CATEGORIES

Shudy Camps Bike Meet

Far, far back in the mists of ancient time (well, the late eighties anyway), there used to be a bike show/rally in the little (barely 400 people live there) village of shudy camps in cambridgeshire.

P&D CUSTOM SHOW (2019)

WHEN DAVE BATCHELAR AND CHRIS NICHOLS AT P&D CUSTOM BIKES FIRST DISCUSSED THE IDEA OF A ONE-DAY CUSTOM SHOW AT THEIR LOCAL VILLAGE CRICKET CLUB, THEY STARTED WITH ‘LET’S DO IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS’, AND IT WAS GOOD.

LIFE'S A BEACH...

WHEN YOU’RE INVOLVED WITH SOMETHING AS ARCHETYPALLY CHOPPER AS THE EVENT CALLED THE HOOK UP, WELL, IT JUST WOULDN’T DO NOT TO HAVE A CHOPPER, WOULD IT?

TURNED OUT NICE AGAIN

FRED AUSTIN’S A PROUD YORKSHIREMAN WHO BELIEVES IN DOING A JOB THOROUGHLY, AND WITH PANACHE.

The Butcher's Apprentice

MANY FOLK MIGHT NOT LOOK AT A YAMAHA DRAG STAR AND THINK ‘CAFÉ RACER PROJECT’, BUT LUKE AND MIKE AT BRISTOL BOBBERS RECKONED ONE’D MAKE AN IDEAL DONOR FOR A TRIBUTE TO THE ICONIC 59 CLUB, AND DECIDED TO BUILD IT TO THE STYLE OF THAT ERA – LOW RACER ‘BARS, AND A SLIM-LINE TANK.

LEARNING CURVE

MOST OF US’VE VERY FOND MEMORIES OF OUR VERY FIRST BIKE WHICH, IN ITSELF, GOES TO SHOW WHY THE DEMAND FOR THE LIKES OF FIZZIES AND BANTAMS HAS SEEN SUCH AN INCREASE OF LATE – PEOPLE WANT TO RE-LIVE THEIR ‘GOLDEN YEARS’.

YAMAHAHA... SORRY?

I'VE ALWAYS LOVED GS SUZUKIS - MY FIRST BIKE AFTER PASSING MY TEST IN '89 WAS A f500 850G, AND I RODE THAT FOR A FEW YEARS BEFORE CHOPPING IT INTO A LOWRIDER THAT WOUND UP IN BSH. THREE MORE 850S, AND A 750 (ALONG WITH ABOUT 35 OTHER BIKES), 25 YEARS, AND FOUR CONTINENTS LATER, I BOUGHT A BUTT UGLY COBRA ENGINEERING FRAMED '93 HARLEY FXR.

ENTER SAND-MAN

AS A KID, PAUL MILBOURN WAS FASCINATED BY THE STORY THAT THE STAR OF THE FILM CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (THE CAR, NOT DICK VAN DYKE) WAS BURIED BENEATH PENDINE SANDS.

CLASSIC TRIKE FOR A CLASSIC RIDER

MY DAD, MIKE FARMER, LOVES HIS ’63 BSA A50, AND WHEN HE COULD NO LONGER RIDE IT HE ASKED ME TO CONVERT IT TO A TRIKE FOR HIM.

ARDINGLY AUTO JUMBLE

IT’S THE WEEKEND SO A QUICK CHECK – KEYS, CHECK; WALLET, CHECK; VAGUE IDEA OF WHERE I’M GOING, CHECK; HAND SANITISER AND FACE-MASK FOR THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD, CHECK. AT LONG LAST, AN EVENT TO ATTEND – LET’S FIND OUT HOW DIFFERENT THIS’LL BE.

Suzuki Katana Long-Term Test

As you’ll know from the last few issues, or if you’ve seen the video on the bsh youtube channel, we have one of suzuki’s new katana 1000s to play with for a while. We’ve done a wee bit to it (nothing drastic, just altering it slightly to look a little more like its iconic namesake), but at some point you do have to stop spannering and actually ride…

All's Well That Ends Well...

