Back Street Heroes - October 2018 - Preview

ISSUE 414

OCTOBER 2018

£4.20

UK OFFSALE DATE: 04/10/18

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42 95

62 14: OLD-SKOOL SHOVEL skinny ‘bars, sissy-bar, minimalist paint, no front brake, proper!

20: ROCK & BLUES partying in the Derbyshire hills 26: BSH CUSTOM BIKE CHAMPS vote for your favourites!

32: DIRT DIGGERS going sideways on inappropriate motorcycles 34: NORVIN nearly 50 years in the making, but well worth the wait!

40: BEAFORD BIKE SHOW sunshine, bikes and cake… what is it with women and cake?

42: UNCLE BUNT TRIKE there’re rare vehicles and rare vehicles, and then there’s this!

48: VELOCIMOTEUR J.A.P either a truly historic motorcycle or a beautifully done fake…

REGULARS 68 52: BSA A10 tasty home-built chop that doesn’t deserve those smutty puns 62: SUPERCHARGED TRIUMPH absolutely gorgeous old-skool Trumpet chop 66: GRAVESEND BIKE SHOW our FD went to Kent on another sunny day… no mention of cake though 68: COVINGTON HARLEY they don’t just build baggers in the States these days, y’know…

72: PISS EDDS CUSTOM SHOW bakingly hot in Zummerset 95: BMW R75/7 it’s a cafe racer, Jim, but not quite as we know it…

6: NEWS all that’s new and happening in the custom bike world 8: PRODUCTS loads of good stuff for you to spend your hardearned on 12: LETTERS sound off, one, two, sound off, three, four!

58: CENTRESPREAD Louise Limb’s latest artistic offering 60: SUBSCRIBE TO BSH see here for the best subscription offers 74: KATANA PROJECT our new build is not your average project bike build…

78: TECH BSH’s resident spanner monkey twirls his implements… fnurk 82: MR BRIDGES the guru imparts more of his knowledge of mechanics 86: MAG NEWS our regular column by the MAG chairnongenderspecificperson 88: (ALMOST) A ROADTEST the new Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe

OCTOBER 2018

92: INDIAN LONG-TERMER Wor Davie’s been putting the miles on it 98: EVENTS your essential guide to the best rallies, shows and parties 101: NEXT MONTH just to whet your appetite…

102: READERS’ LIVES your pictures and our silly captions... yeah, sorry about that 106: SMALLS sell your bike here for free!

113: RICK HULSE the musings of one of the most eloquent thinkers in bikerdomerd 114: BACK IN T’DAY groovy choppers ‘n’ customs from the dawn of time...eom TO GET THE DIGITAL EDITIONS APP, SIMPLY SEARCH FOR ‘BACK STREET HEROES’ IN THE APPLE APP STORE FOR iPAD OR ON GOOGLE PLAY FOR ANDROID CHECK OUT THE BSH FACEBOOK PAGE (BACK STREET HEROES) AND THE BSH FACEBOOK GROUP AT BACK STREET HEROES – THE OFFICIAL GROUP

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editor:

NIK SAMSON

nik@backstreetheroes.com

07884 052003

The other reason I like the heat is probably because, having spent some of my formative years in the scorching heat of the Middle East, I’m always slightly cold no matter what the weather here in Blighty. I remember very clearly getting off the ’plane at Heathrow in the summer of ’76, when the rest of the country was melting in the heatwave, at the age of just nine years old, wearing a big coat, and saying to my mum “Muuuummm, I don’t like this, it’s cold here, can we go home?”

The other good thing about this summer was, and you may be a little surprised to read this, the World Cup. No, I’m not into football, but the fact that so many folk out there are meant that while the World Cup games were on, the roads were blissfully empty. And, while the England games were on, just about every copper in the land was stationed outside town and city pubs in case fans kicked off if they didn’t like the result, which also meant that non-footie types like me could hoon around the countryside to our hearts’ content secure in the knowledge that the chances of getting gripped by the Old Bill for exceeding the velocity limits imposed by Her Majesty’s Government were slightly less than the orange American buffoon admitting he’s wrong. About anything. Ever. As I said, bliss.

