The debate rages on whether electric motorcycles are better than petrol-powered ones. Meanwhile a group of mad scientists in Saint Petersburg have side-stepped the argument completely, by building two near-identical bikes; one petrol, one electric. And we honestly don’t know which one we like more.
Meet ‘Chiller’?a cross between a BMX cruiser and a moped, with the option of two different drivetrains. It’s the work of Blackmarket Project, who’ll be offering each variant as a limited production run; the bikes you’re looking at here are the prototypes.

Blackmarket Project is a new collaboration between the custom motorcycle and scooter workshop, Butcher Garage, and their metal fabricator friend, Arseniy at Metal DIY Workshop. The project has been two years in the making, but the idea’s been a long time coming?partly inspired by builders like Down and Out BMX. Both versions of Chiller are built around the same 6082 aluminum frame, designed with a clear BMX cruiser influence. Weighing just 4.2 kilos (9.2 lbs), its simplicity and elegance belie just how much development went into it.

?Many technologies were used,? says Butcher Garage co-founder, Alex Mazan, ?including 3D scanning, SolidWorks engineering, prototyping, carbon forming, CNC bending, cutting, milling and precision welding.?
?One of the key features of the frame is the cast aluminum yoke for the down tubes. Special forms for mass production were made to make our parts rep...