I first built this bile twelve year ago... Well, I ask this bike - it didn't look quite like this. It was, at first, ared-oxide rear strutted, brat looking thing with no real direction, then I started with ncc staffordshire, and it was clear that it wasn't of the expected standard...

IT LIVES AGAIN!

REGULAR READERS MAY ALREADY KNOW THE STORY OF THIS BIKE(WELL, IN ITS FORMER GUISE ANYWAY), BUT WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS THE RESULT OF ME PLOUGHING INTO AN AUDI AT 70 ON THE M25...

Bling!

PEOPLE WHO’VE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CUSTOM SCENE COMMERCIALLY ARE OFTEN VERY GOOD AT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF TRENDS IN BIKE STYLES, AND ADAPTING THEM TO SUIT WHAT THEY DO BEST. TRIKE DESIGN, DOWN IN DEEPEST, DARKEST (WELL, SOMETIMES) WALES, ARE A CASE IN POINT…

STOCKER...

IT’S BEEN A VERY LONG TIME SINCE I LAST DID IT (PROBABLY AROUND 1999/2000, I SUSPECT), BUT THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT BLASTING THROUGH THE STREETS OF A CITY ABOARD A BIG, LOUD, ANTISOCIAL CHOP THAT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD TO BE ALIVE…

NCC GLOCUS & HEREFORD RUN

IN 1973 THE NATIONAL CHOPPER CLUB WAS CONCEIVED AND FORMED BY BILL GILL, PETE GAERTNER AND SYD WELLINGS WITH THE AIM OF GENERATING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN CHOPPER ENTHUSIASTS, OTHER ROAD USERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC, IMPROVING STANDARDS IN THE SAFETY AND CONSTRUCTION OF CHOPPERS, AND BRING ALL CHOPPER RIDERS CLOSER TOGETHER.

DEADLINE

(NOUN) A TIME LIMIT IN THE FORM OF A DATE, ON OR BEFORE WHICH SOMETHING MUST BE COMPLETED

HARDCORE HOODLUM

AS MANY OF YOU’LL KNOW, THE RESTRICTIONS PLACED UPON THE CUSTOMISATION OF MOTORCYCLES IN OTHER COUNTRIES IS FAR MORE DRACONIAN THAN OUR OWN, WITH GERMANY PERHAPS BEING THE PRIME EXAMPLE (ALTHOUGH OTHERS’RE EVEN STRICTER).

HARD LABOUR...

AFTER MESSING ABOUT WITH MOTORCYCLES FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, I DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO ADD LOADS OF STRESS TO MY LIFE BY BUILDING MY OWN SO, ARMED WITH A DISC-CUTTER, A LARGE HAMMER, AND A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE, THE PROJECT BEGAN….

BETTER THAN SOCKS...

IT TOOK ME ABOUT FIVE YEARS, YOU KNOW, TO GATHER EVERYTHING I WANTED FOR THIS BIKE AND, ONCE I HAD EVERYTHING I NEEDED, I SET MYSELF A TIME LIMIT OF BEING READY FOR MY 50th BIRTHDAY - A PRESENT TO MYSELF

Track- Master Track Master

Our garry, the guy who’s taken these pics, has a nose for a cool bike, and keeps an eye out for them wherever he goes. He spotted this one at race the waves last year, and banged off these pics in double-quick time.

Sprit Of The Age

Building a custom bike to such a standard that it looks factory-made is the pinnacle of custom bike building - if your bike's so good it can be mistaken for being like that in the first place, well, it doesn't get much better than that, does it?