Can we book the same weather again next year please? Or do I need to nip down the scrapyard and smash up a few more fridges? Anyone know?

staff writer:

DAVE MANNING

dave@backstreetheroes.com

Pic by Alex

The summer of ’18’s been a good one, I think. Yeah, so May was a little damp, and the beginning of June was just ridiculously wet (five or six of us frantically trying to sweep the water out of the Ogri clubhouse the night before the Rat Show!), but from that weekend onwards it was bike-riding heaven, wasn’t it? I know that some people tired of the incessant baking heat, but for me it could’ve gone on for another couple of months at least. It’s been far too long since it’s been so hot in the UK that you aren’t able to do your jacket up properly, far too long since it’s been so hot that it was cooler to ride with your visor down than up, far too long since it’s been so hot that you had to be a little careful where you put your side-stand down for fear of it sinking into the tarmac. I love the heat, me, but that’s probably because as a non-driver I’ve done far more than me fair share of freezing winter riding and, trust me on this if you’ve been lucky enough not to have experienced any of the following, walking into your new girlfriend’s mum’s house for the first time with your top lip encrusted in a deep layer of frozen snot, or having to ride the six miles from the Chesterfield junction of the M1 to the first petrol station in first gear and then balance on one leg, leaning against the wall, with your left foot held up under the hand-dryer cos it’s got so cold that you can’t operate the gear-change with it, gets really old really quickly.

design:

GARETH WILLIAMS publisher:

TIM HARTLEY advertising contact:

✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱

I’ve noticed of late that people on social media are using more and more the phrase ‘ride safe’.

Seen that? Now I’m sure that they mean well, that they’re genuinely concerned for your safety, but there’s something about that phrase that I take a little umbrage with. Yes, yes, I know, I’m strange, I thought you’d’ve realised that by now?

Y’see, while I appreciate the sentiment, I really do, I don’t want to ride safely. No, I want to ride in such a way that gives me the adrenalin rush that I got the very first time I rode a bike all those years ago. I don’t want safety, I want endorphins! I don’t know about you, but it wasn’t safety that got me into motorbikes – it was the speed, the danger, the sexiness. If you’d said to me back in 1984 when I got my first moped that the most important thing about bikes was safety I, and I suspect everyone who went into the biker pub that I aspired to one day pull up outside on a litre-plus fire-breathing hooligan tool, would’ve, at best, looked at you as though you’d just asked for a Spaniel puppy sandwich or, more likely, told you to leave instantly, at this moment, and procreate… although probably not in those exact words.

Look, I don’t have a death-wish, I quite like my life, but I don’t want to ride about being safe.

Yes, there’s a time and place for that – in 30 and 40mph limits – but that’s just common sense isn’t it? Ride like a tw*t in built-up areas and you should expect to be taking the rest of your meals through a straw…

No, for me bikes and biking aren’t about riding safely. If they are for you, that’s great, I hope you live a long and uneventful life. Me, I’m with the late, great Hunter S Thompson, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a Ride!’” or, as Mark Williams (I think) said many years ago, “Motorcycling is a trip, a ride through interstellar space on the back of a motorised bucking bronco – you know it, I know it and everything else is warm beer.”

See you next month.

NIK

Distribution by Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU. Tel: 0203 787 9001. Printed by William Gibbons and Sons, Wolverhampton.

ISSN: 02679841. BSH is copyright to Mortons Media Ltd 2018 and all rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The publishers accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. If you send material to us for publication, you are strongly advised to make copies and to include an SAE. Original material must be submitted and will be accepted solely on the basis that the author accepts the assessment of the publisher as to its commercial value. BSH UK subscriptions £45.00, European subs £55.89, all other countries £67.89, from BSH Subs, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle LN9 6LZ. USA subs $60 per annum from Motorsport, 31757 Honey Locust Road, Jonesburg, MO 63351-9600 and additional mailing offices. Periodicals postage is paid at Jonesburg, Missouri, USA. Postmaster: send USA address changes to BSH, Motorsport, 550 Honey Locust Road, Jonesburg, MO 63351-9600.

