Back Street Heroes - March 2019 - Preview

MORi:_ Q.t::~ ISSUE419 MARCH 2019

£4.20 l'T'I= CJ-

CONTENTS

14: GS550 CHOPPER

50: Z1100 TRIKE

the cover bike in all its glory!

steampunk'd to funk!

20: THUNDER IN THE GLENS

58: BUELL BOBBER

the biggest Harley rally in the land!

62: CRUISING TO CROATIA

rat or lowlife, you decide

part 2 of an epic road -trip BSHCUSTOM CHAMPS ,.t~.

'JJ:A 66: ILFRACOMBE WINNERS ~ ,.J l BIKE SHOW

26: 30: 34: 38: 42:

BEST PAINT ..,.w, ....; BEST ENGINEERING BEST CHOPPER BEST NEW SKOOL BEST CUSTOM

48: TRIKE DESIGN OPEN DAY the Welsh and their Welsh cakes ...

Mr Mutch on his trave ls

REGULARS

82:THE BIZ the second in a new series of int erv iews with leading f igures in the

6: NEWS allthat's new and happen ing

c ustom w o rld

in the custom bike wo rld

8: PRODUCTS loads of g ood stu ff for you to spe nd your hardearned on

it's that Mutch bloke again

68: PATINA SPORTSTER BOBBER a lot younger than it looks!

the new Triumph

Speed master 90: EVENTS your esse nti al g uide to

12:LETTERS sound off , one, two, sound off, thr ee, four !

the best rallies, shows and pa rt ies

54: CENTRESPREAD

your p ict ures and ou r silly

Ms Limb' s latest art ist ic

captions ... ye ah, so rry

offe rin g

abo ut t hat

56 : SUBSCRIBE TO SSH see here for th e best

97:SMALLS

subscription offe rs

67: PORTSMOUTH MAG BIKE SHOW

86: (ALMOST) AROADTEST

72:TECH BSH's resid ent spanner monkey twirls his impl ements ... fnurk 76: MR BRIDGES th e g uru im parts mor e

of his knowledge of mech ani cs

94: READERS' LIVES

JOIN US! BE PARTOF THE BACKSTREETHEROES COMMUNITY

SUBSCRIBE OlfPAGE 56

se ll you r b ike he re for free !

104: NEXT MONTH just to whet your appetite ...

105 : RICK HULSE the musings of one of the most eloq uent th inkers in bikerdo m 106: BACK IN T'DAY retro cho ppe rs fro m th e depth s of time

80: MAG NEWS our reg ular co lumn

by the MAG chairn on gendersp ec if icpe rson

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SIMON EVERETT, ADRIAN NEWNHAM, DAVE ROGERS, TRIKE DESIGN, BOOTS, LOUISE LIMB, PAMBARAUD, IANMUTCH, MR BRIDGES, SELINA LAVENDER, TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLES UK, RICK HULSE 1:1id1lcr,�l,.11d,�

BACKSTREET HEROES, MORTONS MEDIA, MORTON WAY, HORNCASTLE, LN9 6JR ,LJb,Lll!JllOrt>.

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Distribution by Marl<otba,UKLtd, 5 O,uothnt "'-,CanaryWharf, London E14 Still. Tel:0203 787 9001, Printed by'MUiam Glblx,nundSoru, Wolverhampton. ISSN: 02679841. SSH bcOjl)'right l<>MortDlli Medla Ud 2019ond all rtghbare ..,..,....., No part of lhb pubbtlon may IM! reproduad or transmlttl!d, In any form or by '1T'/ mw,s elO<tmnk 0t mod\onlai lndudlng pharocopylng. roc;otdlng. ar ,,,., lnfomlotlcn <tl>lllge or -J)"lem without prior peimlsslon In writlng ln>m lhe publl<!>er, The-publbhersaccept no respons{biUty for unsolidted manusaipt.s orphotographt. If you 1end material lo us for pu.bliQltion, you are strongly adviH:d lo makecoplH and lo include an SA£. Original material must be iubmitted and wUI be d accepted ,olely on the basis !hat the author accepts the ass,nment of the publisher as to Its commerdal value. SSH UK submlpllons U5.00, Europe1n subs £55.89, all other countries £67.BQ, from SSH Subs, Morton, Me ia Ltd, PD Bo• 99, l Harn castle lN9 fill. USA subs 560 per annum from Motorsport, 3t7S7 Honey Locust Road, Jonesburg, MO fi33S1·9600 and additional mailing otnces. Periodica ! postage is paid at Joneiburg, Mlssourl, USA. Postmaslen send US,', •ddress changes to SSH, Motorsport, 550 Honey loctJst �cad, Jonesburg, MO 63351-9600.

