Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 39 i Built

B ackin 2018, we featured the work of Véronique Sauquere-Hubert, a French artist who goes by the name of Mama Custom. We met her at Bike Shed and were impressed by her wild approach to helmet and tank art. Her latest work is this Royal Enfield Meteor 350 bobber, which recently won the ‘Royal Contest 2022’ at the 27th edition of the annual 2-Wheel Show in Lyon. There were 23 French-based Enfield dealers competing in the Royal Contest and the competiton was decided by a public vote after selection by an official judging panel. The story started with the French custom shop OrMotors in Pierrelaye, just north west of Paris. Véronique explains: “Orion at OrMotors contacted me to say they had built the bike and would like me to do…

Jack Cooper (son of boss Ian) built this Interceptor street tracker as his personal ride, working in collaboration with Fastec Racing, the Newmarket-based custom parts specialists. Fastec supplied: billet yokes, footrests, headlamp cowl, speedo shroud (it’s also got a Koso speedo), front fender and handmade alloy XR750-style seat. They also made the high-level two-into-one exhaust system to which Jack has added a Supertrapp muffler. The forks now have YSS internals and and the shocks are YSS too. Gold SM Pro rims are shod with fat Bridgestone Battlax tyres to give it that butch flat track look. The motor was given an S&S make-over with one of their 865cc big bore kits (which also raises compression from 9.5:1 to 11.0:1), plus a high-lift camshaft so it builds power sooner in the…

This makeover on the Continental GT features S&S Tapered Cone Slip-ons in brushed stainless mated to powder coated stock downpipes. The mufflers have a removable dB reducer and weigh just 10.8lb – less than half the stock silencers. An S&S air filter plus the mufflers gives a 5bhp power increase at 3000rpm. Other bolt-ons include: bikini fairing; relocated barend mirrors; cushion grips; bullet mini-indicators; Royal Enfield touring seat; custom rear mudguard and LED tail light. There’s also the custom paint job, plus the crankcase covers and rocker covers have been powder-coated black to add to the stealth image of this reworked GT model.…

“YOU COULD SAY THE SEAT UNIT INSPIRED THE ENTIRE BUILD…” It’s the simple beauty that hits you when you first clap your eyes on Wayne Huffer’s stripped-to-the-bones boxer twin cafe racer. The keen edges contrasting with the bodywork’s flowing lines. The way he’s built the black motor casing up at the top to follow the lines of the base of the fuel tank. The deep luscious white, red and blue livery, bronze accents on the engine, front end and wheels. The whole thing creates the aesthetic of a speeding thunderbike, with what could be a nod to a Krauser battle twin of old (remember those old four-valve white warriors?). The bike started life as a 1989 R100RT, complete with massive fairing, panniers and even a tank bag. “Yeah, it was…

I twas the first Bike Shed Show since 2019 and a real test to gauge if the level of interest in the scene was still growing in the way we had seen leading up to lockdown. There was no need for concern: it was the best Tobacco Dock show ever. First off, there was the feelgood factor of being back at our favourite event. But secondly the official show figures told the story: 490 exhibitors, including 188 shed builders. The new lower ground-level extension of the show – used for the first time since the first Tobacco Dock – featured an extra 70 bikes, all of stunning quality and in so many different styles. The show welcomed an amazing 19,000 visitors over the three days: 4000 on Friday; 10,000 on…

Charlie Stockwell T heHarley Sportster has been part of the custom scene since it appeared in 1957 so when the air-cooled V-twin was dumped from the range in 2021 it came as something as a shock. However, seeing Charlie Stockwell’s customised Nightster in the flesh gave Harley fans hope that the latest incarnation may be a decent platform for customisation. Charlie left Warrs in April after 26 years and countless high quality custom builds under his belt, and though he says he’s unsure of his future, it seems unthinkable that they won’t involve customising Harley-Davidson motorcycles. And at the Bike Shed, he showed what can be done to the Nightster on a budget. “I went to Warrs originally because my brother worked there and I fell in love with Harley.…

Tom Simpson EX-COP GUZZI This used to be a police-spec Guzzi NTX trailie Tom Simpson’s Foundry Motorcycle was ten years old this May and to celebrate he had three bikes at the Dock, a Buell and two Guzzis. The Buell was started in 2016 but with so much going on in Tom’s life, it took time to finish. Tom explained: “Chris, the owner had a TT2 replica he brought to me and with it came a box of leftover Pantah bits, including a frame and wheels which he suggested might make the basis for a bike with a non-Ducati engine. “He asked me what I thought might fit in an L-frame and I stupidly said, ‘maybe a Harley engine?’ He said, ‘I’ve got a Buell Cyclone coming, it’s a bit…