RICK NICHOLS

rnichols@mortons.co.uk 01507 529357 divisional ad manager:

BILLY MANNING

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DAN SAVAGE

commercial director:

NIGEL HOLE

freelance contributors:

FAZERDAZE, MS P, IAN RISPIN, BILLY PARKER AT SCIPSPICS, PAUL‘MR BSA’WILKINSON, DAVE AITKEN, SIMON EVERETT, COLIN STRONG, POPPY STRONG, CHARLEY CHARLES, SIWER OHLSSON, LOUISE LIMB, ERIK STIGGSON, POINTY HAT WIZARD FABRICATIONS, MR BRIDGES, SELINA LAVENDER, RICK HULSE

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NEWS

Museum Live is the National Motorcycle Museum’s fifth annual open day on Saturday 27th October. Entry is free, and there are a host of events happening throughout the day.

There’ll be a huge autojumble and trade area, a ‘meet the experts’ feature where you can meet the folk who restore and look after old bikes, live wheel-building demonstrations, a ‘Stars on Stage’ feature with famous riders and racers, Henry Cole doing book signings, famous race machines being started up, and a whole ruck of genius special builder Allen Millyard’s stunning creations.

As I said, entry is free, but car parking is £5 (bikes are free), and you can get more info from www. thenmm.co.uk

In issue 413, on the BSH Custom Bike Championship page, we (well, me, Nik) incorrectly named the gentleman who won Best Paint as Andy Jones when his name’s actually Andy Brown. Andy Jones is the owner of Sledhead Bobbers and built the bike, Andy Brown is the owner and helped build it. Okay?

Glad we got that cleared up! Sorry Andy (Brown)!

An anonymous British millionaire’s put up a new limited edition Ducati Panigale V4 Speciale as the prize in an online competition helping to raise money for Blood Bikes. Just 1,500 £35,000 Ducati Panigale V4 Speciales are being made

The Honda Monkey is now available from £3699 in Honda Motorcycle dealerships across the UK or on PCP for just £65 a month. The styling, paint and chromed parts draw heavily on the original, and there’s an air-cooled 125cc engine putting out 6.9kW of power, 11Nm of torque and 189mpg! The bike has a steel frame, USD forks, twin rear shocks and 12-inch tyres, and weighs just 107kg.

The 2018 Monkey 125 will be available in three colour schemes (Banana Yellow/Ross White, Pearl Nebula Red/ Ross White and Pearl Shining Black/Ross White), and you can get more info from your local Honda dealer or www. honda.co.uk/motorcycles

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OCTOBER 2018

and it’s claimed to be the fastest, most powerful production bike the world’s ever seen.

He says: “The bike is incredible and a joy to ride but it’s also a real collectors’ item as there are only 1,500 in existence. We thought a competition would be a great way to raise some money for Blood Bikes, a charity that does wonderful work through its many volunteers right across the country.”

The competition is happening at www. ducatiforafiver.co.uk and tickets are £5 plus a 50p booking fee, and the prize includes leathers and an X-Lite helmet worth £1,000 (nine runnersup’ll receive a X-lite X-803 Ultra Carbon helmet).

This year’s Brightona, Brightona the huge bike show on Madeira Drive in Brighton that raises money for the Sussex Heart Charity, will be held on Sunday 14th October.

The massive event takes over the whole of the long, long road with hordes of trade stalls, multiple live band stages, and, very importantly, a very wellrespected custom and classic bike show that, this year, is being run by our own FD. If you’d like to enter your bike, be it a custom, a classic, a trike, a scooter, a chopper, a streetfighter, a cafe racer or anything else two or three-wheeled, then you need to drop her an email to fazerdaze@gmail.com or ring 07971 294507. Not only will your bike get pride of place in the event (and somewhere dry if the weather’s pooey), but you’ll get free entry to the event too!