FAMOUS BROUGH FOR SALE

MUTT SUPER 4 The new Mutt SUPER 4 125cc features a striking '70s-inspired colour scheme; eyepopping blue or gold micro-flake.

It uses the same fuel-injected 12hp 125cc single-cylinder engine as the other Mutts, and has big 18-inch knobbly tyres, a

diamond pattern seat and grips, a stainless exhaust system and a shortened rear mudguard for a proper custom look.

Mutts are already owned by the likes of Tom Hardy, James May, Skin from Skunk Anansie, the rugby player Ben Ransom and the athlete lwan Thomas, as well as Rob Halliday from The Prodigy and Lee Malia from Bring Me The Horizon, and you too can have one from just £3,495. Get more info from www.

muttmotorcycles.com

FP 'Gentleman' Dic kson was a famous rider in the 1920s with successes in most UK rallies and races. He was George Brough's closest friend and they entered many races together as the Brough factory team, and the pair won gold medals in the International Six Day Trial Scotland and in Aus tr ia where they were the ove rall winners.

In 1930 he rode this bike, TV 2001, in the ISDT in Switzerland, alongside George Brough and Eddy Meyer as the Brough team.

On th e first day he crashed heavily, break ing his leg, and was taken to hospital in Geneva where he convalesced, but died t he following year from a bout of pneumonia after complications set in.

The bike is complete and partly restored and partly assembled, and the Brough Club have inspected the bike and declared tha t all the parts are there. They've also suppl ied documentation to prove its authenticity, including the original build record and buff log bo ok showing that it was first registered to George Brough himself before going to FP Dickson.

It will be sold on 2nd March

by H&H Classics at the National Motorcycle Museum for a conservative estima te of £160,000 to £200,000 - well -hee led readers should contact the H&H Classics Press Office on 07970 563958 or

info@bendigopr.co.uk

IRONHORSE BIKE HAULAGE We all know the best way to get a bike from A to B is to ride it, but there are times when that's just not possible - if you're buying or selling a bike or need one ferrying somewhere if it's broken down, for instance .

Ironhorse Bike Haulage have a specially adapted van fitted with wheel clamps, straps, monitoring cameras and a massive ramp, and they're quietly making a name for themselves all over the UK and Europe for speedy, efficient and safe delivery of bikers' most precious possessions. They can normally take four medium/large bikes at a time, or more smaller ones, or combinations thereof.

Ring them on 07908 550253 or email ironhorse073@ gmail.com or visit their Facebook page (and please say ' you read about them in BSH!).

WIN TICKETS! Over the first weekend in March (1-3rd), just across the Irish Sea in Dublin, the Carole Nash Irish Motorbike & Scooter Show is being held at the RDS (Dublin's most prestigious event venue).

If you've not made the short journey across the briny to the event before, you've really missed out as the show is excellent. As well as all the features of a conventional indoor show, it has the Irish round of the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building, the Ace Cafe Stunt Starz stunt competition as well as solo shows by Ireland's best stunt rider Mattie Griffin, the Ace Cafe Classic & Retro Zone with cool old Brit bikes, appearances by legendary Irish and UK racers, sidecar and motocross displays, live music, dancing girls and much, much more too. Like I said, it's excellent!