FIRST SKETCH The solid wheels were ditched in order to get the brakes right “THE FRONT SUSPENSION IS A GIRDER-TYPE SYSTEM HIDDEN INSIDE THE BODY” I have been into custom motorcycles ever since I was a kid because my father is a custom bike builder. My days have been all about customs and discovering new motorcycle design trends. I love custom motorcycles as pieces of art. I received an email from the owner of Icarus, Keith Edney, who loved my previous bike called The Bullet and asked me to build one. I was beyond excited because it was the first time I had exported a motorcycle to the UK. It was definitely an honour for me so I put all my best work into making the design attractive. The build…

There’s something special about Cooperb’s Enfield dealership. It’s not so much that the decor and lighting offers a welcoming subdued, peaceful atmosphere – though Lord knows that’s refreshing compared to many bike shops. No, the really special thing is the laid-back, down-to-earth friendliness of the staff. The dealership is also seriously proactive, creating a batch of modified bikes to give their customers a taste for what can be achieved. But before we get to that I ask owner Ian Cooper how after years of selling used bikes he ended up being an Enfield dealer. “It’s Guy Martin’s fault,” he claims. “He was on telly riding across India on a Bullet. Then he did that thing called Ridermania (a huge, annual three-day Royal Enfield-organised festival in Goa every November which attracts…

The idea of a twin-cylinder Himalayan has been knocking around almost since the single’s launch but there’s no sign of one from the company so far. But looking at Cooperb’s bike, you could almost imagine it’s a factory prototype. Seeing all the interest, Cooperb decided to create their own ‘Interlayan’, based on an Interceptor twin. “I rang Enfield and asked if they had any objections and they said ‘not at all’. It’s a one-off built by Jack.” Ian says the work to transform the stock bike into this ‘Himi on Steroids’ was so intensive and the costs so prohibitive that it is unlikely to ever be viable as a customer bike. “The Himalayan framework around the headlight and tank alone took a lot of sorting,” says Ian. “We had to…

The Spanish wizard Pepo Rosell draws on many influences for his work, but they’re usually fast. That’s certainly the case here: his Enfield twin retro racer is called Black Fury because the paint job by was inspired by the John Player Special Lotus F1 cars and the Gus Kuhn Motors bikes – the old endurance Norton and BMW racers from the famous London dealership. “The idea was make a race bike, so the aim was to reduce the weight and equip it with race suspension and brakes. It was really meant to be an old school sports bike.” Performance was enhanced with as S&S camshaft, high-comp pistons, Power Commander and a shorty two-into-one exhaust system, designed to give more power at high rpm. Pepo achieved the cafe racer look with…

L amb Engineering’s grasstrack racing-inspired single-cylinder work of art was, quite literally, one of the shining stars of this year’s Tobacco Dock. The build started over two and a half years ago, with a plan to get it ready for the 2020 AMD championships in Cologne – until Covid changed the world. The bike is a collaboration between Larry Houghton, who has many years of experience in engineering, design and bike building, and Jordan Hicks, a design engineer and machinist who works at Lamb Engineering. This is Jordan’s first bike build. Covid didn’t just throw a spanner in the custom bike world, it also hit Larry’s business but he turned the quiet period into a productive one by developing this very special machine. The bike was mostly machined by Jordan…

Adam Kay We’ve known Adam Kay since the launch of his London-based Untitled Motorcycles business in 2010. He’s been part of the cafe racer scene revival – and the early days of the Bike Shed MC – and there’s even a UMC in San Francisco. From BMW boxer twin urban customs, Adam has branched out and embraced electric bike tech, the first of which was a striking machine based around a Zero FST powertrain. “I really like riding electric motorcycles, especially in the city,” said Adam. “And they are fun to build as custom bikes.” UMC had a couple of new electric builds at Bike Shed, one which had strong 1970s Rayleigh Chopper styling overtones and this, much more, radical-looking device with its 60V battery pack and an electric power…

Christian Moretti Plan B Motorcycles’ electric bike took us completely by surprise – the last time we looked they were building ICE bikes. Company owner Christian Moretti explains: “This started life as a 2019 Zero FX. The customer asked me for a small, lightweight and nimble electric ‘modern cafe racer’, and because I love swapping the styles of a bike, the off-road ‘entry level’ Zero was the perfect choice.” The rear part of the frame was chopped off and Christian played around with the geometry to make it roadworthy. He ended up swapping the wheels for a set of 17in Grimecas shod with supermoto tyres. The forks are 50mm USD Marzocchis with custom made CNC feet to accomodate two Beringer six-pot calipers and a double Metal Ceramic 340mm rotor set…

J etsForever is an Anglo-French-American alliance of custom enthusiasts and builders, led by Jeff Duval, a disciple of Arlen Ness style and So Cal culture. Jeff, French by birth but who calls England home, is something of a perfectionist, and along with his wingmen he’s always been an advocate of the Bay Area style championed by Ness in the 1970s. When we featured Jets in Built initially they were building thuggish Harley big twins, wrapped in lowslung rolling chassis that might look more at home in the staging lanes of the old Lions drag strip in downtown LA than cruising a Bournemouth boulevard. But with oodles of style and colour – not to mention Seventies glitter flake and pinstriped livery – their bikes were a stunning contrast to the more…