For more info on this year’s Brightona, check out the website at www.brightona.co.uk

The Copdock Motorcycle Show returns to Trinity Park on Felixstowe Road in Ipswich (IP3 8UH) on Sunday 7th October from 9am to 6pm.

This year there’ll be biking celebs, including Dougie Lampkin MBE and Steve Parrish, stunt shows by the Two Brothers Racing Stunt Team, freestyle motocross from the Bolddog Lings FMX Team, Ken Fox’s Wall of Death, a vintage speedway cavalcade, a custom marquee for all things custom, a classic pre-65 scramble bike cavalcade, motoball, a large autojumble, owners’ club displays, live music, real ales, food, and other entertainments too.

Tickets cost £8.50 prebook (or £10 on the day), and you can get them and more info from the website at www. copdock-cmc.co.uk

This year’s Motorcycle Live, the biggest motorcycle show in the UK, runs from Saturday 17th November to Sunday 25th November, and promises to be another cracker!

There’s a new and cool show there this year, Moto Cirque, which is being kept very hush-hush at the time

of writing, but promises to be a real spectacle, but the highlight of the show for us custom bike types is Custom Xtreme – the huge custom bike feature run by us lot here at Back Street Heroes. As always it’ll have some of the best custom bikes in the land, including the five winners of the BSH Custom Bike Champs and a whole host of chops and customs so sexy they’ll make you need a triple strength bromide injection just to be able to walk straight.

Advance tickets cost just

£19.50, or £25 with an Oxford disc lock worth £24.99 on its own, or £25 (with no lock) on the door, and you can get more info from the event website at www. motorcyclelive.co.uk

Those of you of a certain age’ll remember Nobby, the almost legendary Leicester-based airbrush artist who painted, it seemed, just about every top-class custom bike in the 1990s. Well, after a good few years’ break from waving his paintspraying wand about, he’s back in business and looking for bikes and bike-related stuff to work his magic over.

He has a new website at www.one-three. co.uk where you can see examples of his work, past and present, so if you’d like to have your bike (or lid) painted by one of the best artists there’s been in the UK custom world in recent years, drop him a line through the website or ring him on 07968 531481.

OCTOBER 2018

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PRODUCTS

This excellent leg bag offers a safe place to stash your smartphone, wallet, keys and other on-the-road essentials, but keeps them easily accessible.

It comes with a leg strap and a waist strap to give you a choice of mountings, a variety of storage compartments, two-way zips with large fabric tabs for use with gloved hands, padded interior sections, and a weatherproof PU-coating. An additional rain cover is also supplied.

The Legend Gear Leg Bag retails at £49.95 from Motohaus at www.motohaus.com

This denim/Kevlar riding shirt

by Crave has a Para-aramid protective lining, pockets in the shoulders, elbow and back for armour, a phone/ wallet pocket on the sleeve, an inner zipped pocket, and two small breast pockets. The outer shell is 97% cotton dark navy denim with a 3% lycra stretch, and the lining composition is a breathable microfibre which is 100% polyester/ Lycra.

Available in sizes XS– XL, they cost £259 from anywhere that stocks the Crave range – check out www. dot4distribution.com to find your closest place.

LS2 have come up with a 180 degree fl ip-front helmet in the style of the Roof Boxer and the Shark Evoline, and it’s really very good.

Doubly certified, as both a full-face and an open-face helmet, it has a 180-degree swing-around chin bar and a drop-down sun shield, is Pinlock-ready, with a removable lining that allows you to fit any Bluetooth device and/or headphones.

Available in sizes XS-XXL (53-64 cm), prices start at £229.99 for plain colours.

Get more info from www. ls2helmets. com to find local s ki stockists.

If your tent’s been ripped or torn over the summer, fix it with a Storm Tear Aid patch. Reta ailing at just £7.50, it allows clear and fl exible, air-tight and water-tight repairs to be made with ease – simply clean the area, cut the patch to shape, peel and stick – that’s it! It can last for sevveral years, and is also suitable for clothing, sleeping mats, inner tubes, wellies, kites, outdoor g gear and much more.