Tickets cost just 15 Euro in advance or 20 on the door, but we have five pairs to give away to you lucky lot and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning a pair is go to our website at www.backstreetheroes.com and click the 'WIN' wossname (under the Social header). The competition closes on 20th February though, so be quick about it! Good luck!

To get more info on the Carole Nash Irish Motorbike & Scooter Show go to their website at www.irishmotorbikeshow.com

CAROLE NASH d

CARNFIELD HALL SOUTH NORMANTON M1 DERBYSHIRE DESS2BE011J28

The Rock & Bike Fest at Camfield Hall in South Normanton in Derbyshire (DESS 2BE) is looking for people to enter their bikes in its highly regarded custom show over the weekend of 11-13th July.

If your bike has won an award at a show then it's eligible, and you can get free entry for you and it by sending a photo and some info to info@rockandbikefest.co.uk

SD0C100 CORROSION PROTECTANT SDoc100 Corrosion Protectant shields all metal parts against salt and water damage and, if used regularly, can stop existing corrosion in its tracks. It leaves a transparent, protective, self-healing film on your bike's metal surfaces to shield against salt and water.

It also lubricates and displaces moisture, and is perfect for day-to-day use or laying up your bike for winter.

You apply it straight from the can too.

Priced at ÂŁ13.99 for a 300ml aerosol can from all good stockists - or visit www. motohaus.com or call 01256 704909 .

CJ+.=~

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AVONCOBRA CHROME WHITEWALL TYRES Avon Tyres have launched a new, updated version of their Cobra tyres for custom applications with a whitewall; the new Cobra Chrome Whitewall has an uprated carcass and compounds , and comes in a frankly huge range of sizes (57 of them!) to fit wheels from 15 to 23 inches, and in both front and back fitments - everything from skinny fronts to mega-fat (330!) rears.

Check out their website at www. avontyres.com or pop into anywhere that stocks Avon tyres.

KUSTOMTECH SPROCKET BRAKE KIT Designed for choppers, this sprocket brake kit, with caliper and sprocket on the same side, gives a very clean look. It comes with a billet aluminiumtwo-piston caliper on a stainless steel bracket, a 51-tooth stainless sprocket/brake rotor, welding tabs and hardware, and works with most rear mastercylinders. Get yours from your local Zodiac dealer or www.zodiac.nl

CHOP, RIDE & PARTY This excellent, and massive, hardback yearbook is rapidly becoming a must-have for all who embr ace the chopper lifestyle.

Put together by legendary Dutch photographer Ton 'Grizzly' Beerepoot and his daughter Kim, it's a huge 196-page affa ir, crammed full of the best of the 2018 chopper scene, and fe atures events like Flanders Chopper Bash, The Assembly Chopper 8

BICI ITBIIT 111811 MARCH2019

Show and The Trip Out, bike features on the some of the coolest chops around, including Jay Ransome 's 'Blue Heron' Shovelhead from a couple of issues ago, tattoos, art, road trips and loads, loads more.

Only available from Beer's website at www. choprideandparty.com, it costs just 39.95 Euros, a nd is well worth every cent!

MILWAUKEE 8 PRODUCT LINE

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PARTSt LEATHERS

MOTORCYCLESTOREHOUSE.COM MotorcycleStorehouse B.V.TheNetherlan dsdoesnotsellretail.Youcanpurchase ourcatalogs andproduct s throughyour localdealer.Forpricing&availabilitycheckourwebsite.

SINCE1982· AFTERMARK ETPARTS& ACCESSO RIES FOR

V-TWI~ MOTORCYCLES

ROEGKALE VEST

This cool denim vest is made of waxed denim and has a contrasting Hawaiian-style liner (in Roeg's own words, "for no good reason"). It has plenty of pockets, adjustment at the waist to tailor the fit, and the waxed coating will shake off showers. Pop it on over your favourite bike jacket for layers or style points.

Available in all the usual sizes, you can get one from anywhere that stocks the Motorcycle Storehouse range - check out www.motor

cyclestorehouse. com to find your nearest place.