With a style that harks back to the Ace Café and the religion of the Rockers, this Interceptor cafe racer features Cooperb’s own Cafe Racer kit which sells for £839. It includes: Clubman bars; bar-end mirrors; black machined mirror blank plugs; LED alloy indicators and stainless relocation brackets; custom LED headlamp; cafe racer seat unit; custom rear mudguard/number plate hanger with LED tail light. This particular bike also comes with a chrome tank that’s been repainted from red to black, with a gold pinstripe plus black Skorpion ‘Red Power’ slip-on mufflers.…

This street scrambler-styled Interceptor came on the back of the Interlayan build. “Our Himalayan-style build created quite a stir when we first showed it but we realised that the extensive work to create it would mean a minimum £16,500 price, so we came up with a more realistic alternative with this Desert Sled – we’ve developed a bolt-on kit for our customers,” says Ian. The Cooperb Desert Sled sports the same extended forks and YSS shocks as the Interlayan but is styled on the stripped-back bikes that raced events like the Baja 1000 back in the 1970s heyday of American off-road racing – agenre that is really taking off in the custom world now. Ian says the 4in-wide, 19in front wheel and 17in rear are the same spec as the…

This year the 21st Kickback Custom Bike and Stunt Show boasted 145 customs for the finals of the 2022 UK National Championships, with most of the show bikes never having been seen before. ‘Best in show’ was won by Keith Edney’s Icarus, a Royal Enfield built by Krom Works. Henry Cole, the star of ITV’s The Motorbike Show, presented all the trophies at the show – held at the Three Counties Showground, near Malvern, Worcestershire. The biggest Kickback yet also featured 50 trade stands with custom parts, accessories, engineering and electrical services plus gear, helmets, T-shirts, hoodies, art, custom paint services and air-brush demonstrations, custom bikes for sale, components, wheels, tyres, leatherware, coating specialists, wiring specialists, bike frames and loads more. Organiser Lorne Cheetham said: “Kickback is dedicated to helping…

Age of Glory’s new clothing range plays heavily on the 1970s, the Californian desert, mythical motorcycle races and legendary riders. Their ethos is born out of a love for the movie On Any Sunday and the dream of riding Triumph or Husqvarna desert sleds alongside Malcolm Smith and Steve McQueen, or racing Mert Lawwill and his bellowing Harley on the Sacramento mile. Here are the highlights from the new range. ELSINORE LS TEE, £59 Ordinary club racers at the Elsinore Grand Prix rubbed shoulders with champions like Malcolm Smith on his Husqvarna 250 and Steve McQueen. It was a different time… - 100% cotton -Stitched pads on elbows -Patch on the right sleeve -Longer wrist cuffs BOWL LS TEE, £59 Inspired by vintage racing jerseys, this has a larger wrist,…

Calum Pryce-Tidd started Debolex Engineering in 2012 by creating unique motorcycles. They always featured his exquisite metal shaping and attention to detail but his recent body of work included the deBolex DB25, a series of 25 custom-built Ducatis based on the Monster 1200 but finished in a really sexy, fully-faired, retro-racer style. “The DB25 you see here [below, light green, #27] is the alloy-bodywork prototype. We used the bodywork from that as a mould, capturing the metal shaping in modern composites,” said Calum. The DB25s have a bespoke, rotationally moulded, polymer fuel cell – adesign which offers incredible strength and durability, as well as minimal weight. “The bikes are made to order and all are unique with the specs chosen by the customer – wheels, brakes, paint finishes. The yellow…

George Talbot The first bike we clocked on walking into Tobacco Dock on set-up day was George Talbot’s BMW, and at first glance it was difficult to work out exactly what the motor started life as. Eventually we worked out that the R35 single cylinder BMW engine sits at 90-degrees to its original set-up. The long and low cruiser was built by Graham Tait of Steelworx Motorcycles in Motherwell. “George wanted it to look different so that’s why we turned the engine sideways,” said Graham, who has recently gone from a full time truck driving job to building bikes. “We think the frame and forks are original BMW,” he said. George added: “The bike rides really nice. I’m too heavy for it but I love having the bike.” The paint…

Hide Motorcycle – AKA Hidemo – is acknowledged as one of the leading builders in Japan and has produced more than 100 Sportster-based customs. In 2006 and 2007 Hidemo won the ‘Grand Prize’ in the motorcycle category at the prestigious Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show and the founder Hideya Togashi has won numerous other awards and has been an invited builder in America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. It was no surprise then when Harley invited Hideya, along with five other builders, to take part in a special build-off to show the world the customisation potential of the new liquidcooled Nightster. One of the other builders was Charlie Stockwell who’s Nightster is on page 96. Hideya explains his thinking behind the bike: How did this all start? In mid-November 2021 I…