6 minute read
Maddi’s Mutt: Anthony Partridge X D*Face
from MMM #001
AHAAA! WE SAT DOWN WITH ANT PARTRIDGE TO GET THE LOWDOWN ON HIS D*FACE MUTT CUSTOM AS SHOWN ON THE TELLY.
With more than a decade of experience designing and building custom bikes under his belt, Anthony Partridge has cemented his name in the custom bike world. From building his first bike in his living room to setting up one of Spain’s largest custom motorcycle shops and of course his work on the Goblin Works Garage TV show, his reputation spans continents and he’s always looking for an opportunity to create the next best bike for his latest customer.
Ant’s love affair with two-wheeled machines started at age 11 when he got his first bike, however, the journey to become one of the best known custom bike designers wasn’t as straightforward as you might think. We sat down with Ant who let us in on how it all started for him. “I built my first bike back in 2004 in my living room in Spain, it was an old bike, ‘92 softail Harley. That turned out to be shit, so I had to rebuild the whole thing. I was gonna just do the motor, then it snowballed into a full strip-down frame mod and HP upgrade and full-on rebuild. I rode it to local shows and my friend who was a professional builder back then told me to always enter your bike in the bike show if you are staying for the weekend to party. You know it’s guarded by security 24/7 and that frees you up from worrying about it getting stolen by another drunk dude.
“So I did that and kept winning or placing at those shows with the bike in Spain, very unintentionally. Building that bike was inspiring and a heap of fun, it really made me want to do more. I worked as an interior designer, yacht engineer, Aston Martin/Bentley mechanic, commercial ship builder/designer, then slowly did odd jobs for friends on bikes and also worked at another bike shop with friends. Then, finally, in 2012 I opened my own shop in Marbella, Spain. Over four years we built so many high-performance custom bikes for some great clients and built a brilliant brand. We then started working with brands like Yamaha and Harley on bigger projects until 2016 when I decided to leave my own company as my business partner at the time and I had different visions of what way the business should go. We shook hands and I decided to leave and go it alone...” With such a diverse amount of experience, it’s clear that Ant’s unique outlook shines when designing his bikes. next chapter in life, whatever happens the plans are always bigger and badder than before with lots of love and tonnes of good times.”
Photography Credit: Bobby J Dowdeswell
With a trailblazer like Ant Partridge behind a project, you know the outcome is sure to make you take a second look. That’s why, when his daughter wanted to take her first steps on a bike, you know he wasn’t going to let it be on just any bike.
To kick off the top-secret project he “asked [his] daughter Maddi what colours she liked and then I asked “D” (D*Face) to make it rad and left him to it. The guy is uber-talented and I just wanted the artwork to be a “proper D*face design”. It’s safe to say he bloody smashed it, huge thanks to D as his artwork really made the bike a real stunner!”
Photography Credit: Bobby J Dowdeswell
Of course, when you get down and dirty with the bike it screams personality with no stone left unturned. “The pipe is 100% handmade by another friend of mine, Olly from Olluminium Auto Fab. I sent him a design and he smashed it out in a day while I was filming. As the bike was done on TV, I had very little time to do anything. We’re going from start to finish with 12-18 hour filming days 6-7 days a week and TV needs everything NOW! So I did actually make an exact pipe on TV but we had already made one fully finished earlier and cut all the bits to make another on TV. Olly did one I did the other. But without Olly I’d have struggled.”
The next area to get stuck into was the seat which kept a true Mutt form. “So the seat is actually your Mutt seat base and foam. I just reshaped it and then had it upholstered by a guy named Gerry at Inflex Interiors in Oxford. Gerry is a very eccentric dude and always has some mad skins around the shop. I went in looking for a soft, light brown leather that looked old and worn. He went on a mad hunt and found a unique piece of gazelle hide that was perfect, it still had the rust marks on it from where it had been hung on a barbed wire fence in Africa in the sun to dry. It looked perfect and as you can see it’s super-soft, strong and looks vintage.”
When you’re confronted with someone full to the brim of experience like Ant, it’s not often they work with a smaller cc bike these days as the scene is full of such big boys. But he told us he “loved working with the Mutt. The bike was already super cool and the budget was very small, so it was the perfect platform to do some subtle mods and was super simple to tear down and rebuild. Also, as it’s such a simple and light bike it’s perfect for Maddi who is just starting out her riding career.”
The smaller cc ‘Custom Scene’ is very much alive and we wanted to get Ant’s take on it. “I love it, I think it is a great place for many to get into bikes that aren’t too scary and dangerous and also fun for folks like me who can make something really cool without the huge budgets. A lot of big folks ride them too as daily riders for ripping around the cities when they don’t want to ride a big bike, they are perfect for us all really. The motorcycle industry is suffering and we have a massive lack of new riders, young riders and female riders and we need as many as we can get and I think smaller cc bikes are an awesome way into the scene for these people.”
Maddi’s jump into riding has had Ant thinking about his first forays on a bike. “I had a little pull-start thing but it was too slow and I couldn’t jump it, so I when I was 13 I got a job washing dishes in a bar in the evenings and weekends to save up to buy a KDX80 and it was like crack I was hooked!”
Ant not only featured his Mutt custom on the Goblin Works Garage TV show on Quest, but he also left us with some parting advice that money can’t buy. “I’d say if you want to get started, do it. Get stuck in. Don’t be scared, it’s not rocket science, and if you fuck it up you can always call one of us for help! The Mutts are super simple and very easy to tear down and rebuild. They are a great platform to cut your teeth on a custom-build.” A legend in his own right and it’s fair to say Maddi’s bike is one hell of a custom.
Photography Credit: Bobby J Dowdeswell