Get yours from anywhere that stocks the Stormcare range or www.stormcare.co.uk

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PRODUCTS

Wunderkind Custom has come up with a set of universal mudguard struts with LED indicators and rear/brake lights built into them.

High-grade E-tested LEDs are placed at the top of the strut, adjacent to the ‘guard for maximum visibility and a clean, fully functional look, and the struts mount easily to any frame or swingarm, and are black plastic-coated for durability with the wiring running internally.

Get yours or more information from www. wunderkind-custom. com

These BL 1000 twin light ‘bar end indicators appear as though they’re a seamless extension of your handlebars. The latest high performance LEDs make for a spectacularly bright indicator, and they act as vibration reducers for your ‘bars too.

They’re now available at your local Z odiac dealer or www.catalog.zodiac.nl

Rinehart Racing performance exhausts are now available at all Parts Europe/ Drag Specialties dealers to fit HarleyDavidson and Indian models, and their range includes all the new 2018 Harley-Davidsons and Indians.

A catalogue filled with all Rinehart Racing performance exhausts can be downloaded in the cataloguesection at www.partseurope.eu or www.dragspecialties.eu

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These high quality saddlebags are made from water-repellent 18oz waxed twill and premium vegetable tanned leather, and have a vinyl liner, a padded laptop pocket, a front pocket, two side pockets, an inside fl ap zip pocket, a roll-top main compartment, and two closure straps and two snap-hooks, and also double as a messenger bag.

Available in black/tan or black/brown, you can get them from anywhere that stocks the W& W Cycles range – check out www.wwag.com to find your nearest place.

OCTOBER 2018

These nice seats have black powdercoated steel bases with leather embossed covers over polyurethane foam, and fit 2004 to present Sportster XLs (and can be adapted for other bikes too).

There’s a choice of black or brown and sprung or fixed mounts, and they’re now available at your local Z odiac dealer or www. catalog.zodiac.nl

Dear BSH, Need to agree or even disagree with something you’ve seen in the mag? Heard a bloody awful joke you think we should groan at? Email nik@ backstreetheroes. com or send it snailmail to the address in the front (somewhere) of the mag!

Dear BSH, BSH 413 – loved Nik’s editorial.

I always tell people my husband has a Harley habit. I love it that he does, never tire of him talking about bikes, just want to be on it all the time (as a pillion), and it’s the best chill pill I’ve ever found – we’d keep the bike over any possession we have. I’ve told him in the past don’t buy me jewellery – put petrol in the tank! Does that make me an addict? Hell, yes!

TRISH

Trish, you may be the ideal biker woman, shame you’re already married …. N.

Dear BSH, BSH 413 – great editorial, Nik, you hit the nail on the head! It brought a couple of thoughts to my mind; firstly, I immediately feel happier when I just sit on the seat of a motorcycle. Why is that?

Secondly, I saw a T-shirt slogan once that said: “I spend most of my time and money on ‘bikes; the rest of my life is wasted.”

Keep up the good work.

DICK PENFOLD

Dear BSH,

Talking about retro stuff, does anyone remember these T-shirts that used to be advertised in Motorcycle Mechanics magazine in the early ‘70s? I think I got this in about 1972 , and it still fits me (okay, so that last bit is bollocks).

Thanks very much for coming along to the Stone Circle Show and even more thanks for the two pages in the last issue; it was a real bonus for us and for Stuart – it feels like a “proper” show now.

I’d like to thank all the BSH readers who attended and made the show the overwhelming success it turned out to be (although I’m sure the weather helped a bit as well). I apologise for the queues at the bar and the burger stand – we thought we had it covered. After all, who knows how many will show up for a ride in?

The day raised a brilliant £ 3,100 for our mate Stu and he’s immediately decided to donate £ 5 00 from that figure to the local Wiltshire Air Ambulance. A little over three years ago he had a tragic accident where he slipped over in his kids’ paddling pool in the garden and snapped his neck – a C6 break which’s rendered him tetraplegic.