HARDTAIL CONVERSION FOR SPORTSTER FRAMES

SCORPION EXOCOMBAT HELMET The Scorpion Exo Combat is a super-aggressive Mad Max-style retro/streetfighter helmet that comes with a five-year warranty . It's officially classed as an open-face 'jet' helmet with a removable chin-bar that's intended as a wind deflector, and two visors (one light smoke, the other dark) that are probably the simplest to change on any helmet anywhere on the market.

Available in a choice of five colours (Cement Grey, Matt Black, a very Star Wars Stormtrooper Gloss White, Matt Green, and Titanium), and in sizes XS to 2XL, it costs ÂŁ189.99 from anywhere that stocks the Scorpion range go to www.tranam.co.uk to find your nearest stockist.

THEFATBOOK With 1,924 pages, the new Parts Europe/ Drag Specialties FatBook is the fattest ever, and contains thousands of parts for Harley-Davidsons, Indians and custom bikes.

Like all catalogues it can be browsed through in its paper version or online or downloaded as a PDF file -

partseurope.eu and click on the FatBook cover, or get a paper version from anywhere that stocks the Parts Europe/Drag Specialties range.

10 IHI

STIIIT 111911 MARCH 2019

These basic rear frame sections allow for an easy conversion of a stock Sportster into a hardtail chopper in minimal time. Made from bare steel, they'll need someone who knows what they're doing to fit (grinding, welding etc.).

Get yours from your local Zodiac dealer or www.zodiac.nl

'1-3 MARCH

· RCS

· CUBLIN

Dear BSH,

Dear BSH,

Really liked the Jim Fogg story in the January issue, made perfect by the art of Louise Limb; such treats used to be a regular feature in BSH in days gone by.

As a sort of suggestion, may I plant a seed of a true story in the imagination of Jim? A biker pal of mine, Arthur, very much old school, bought a nearly new Rocket Goldie off Eddie Dow in Banbury. Oddly, for a BSA, this thing was a constant source of trouble.

Temperamental is barely sufficient to describe the bloodymindedness that could be ascribed to an inanimate object; not only in its mechanical misbehaviour, but the near-misses that started to accumulate against his heretofore pristine safety record. One instance, of a lorry jack-knifed across the A4260 under the old 'Yanks Go Home' railway bridge (long gone), all sense of speed seemed to disappear when the real drama started and the only way out was to 'Ride to ground' underneath the trailer chassis.

The last straw was a caravan that'd attempted to cross the A4300 (north of Chipping Norton), headed for the Rollright Stones. This was a lethal hidden crossroads (now staggered) lying in a sunken gulley - come up to it too fast and you don't see it until it's too late. The fibreglass walls of the caravan cut his face up pretty bad as he left a perfect bike and rider silhouette, having ridden straight through both sides of the 'van.

Enough was enough and he went to have a chat with Eddie Dow. Very reluctantly, the awful truth about the bike's history was revealed the purchaser of that brand new Rocket Goldie'd been kneeling in the road beside his machine to make an adjustment and'd been killed by a hit-and-run driver. The bike hadn't done a hundred miles and ran perfectly.

I don't know if Eddie is still with us. I last spoke to him in 1999 when I got him to autograph my copy of the 'Gold Starlets' booklet .

I was looking after his car in storage while he was away in Switzerland. He said he was writing his memoirs then, but I've heard no more since.

You couldn't make it up, could you?

Re: the editorial in issue 418 - people think bikers are crazy? This is the message I sent to my mate, Edwin, just before we set out on his first bike ride ever.

Now, how to dress today; imagine you're in your car, with no windows in it, doing 70mph on the motorway.

Now imagine there are no doors either. Now turn off the heated seats and the heater as that's just cheating. You're just in your suit trousers and shirt, now imagine how cold that's going to be ...

Now take the body off the car altogether. Yep, that's it, nearly there. Now get your seat and sit on top of the engine, face first into the wind - that's what you're going to be doing in about 30 minutes, but you've only got two wheels to balance on, not four, AND it's going to be raining.

Now that's crazy!