SUPERMOTO 'ARLEY

USUALLY, NORMALLY, THE WORDS ‘SUPERMOTO’ AND ‘HARLEY’ GO TOGETHER ABOUT AS WELL AS THE WORDS ‘GOVERNMENT’ AND ‘COMPETENCE’, ‘HIGH FINANCE’ AND ‘CARING’, OR ‘DOG SH*T’ AND ‘ICE-CREAM’. OCCASIONALLY THOUGH, ONCE IN A (VERY RARE) WHILE, SOMEONE BUILDS A BIKE, A CUSTOM BIKE, THAT PUTS THE TWO WORDS TOGETHER IN A FORM THAT DOES JUSTICE TO BOTH…

The Mermaid

CUSTOM BIKES, THEY SAY, NEVER REALLY DIE BECAUSE THEY’VE OFTEN RESURRECTED TIME AND TIME AGAIN. SOME OF THEM, THOUGH, DO GET PRETTY CLOSE TO SHUFFLING OFF THIS MORTAL COIL BUT ARE, THANKFULLY, SAVED FROM HAGGLING WITH CHARON OVER FERRY PRICES…

TWO GUN SALUTE

THE YAMAHA SR400 IS WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL A 'PROPER OLD BIKE'... OR, AS YAMAHA THEMSELVES SAY, 'AN AUTHENTIC LIVING CLASSIC CONSTRUCTED TO VIRTUALLY THE SAME SPECIFICATION AS THE ORIGINAL MODEL' (THE 1978 SR500).

CUSTODIAL SENTENCE

IN PREVIOUS ISSUES WE’VE SHOWN YOU A COUPLE OF BIKES THAT’RE UNDER THE CARE OF JIM GREENE, NAMELY HIS ‘SWEETLEAFE’ TRIUMPH, AND PLUNGERED BSA SHOOTING STAR, AND THE LITTLE VIRAGO YOU SEE HERE IS YET ANOTHER MACHINE FOR WHICH JIM HAS BEEN CUSTODIAN FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS.

I BUILT THAT!

I THINK EVERYBODY HAS A LIST OF THINGS THAT THEY WANT TO DO BEFORE THEY DIE, A BUCKET LIST IF YOU LIKE. WELL, MY LIST DOESN’T INVOLVE VERY MUCH, BUT AT THE TOP OF IT WAS, AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN, BUILD MYSELF A BIKE FROM THE GROUND UP.

SONS OF SPEED GO FAST. TURN LEFT!

BILLY LANE’S WELL KNOWN FOR HIS TV APPEARANCES ON THE LIKES OF BIKER BUILD OFF, AND MONSTER GARAGE, ON THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, AS WELL AS THROUGH HIS OWN CUSTOM BIKE COMPANY, CHOPPERS INC, BASED IN MELBOURNE, FLORIDA.

MARY BERRY'S GOREFEST

NOT EVERYONE HAS THE TALENT OR WHEREWITHAL TO BUILD THEIR VERY OWN CUSTOM BIKE. WHILST WE LOVE TO SEE HOME-BREWED BUILDS, HENCE THE ‘SHED-BUILT’ TAG WE RUN ON VARIOUS FEATURES, WE KNOW THAT SOME PEOPLE’LL NEVER BE IN THE POSITION TO DO THEIR OWN SPANNERING/ FABRICATING, WHETHER IT BE DUE TO CONSTRAINTS BROUGHT ON BY FINANCES, TIME, TALENT, OR SPACE... OR ALL FOUR.

BULLET

MY INSPIRATION FOR THIS BUILD CAME FROM RSD’S (ROLAND SANDS DESIGNS) KTM 450 DESERT SLED. AS A FAN OF STEVE MCQUEEN, AND THE MOVIE ‘ON ANY SUNDAY’, I WANTED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO HIS LOVE OF OFFROAD MOTORCYCLING, AND THOUGHT IT APT TO NAME MY BUILD ‘BULLET’ IN A HOMAGE TO THE MOVIE. (YES, YES, I KNOW THE FILM IS CALLED ‘BULLITT’.)