So far we have held two band nights for him over at the Avebury club and we’ve helped to buy some special wheelchair wheels with motors in (E-Motion wheels). Stuart only has to touch the outer push-ring and microswitches trigger the motor to turn and propel the chair gently. The music nights’ve been good, but the club has a limit of 100 so I thought a charity bike show’d be a good day out for everyone and would gently generate more revenue for Stuart’s future physio and transport needs – a different TUV -approved chair may offer him the chance to drive again in an adapted vehicle so that’s the next target.

I’m part of the local BSA club and, although none of the members knew him beforehand, they’ve all got stuck in and’ve given me the support to make the show possible.

BOB

DARREN

Dear BSH,

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OCTOBER2018

I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the slanderous and downright derogatory remarks recently made by one of your contributors, an individual known to you, and your readership, as Mr Bridges.

The most recent incident took place in issue 412 whereupon, the aforementioned individual once again referred to me as a “fat git”.

Now it’s true I do weigh in at a svelte 14st 32lb, but in mitigation I am 6ft 4in tall… and my grannie says I’m “big-boned”. And my beard alone must weigh at least half a pound of that total.

For your information this is not a stand-alone incident, and this bitter and twisted individual has on a number of previous occasions over the last year or so been allowed to make such personal and hurtful remarks within the pages of your erstwhile tome; behaviour which not for the first time has caused me significant emotional distress and psychological turmoil. Why only the other day I was reduced to tears when I enquired as to what the letters “NGY” chalked as datum points on the tube bender stood for, and Mr Bridges replied “Northern Git’s Yamaha”.

Furthermore, later in the same article Mr Bridges then went on to cast aspersions on my bracket manufacturing ability, referring to them as being “vaguely similar”. What Mr Bridges neglected to mention was that upon perusing the aforementioned brackets, he said “Uh, they’re shit” and proceeded to drop them straight into the scrap bin – no positive reinforcement for my endeavours whatsoever, and an unnecessary public humiliation I found to be an extremely demoralising experience. Further, it was made even more unpleasant by his longtime sidekick and partner in crime Uncle Fester the Workshop Elf, sitting on his stool, rolling a fag and laughing.

Just because Mr Bridges has done a totally amazing job transforming my bike into a great workaday custom bike, and just because he is an absolute engineering, wiring and fabrication genius who has taught me so much, doesn’t give him the right to make such slanderous remarks about his junior and, for that matter, unpaid staff. Mr Bridges needs to be reminded that beneath this rugged Northern exterior there beats a heart.

Should you choose not to publish this “complaint” and allow this bullying and verbal abuse to continue in a public arena such as the pages of BSH, I will of course be taking appropriate legal action… that or I will be taking him and Uncle Fester out for pizza and a few beers.

GRUMPY OLD NORTHERN GIT AKA Mr Bridges’ Workshop Bitch

The best letter each issue will now receive a free T-shirt from those lovely people, Laura and Mark, at Fat Maggot T-Shirts (www.fatmaggot.com) – get all your rally shirts etc. from them, they’re triffic!

Dear BSH,

Remember when?

Remember when bikes sounded like bikes?

Remember when an MOT was press the horn and try the brakes?

Remember when your bike clothing didn’t cost more than your bike?

Remember when thinking a fiver gets you five gallons was true?

Remember when you had to wait for the TV to warm up?

Remember when you only had to wait four hours instead of eight at A&E? Remember when there were bikes and cars at rallies and nobody gave a shit?

Remember when most of the TV presenters and DJs weren’t in jail?

Remember when the Plods didn’t all look 18 and have acne?

Remember when Thunderbirds puppets used to smoke and drink?

Remember when you couldn’t tell the difference between chicks and blokes from behind?

Remember when you knew everybody on your street and their parents?

Remember when you got “battered” by your parents after being grassed up by a grown-up for doing something wrong that you actually hadn’t?

Remember when you used to get to a rally and forget the tin opener,

then the next one remember the tin opener, but forget the matches?

Remember when David Lee Roth had hair?

Remember sweet shops selling fake cigs, liquorice pipes and Spanish Gold fake baccy?