JOHN WILLIER

JOHN MCCRACKEN

JAMIE

Dear BSH, Hear here! More big news with upmost hearing - BSH 35 years older!

Yes, BSH 35 years older!

Furthermore even more strange paradoxicalisations therefore moreover than before!

Herself repeated "Nik

t - -

.

Loving the 35 years edition - after becoming dismayed by other biking publications I hooked on to BSH,and the likes of Jim Fogg and Dr Maz Harris kept me there.

We often got it wrong - we had to try to build an allAmerican super chopper out of a Super Dream from a flat three floors up, but you were the only ones that seemed to actually appreciate that this is real life and, hey, we even occasionally got it right and smiled through gritted teeth and ready-rolled Golden Virginia as it finally roared apologetically into life and woke the wean up ....

Mind you, she still helped me push my broken-down Road King many years later - talk about a proud daddy/ daughter moment!

Dear BSH,

Dear BSH,

I feel I must comment on two items of issue 418 February's mag.

Firstly I agree wholeheartedly with Rick Hulse's 'The Cyclist' piece. For one thing I'd like to meet the idiot who thought of taking away half the footpaths and making them into cyclepaths. That idiot most likely doesn't walk in their town - they have a Government car to drive them everywhere, and so therefore doesn't have to run the cycle gauntlet. I agree with it being decriminalised, I was once nicked for riding on the path! Can you imagine that nowadays? I suppose towns in the rest of the country are the same as Bedford.

The second item is Keith's comment on 'taking the piss' - callit what you like,that's what it is.

Now where I completely agree with him - I get and accept banter between mates, but as we know there's always one in every group who takes it further to a point where it's no longer banter.

Even though the rest of your mates are wetting themselves laughing, half the time they're just happy it's not them who's the target. Is it funny?

At best it's embarrassing, at worst it's insulting and hurtful. Somebody told me a long time ago: "When you're taking the piss out of someone, take a good look at that person - if they're not laughing/smiling,then it's not funny."

Once again, great mag.

I thought I'd drop you a line just before Christmas, just to let you know that all the holly hasn't gone yet, Buddy that is!

I've just gone out and bought myself a Royal Enfield Bullet 500 from Coopers of Eastern Maudit in Northamptonshi re, our local Royal Enfield dealer. There was a beige-coloured one in the showroom, and I said to the owner, Ian, "I'll take this one, but I don' t want it to look likethat. Take the handlebars off, and the tank, mudguard, battery case cover, and many other bits and I willget what's needed to be done."

Little did they know what I had in mind, so off I went to Boris Blasting in Wellingborough for shotblasting on some pa rts, then on to the Copper Coaters. The tank, mudguards and other parts I

took to GD Designs of Welford, near Northampton, and showed my designs to Glenn, which came from seeing a photo of an American fire truck from the '40s, but as Buddy Holly was my ido l, the Buddy Holly special was on its way.

Bit by bit I took it back to Coopers for Pete the mechanic to start to rebuild 'Peggy Sue'. He had to order in all new cables for the upright 'bars. The seat builders in this country were so busy or just did not want to do my work, so who else could do it better than the Mexicans with their sewing machines. So I sent them off to Carlos the Upholstery Man in Florida - he says, at a push, he can do a seat in a day (unlike many ove r here - takes them six weeks), and he made mine in th ree days and what a job he has done, as you can see.

Well, the bike took about 10 wee ks to do, owing to letdowns of one sort and ano th er, but now 'Peggy Sue' is ready to rave on.

Thanks to Coopers for the ir help.

TERRY CUMLEY Happy new bike-feeling!

N.

iAVEM

•

STAR ·*. .

LETTER · Dear BSH, Thank you for not wasting that odd article I did and using it as the Star Letter in issue 417, let me tell you what you've done there ...

Jim Fogg was a great friend of ours.

Thirty-odd years ago I had a slightly different career in that I drove artics and spent a lot of time over in the North West. I'd pick up a 40ft trailer and a set of notes that would say 'Lancaster X 46' or similar - that's a truckers' code and means multi-drop. I'd stumbled into Jim without realising who he was.

