ISSUE 430
FEBRUARY 2020
UK OFFSALE DATE: 06/02/20
£4.20
12: KENT CUSTOM BIKE SHOW WE LOOK BACK AT ONE OF THE MOST FONDLY REMEMBERED EVENTS OF THE BRITISH CUSTOM SCENE
40: WEST COAST CHOPPER IMPORTED FROM THE STATES, MADE PERFECT IN BRITAIN
18: Z750 CHOP A TALE OF ENDURANCE AND HARDSHIP… WITH A HAPPY ENDING 22: KRAZY HORSE CUSTOM NIGHT CHOPS AND COOL CARS IN SUFFOLK
44: 650 BONNIE CHOP STILL ON THE ROAD AFTER ALL THESE YEARS 48: LAST WEEK IN JULY SPORTSTERS THE COVER BIKE, AND ANOTHER TOO, IN ALL THEIR GLORY
66: RELIANT TRIKE A TRUE SHED 24: BUELL FLATBUILD TRACKER A LOTTERY AN’ NO WINNER’S DREAM MISTAKE! 28: DIRT DIGGERS GOING SIDEWAYS IN A DECIDEDLY SILLY FASHION
32: TRITON MODERN DAY OLDSKOOL CAFÉ RACER 36: ROCK & BLUES WET AND DRY IN DERBYSHIRE
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6: NEWS ALL THAT’S NEW AND HAPPENING IN THE CUSTOM BIKE WORLD
70: YAMAHA NIKEN LONGTERMER BACK TO THE REALITY OF WINTER…
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74: TECH BSH’S RESIDENT SPANNER MONKEY TWIRLS HIS IMPLEMENTS… FNURK
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78: MR BRIDGES THE GURU IMPARTS MORE OF HIS KNOWLEDGE OF MECHANICS 80: JIM FOGG FICTION ANOTHER OF THE MASTER’S EXCELLENT WORKS 92: READERS’ LIVES TWO PAGES OF YOUR PICS... AND OUR SILLY CAPTIONS 94: MAG NEWS OUR REGULAR COLUMN BY THE MAG CHAIRNON GENDERSPECIFICPERSON 95: EVENTS YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BEST RALLIES, SHOWS AND PARTIES 104: SMALLS SELL YOUR BIKE HERE FOR FREE! 105: NEXT MONTH JUST TO WHET YOUR APPETITE… 106: RICK HULSE THE MUSINGS OF ONE OF THE MOST ELOQUENT THINKERS IN BIKERDOM
Happy New Year! Yeah, yeah, I know it was a few days ago (unless you’re a subscriber, in which case it might not’ve happened yet), but the way magazines work this is about the closest I’m going to get to being able to wish you all the best on time. So that was 2019 then, an interesting year (as in the alleged ancient Chinese curse ‘May you live in interesting times’) with a lot happening that may or may not’ve impacted on your life. Everyone’ll have their own recollections of the year past, good or bad, and so I’m not going to do one of them summing-up things ‘cos, well, kinda who gives a sh*t really? The past, to quote LP Hartley (no, I haven’t the faintest idea who he was either), is a different country, and they do things differently there, and life’s far too short as it is for introspective navel-gazing, so let’s look forward to the future, to the summer ahead, shall we? ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
The first bit of news I have to tell you is that, for 2020, we’re changing the format of the BSH Custom Championships again, this time to make it more inclusive. Last year we ran rounds at rallies (the Bum in the Mud, the NABD, the Farmyard, and the Rock & Blues), as well as the now sadly defunct BMAD Paignton Bike Festival and NCC London’s Diamond Day (which isn’t defunct, by the way), but a lot of folk who build and/or ride customs don’t really go to rallies so they were missing out on the chance to enter the competition. This year, though, we’re still going to be running rounds at Diamond Day and the Rock & Blues, but we’re also going to be putting on three or four of our one-day shows of our own at various different sites around the country during June, July and August. And, and this is a very important bit that we’ve worked quite hard to do, they’ll be free to both entrants and spectators. The exact details of where the rounds are, and when, will be published in the next issue, out at the beginning of February, so keep an eye out for those, okay? ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
Secondly, we’re also going to be doing another show at the Ace Café in September, on Sunday 20th to be exact, as a bit of a season closer (or for those of you who haven’t got your
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bikes finished in time for the NCC one in July… and for those of you who have too, of course). Again, it’ll be free to enter, but this one won’t be a Championship round as we need to have the Champs all sown up, done and dusted, ready for Motorcycle Live! at the NEC this late in the year. There’ll be the usual 10 trophies, and it’ll be a bit of a craic, too. Hope to see you there! ✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
Finally, those of you with long memories may remember that at the end of 2018 I wrote on this ‘ere page, ‘It’s traditional at this time of year to make New Year’s resolutions, isn’t it, and so, not wanting to be left out, I too am going to make one – this year I’m going to make a real effort to sell some of my bikes ’cos I have far too many of the damn things. No, really, I do….’ I know that some people say that it’s impossible to have too many bikes, but I disagree – it’s all very well to have a number of bikes, but they all need taxing, MoTing, and insuring, and for some inexplicable reason they always all seem to break or need money spending on them at the same time, have you noticed that? So this year I’m going to try and get at least three of them ready to be sold in the spring, partly because it seems a shame to have bikes sitting around that don’t get used, and partly because my credit card debt is currently running at about the same as the GDP of a small South Pacific kingdom, and it’d be nice to get my wages each month and not wince at my bank balance two days later, y’know? Mind you, it’s also traditional, when talking about New Year’s resolutions, to utterly fail to keep them too, isn’t it?’ Well, I did, and I didn’t… I did sell one bike and, so far, I’ve managed not to buy any more, despite the absolute bargains that always turn up on the run-up to Christmas each year. The run-up to Chrimbo is always a lousy time to sell a bike as no one wants to pay good money for something they’re probably going to stash away for the next three or so months, but it’s a great time to buy one as folk often need money to pay for Christmas and so, the closer to the big day you get, the lower the prices get… Who? Mercenary? Me? Don’t know what you’re talking about…
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YOU’D NEVER’VE THOUGHT THAT TRICK BUELLS WERE LIKE RURAL BUSES, WOULD YOU, BUT THEY ARE – YOU DON’T SEE ANY FOR AGES, AND THEN TWO COME ALONG IN QUICK SUCCESSION…
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orry, I know that’s a dreadful joke, but it is applicable; we haven’t seen a trick Buell for a good while now, but then, thanks to Nick Sadler at Retro Moto Engineering, two do indeed come along in as many issues. The first was the Buell Service XB.5 streetfighter last issue, and this time it’s the new Bottpower XR1 flat-tracker. Bottpower is a small Spanish motorsport engineering company located in Valencia in Spain, who specialise in designing and building specialist bikes with twin-cylinder power-plants; BOTT is the acronym of ‘Battle of the Twins’ which, as I’m sure you know, is a racing category for four-stroke twins, and David Sánchez, the main man, has
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AS ANY FULE NOES, A TRITON IS AN AMALGAM OF A TRIUMPH ENGINE AND A NORTON FRAME, INVARIABLY WITH AN EQUALLY DIVERSE ORIGIN FOR THE ROLLING GEAR, BODYWORK AND BRAKES.
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ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? I HAVE QUITE A STORY ABOUT MY TRIUMPH CHOPPER... WORDS: PAUL GARBUTT PICS: GARRY STUART
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ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW? THE BEST ACTION IN TRIALS AND MOTOCROSS
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