Remember when the future was 1980? When UFO and Space 1999 were on telly and everyone wore silver Lycra, had purple hair an` drove cars that floated, but petrol was still only 10 bob a gallon?

Remember 10 bob notes?

Remember when a litre was a gallon?

Remember when there were 240 pennies in a quid, then they changed it to a 100? What`s all that about?

Remember when “safe sex” was a padded headboard?

Remember when having a bike was a necessity as it was the only form of transport you could afford (on the never-never)/ When it was your pride and joy, your way of life and the reason you had a kinship with anyone else with a bike?

I remember when all of these things were so, and wish they were again coz life in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s was a blast!

Have enclosed a dark chocolate Magnum, but it`ll have melted by now!

TROLL, Glossop It wasn’t there, some thieving bastard postie must’ve had it… N.

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THOSE OF YOU WHO’RE AU FAIT WITH CLASSIC BIKE VALUES, PARTICULARLY THAT OF CLASSIC HARLEYS SUCH AS KNUCKLES, PANS AND SHOVELS, WILL KNOW THAT THE PURCHASE OF SUCH A BIKE ISN’T, THESE DAYS, A CASUAL DECISION. WORDS & PICS: DAVE MANNING

OCTOBER 2018

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A

nd, if you’re the sort of sensible chap (or chappess) who’ll not be keeping the bike in question standard but’re going to, instead, modify it into a deeply desirable classic chopper, then you’ll not want to spend the wedge required for a factory standard machine. You’ll also, I suspect, probably not have the level of spare folding needed to just go straight out and buy one anyway.

Lloyd Williams has a plan, and it’s a plan he’s sticking to. Each year he builds a very cool custom bike, rides around on it a bit, and then sells it.

The resulting cash is reinvested into the next project. When he sold his very cool Yam XS650, the proceeds from the sale didn’t spend much time burning a hole in his pocket, but were re-allocated into a 1976 Harley FXE that’d been imported from California. Within a couple of hours of getting it home, he and his brother, Adam, had got it up and running and, after stripping off

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a lot of extraneous standard (and unwanted) parts, and bolting on a set of ‘silly’ ‘bars that Lloyd’d made, it was then ridden for a couple of hundred miles to check that the engine and gearbox were sweet… despite Lloyd saying it “looked like a piece of shit!”

Once he was happy that the powerplant and transmission were good to go, he stripped it right down, and took the frame over to Andy ‘Toddy’ Todds in Grimsby for him to work his magic on the rear end. As you’ll have noticed, the frame is now a hardtail, rather than the twin shock rear end that the Shovel originally had, with lasercut axle plates designed to look as though they’ve been cast like the rest of the frame lugs and joints, using his patented method, so that the end result looks as though it’s an original MoCo hardtail. How he does it is actually top secret and if I told you I’d have to kill you… well, I’d have to say sorry to Toddy anyway.

With the frame back, Lloyd set to building up a rolling chassis. He wanted to use traditional-looking parts but, at the same time, gain a look infl uenced by the booming Japanese classic chopper scene. If you’ve got access to the interweb, just put ‘Japanese chopper’ into the search engine of your choice, and hit ‘search’. Okay, now ignore all the adverts for knives, and skip to the bikes. Amazing, aren’t they? I wanted to build a bike infl uenced by them by the time I’d looked at half a dozen images…

The style that Lloyd was after was partly dictated by an avoidance of off-the-shelf mass-produced parts, brackets and mounts. As

he says himself: “Stuff like that doesn’t really work for me!” so he wasn’t going to mount the rear mudguard or oil tank in the stock way, and those parts that he didn’t make himself would have to be either heavily-modified or sourced from the folk that he has great respect for. Consequently, he turned to a couple of guys who exemplify the current popularity of chopper building in the UK, in that they produce a number of very cool parts that’re perfect for folk building bespoke bikes: Lawrence Crompton at Yokai Motorcycle Engineering in Manchester (www. yome.bigcartel.com), and Sumo at Vintage Chop in Huddersfield (www.vintagechop.com).