Bizarrely, it was only after I'd written to him in defence of truck drivers after a factual story that seemed to slag us off (it didn't, it'd just been badly edited) was printed, and he'd written back, that I realised just who it was I was actually speaking to when I was out on the road .

One Sunday Kay and I were out on her bike when a drunk driver wiped

us out badly, it was a mess. It took me three years to get back to work; in fact I never did really get back to trucking, and eventually went off to university instead. Kay, on the other hand, spent the best part of the summer in hospital, scaffolding screwed into her bones , bone grafts, massive skin grafts - the fact that today she still has her left leg is pretty amazing . Jim must've heard about this (quite a feat in the days before the internet and mobile phones!), and he sent her a lovely letter and 'Get Well Soon' card, and the correspondences started . Any letter to him'd have a reply within 48 hours - I've no idea how he found the time.

Once I could drive artics again I'd drop in when I was over, but it was quite rare. Then one day BSH arrived, and it contained the news that Jim'd died of a heart attack . After all these years I can still remember the opening

lines, I think it went something like, 'Today it feels like somebody has put their hand up and turned off the sun.' It came as such a shock.

Anyway, what you did was allowed me to contribute to BSH (in a tiny, tiny way) in the same issue as Jim - my name went into BSH as a contributor, along with Jim's, and that means a lot, even though it was a fluke.

Thanks .

DAVE WIGHAM You're most welcome , Dave ... bloody Onion Fairy, who let her in?N.

)ltGGOT

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 triffl.c!

MARCH 2019 IICI ITIIIT

HUii

13

INCED I'D AROUND TO FINISH IT ...

WORDS: ADRIAN NEWNHAM PICS: SIMON EVERElT

met Andy, the owner of this bike, via the Brit Chopper forum when he was looking for a local engineer to shorten some GN400 forks. I only live three miles from him, and I agreed to do it. He then asked me to do a few small jobs to a set of springer forks he'd collected for a project. This led to a friendship and, when he decided to sell the GN, I expressed an interest, but as I was off work with health issues I had no money to buy it. He liked what I'd done with the springer, and on the GN, so he asked if I'd build him a bike, this bike, in return for the GN. I was up for that.

This was in August 2015 and at the time I'd just been given a serious cancer scare, and I jokingly said: "I should last long enough to build it." That was almost prophetic because there were a couple of times I wasn't sure I would ...

In fact , the start date, in January the

16 IICI

STIIIT B1191S MARCH 2019

next year, coincided with the start of the tests I had to go through, and I think I spent more time in different hospitals for tests that year than I did in my workshop . Thankfully they found that it wasn't cancer - I have Crohn's Disease, and other plumbing-related issues, which cause me more bad days than good, but at least it turned out to be something unpleasant rather than downright nasty.

He'd bought a hardtail frame from another guy off the forum, which'd originally been designed for an XS650, and a complete GSSSOL(the custom variant) to use as a donor, and as I'd done a few bits to the springers, he'd put the bike together into one big lump, but then realised he needed a little help. I stripped the bike down, and cut all the original brackets off, apart from the front and top rear engine mounts.

I made new lower engine mounts, new steel engine plates and ally spacers, and a new top engine mount between the bracket on the frame and the engine.

The frame itself'd been moulded and it took me ages to strip all the filler off - it was even INSIDEthe electrics box!

Originally he'd had a Wassell tank, a peanut replica, but then found the coffin/prism tank and it matched the angular electrics box that was welded in the frame, so I made new tank mounts.

I'm pleased with how the exhausts came out; I had to make them fit around the frame tubes as the frame was meant for a 650 twin, not a four-cylinder

engine, and I first carefully cut all the 'pipes with exactly the same matching bends, but when I tacked them up and test-fitted them, they ended up staggered. I kinda liked it like that so ran with it, and now they stagger away from the front of the engine, left to right, which lets you get at the oil filter cover without having to take them off. I made them from mild steel because Andy likes wrapped 'pipes, and used stainless 45-degree bends to turn them away from the rear tyre. When I got her running, though, she was so loud that you couldn't stand next to her on tickover without holding your ears - WAYtoo loud for the real world (and the MoT), so I got some off-cuts of one-inch stainless tube and welded a 16mm washer each end to make decibel killers to tone her down a bit.

