and I think the picture shows the newest generation of this Bike. Their alternative front suspension bikes have always been named TESI.

[CP5670]

Interesting, I didn't know racing motorcycles like that existed.

[furious]

I would have never even taken a second look at this set.

thank for the review.

[starstreak]

Thanks for the comments!

Yup. I don't drive a bike, but I would learn if someone got me a Bimota 3D. :)

[Dannnohhh]

Thanks! I'm building the Alt for this now and proabably gonna add it to the review. Yeah, Lego did a great job on the tires. One-offs.

Great reviews on both models...I too dig the one-off tires and wish they'd come back (with red, black or yellow wheels like a few race bikes). 8420 was my first thought seeing the recent tractor set being revived so soon. Bring back something unique like the Street Bike that doesnt have the same old parts that are everywhere.

Anyway I first passed on this set when it was in stores, got a good deal on BL and then had to buy a few more in addition to an extra set of tires and wheels. Then of course I was forced to buy the narrow and wide metallic wheels from the 8430/8417 sets to try and build those from parts on hand (still on my long "to-build" list).

I'd also be just fine with a totally new Technic motorcyle set...make a custom chopper the A model, with a realllllllly wide rear tire.