Both guys are one-man bands making some very sweet components. The billet LED tail light was from Yokai, and the heavyduty mudguard (made extra-thick to prevent cracking and to allow the carrying of luggage or even a passenger) came from Vintage

Chop. It’s supported at the rear with a bespoke ball-ended dual bar sissybar, with that neat little Yokai rear light perched provocatively between the balls, and it sits over the standard FXR rear wheel. The traditional chop stance is aided by the 16” rear wheel and 21” front rim that’s wired on to a ‘spool’ hub (one that has no brake and is just a basic hub with bearings and the spoke fl ange). Aside from looking really neat, it also means that the standard forks can have the caliper lugs machined off for a clean look, which is aided by removing the side refl ector castings in a totally ‘shaved’ style. Having no front brake, Lloyd’s upgraded the rear with a Grimeca twin pot caliper replacing the original ‘banana’ item, and a Brembo master-cylinder on oneoff forward control mounts was made in a similar style to the factory mounts.

With a replica Wassell fuel tank mounted on the frame, and a narrow set of one-off Z bars made by Lloyd himself fitted to the standard yokes, the only missing piece was somewhere for him to park his derriere, so he made up a seat base and covered it with a layer of foam before handing it over to Doncaster Trimmers for a tuck ‘n’ roll-type cover.

He says: “In all honesty, the build side was a pretty quick affair, and there weren’t too many headaches. The main head-scratches came from learning the workings of a Shovelhead as I’d never built one before this, but, again, I was helped along the way by a lot of good people and pointed in the right direction.”

Once the fabrication was finished, the bike was stripped down and finish-welded, and various large parts were taken over to Dragon Powder Coating in nearby Doncaster. Rather than paint, Lloyd chose powder-coat for a couple of reasons; firstly, paint isn’t as durable as powder-coat and, secondly: “I f* * king hate cleaning bikes, and the way this bike is finished, with the simple colour scheme, it doesn’t look out of place with a bit of dirt and oil on it… ” As befits his plan, the Shovel’s now been sold, and went to a very happy new owner just a couple of days after I took these pics.

I’ll leave the signing off to Lloyd himself: “Building this bike was a lot of fun. I had a lot of late evenings in the garage, which often involved Jason, Shaun and Paul and a shit load of beer. I love what we all have and do, for me this is what it’s all about – hanging, building and riding with great people.”

18

OCTOBER 2018

SPEC:

ENGINE: 1976 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead, S&S Super E carb, S&S teardrop air-filter, open 2’’ Primo belt primary, four speed ratchet-top transmission, stainless exhausts by owner FRAME: 1976 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead, hardtailed

by Andy Todd, laser cut axle plates made to look cast, one-off footrest hangers to suit Brembo master- cylinder/ forward controls FRONT END: Avon Speedmaster 21” tyre, 21” spool hub wheel, 35mm forks with shaved lowers by owner, one-off Z-bars by owner, Biltwell Recoil grips REAR END: One-off sissybar by owner, stock 16” wheel, Avon Mk2 Safety Mileage tyre, Grimeca caliper, one-off torque arm by owner BODYWORK: Reproduction Wassell fuel tank with Pingel tap, one-off seat pan/foam by owner (covered by Doncaster Trimmers), Vintage Chop heavy duty 2/3mm rear mudguard, reproduction Panhead oil tank with custom battery/electrics box inside/ mounts ELECTRICS: One-off minimal loom by owner, reproduction Electroline headlight, Yokai Motorcycle Engineering tail light PAINT: All powdercoated, anthracite grey/aluminium effect by Dragon Powder Coating (www. dragonpowdercoating.co.uk). POLISHING: A little Scotchbrite & elbow grease ENGINEERING: Owner & friends THANKS TO: “My family for allowing me to be shit and spend a lot of time in the garage; my old man Dave & my brother Adam for all their help over the years; Jason for being a great friend & always making sure there’s beer in the fridge; all the Stockers; Toddy for sharing his fountain of knowledge; Shaun & Paul for the constant help with supply of parts/being good friends; & Stez at Polar Cycles for all the free help/advice…”