Now she has a nice raspy crackle and is bearable to be next to on tickover, but still howls on the road.

By February 2018 all the work was done, and she was finally ready for powdercoat. The wiring gave me a few hiccups though; Andy'd fitted a lithium battery that worked for a while, but nearly exploded when I took the bike for the MoT,and burnt out the Suzuki regulator/rectifier . I checked the wiring loom, replaced all the bulbs that'd blown, and added extra fuses to all the power feeds to

MARCH 2019 UCI STIIIT 111811

17

stop it blowing the bulbs again, and a Honda Super Dream reg/rec but, due to misunderstanding the wiring instructions, it was still overcharging, and I thought the generator'd been killed as well. Andy got a new generator/stator (which is when we found out there are two different types - one with 12 legs and one with 20), but it turned out it was just the wires on the original genny that were cooked so we used the old one with new wires, and Andy found the right way to wire in the reg/rec so now she was all good.

The brown snakeskin-effect seat is the fourth seat Andy tried and is the best of the bunch; it fits the frame like it was made for it. There's also a black king/queen seat with back-rest pad and a huge sissy bar made from 15mm bar, made from a three-metre length bent in the middle so the top of the sissy bar 's

nearly as tall as I am, and they can be swapped over in around 10 minutes for long runs.

Once finished, she had a bit of a flat spot and didn't rev cleanly. Andy's ordered a Dynojet kit from America, but while we were waiting for it I made some cork shims that fit inside the pod filters (out of the 5mm stuff they make rocker cover gaskets from) and, after some initial trial-and-error, she revs cleanly through the whole range, has no flat spots, and sounds nicer on tickover too.

I'd liketo thank Andy for bearing with me through the bad times and waiting patiently for me to finish the bike - sorry it took so long! ~

ENGINE: 1979 SuzukiGS550,podfilters, Dynojetkit, one-offdrag pipeswith stainless turnouts/decibelkillers, chokelever movedto frametube undertank FRAME: VerymodifiedYamaha XS650,unknownhardtailconversion,all newengine/t ank/

footrests(adjustable)/steering stop/side-standmounts,one-offstainlessbrakerod with brassspacer,brasshex-barfootrests, FRONT END: AvonSpeedmaster21"tyre, 21"minidrumwheel,one-offwheelspindle/stainless lock one-offgear-change nuts/brasswheelspacers/stainlessbraketorquearm, unknown longnarrowspringerforks, one-offstainlessbearingshim/ top yoke/brassspringcups/ dust cover/riserwashers/stemnuts/risers/phone/GPS mount/cables,Harleyl" cow hornbars, brass levers,Harleythrottle REAR END: One-off stainlessmudguardstruts with brass spacers/bungeemounts,Honda CB750wheel/drumbrake, one-offstainlesstorque arm, 5.00 x 16"Shinkotyre BODYWORK: Aftermarketcoffin/prismic tankwith brass cap/twin fuel taps, eBayseat with new mounts,modified6" flat rear mudguardwith brassspacers, moMied fibreglass chainguardELECTRICS: One-offloom, Bates-styleheadlights, Iron Crossrear light, car-typeignit ion switch, rotary lights/hornswitch, HondaSuper Dreamreg/rec PAINT: Tankpaint/graphics byAdePOWDERCOATING: OldEnglish off-whitePOLISHING: Ade ENGINEERING: All work/ bike built byAde THANKS TO: "Andyfor bearingwith mewhilemy poorhealthheldup the buildof the bike..."

18

IICI STIIIT B1191S MARCH 2019

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MOTO MEMORIES // TECH TALK // MONTESA COTA 200 // BULTACO MATADOR

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