London International Custom Show 2011 - A Review

OK this is the second custom bike show at Ally Pally - there was a change of organisers and Back Street Heroes stepped in to provide valuable support.  It was held over two days this year rather than three last year, and had shrunk down to the mediums sized hall and a sparsely filled half of the main hall.  In the end I only took one bike (Macbeth) as to be honest it is far easier to ride it there and ride it straight home with all that messing about with vans and queuing for a loading space.  As usual I failed to win anything, but I think I ended up in the top 10 which is creditable enough, given the bizarre nature of the voting system - which I wont go into here.  Nevertheless its always great to go to these places and see old friends and meet new ones like Adam and his crew from Untitled Motorcycles doing great BMW's.

Congratulations particularly to Shaw harley Davidson and Image Design for getting a 1st and 2nd placing in the Modified HD section.

Here are a few of my favourite pictures taken with 35mm Film and a beaten up old Pentax.

A Fine Day and some Press

Well the 24th of Feb has turned out to be a fine day, with temperatures nearing 20 degrees C I had to go out for a ride in the spring sunshine.  Whilst I was doing this I had the wonderful Nutty of Clean Bike Clinic giving 2 of my bikes a very nice detail clean in readiness for the International Custom Show tomorrow at Alexandra Palace.

Press wise in the post this morning came HOG magazine, which I must say is getting more interesting and diverse and far less of a sales mag for the Company - I was delighted to see a sneaky pic of Caesar Racer had crept into the advert for their new Iphone App.

In the March Issue of BSH there was a great feature on The Carole Nash Live Show at the NEC and they were kind enough to include a picture of Hamlet and Othello there too.

Next post will be about Ally Pally

London International Custom Show 2011

Next month is the London International Custom Show which is held at Alexandra Palace in North London on the 26th and 27th of February 2011.  I don't like entering Bike shows  - mainly as I never win and its a bit of a pain getting them all clean and up there - but its February and I have some time to kill until the riding season.

I am going to enter two bikes, the first is the Macbeth Bobber, which is going in the BSH Signature series where the editors of Back Street Heroes pick their favourite cover bike - here is the bike when it was on the cover:

The second bike I am going to enter is my Caesar Racer No VI in the modified Harley Class, for bikes which are essentially original Harleys but modified - often pretty radically.  This is a tough class as the main Harley Dealers enter a bike and they have some serious resources - but its good fun anyway.

Anyone who wants to come along drop me a line

Bike No. 7 Update - Richard II Bike

Bike No. 7 is the current build, and followers will know that its a simple re-build of a famous custom built in 1995 called the Blower Bike due to its 2 Superchargers!

Anyway progress is going well and I am hoping this is going to be on the road for sometime in March, subject to getting its MOT and Insurance but no Tax as its a 1971 Classic.   The bike is pretty much as it was originally built, but for a new 96" S&S Shovelhead engine, a  2-1 wrapped exhaust, drag bars and a new paint job!

My collaborator is Richard Taylor the original Blower Bike builder and in his honour and following my Shakespeare theme - it is now the Richard II Bike - with a quote of "Swift Like Lightning" to go on the fenders.

This is the bike I plan to use on the Croatia and Spain trips (not US as I will hire a Streetglide).

Here is the work in progress:

US Road Trip

I had no plans on doing a US Road trip this year, and then I had a call from a friend (Oren) about a trip to the US to celebrate a friends 50th (Nick) - we had all ridden down to St Tropez together in 2010 and hope to get at least six of us for this trip.  The aim will be to start and finish in Las Vegas and in between take in the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Yellowstone Park - so about 2000 miles in 10 days.
So Road Trip wise - its Croatia in May, which is 1800 miles (and shipping bike back), June  - The USA another 2000 miles and then July its Spain which must be around 2500 miles - I am so looking forwards to all this.

View Larger Map

2011 Road Trips

My good friend Gary France who is recently back from his epic journey across the USA www.garysusatour.blogspot.com has now planned a meticulous mini trip across Spain to his place in Sotogrande.

So this will be my second trip after Croatia in May and in these cold dark winter months something to really look forwards to.  We are going to take about 4 days to get down there staying in nice Paradores, then everyone else gets 5 days down there and a leisurely 4 day ride back - but I will blast back a day after arriving in a day and a half - still it will be fun!  Because of the speedy ride back I will probably go on my trusty Streetglide.

Bike No.7

I had thought this was going to be Bike No.8, but due to circumstances I have brought it forwards and Bike No.8 will be the BMW R80, which will surface around the end of the summer I expect.

Anyway Bike No. 7 has no name yet - but it used to be the famous Blower Bike built by my friend and collaborator Richard Taylor in 1995. It started as an old 1971 Harley (so no Tax), built with amazing detail and a legendary Harmon engine harnessed to 2 superchargers - it only ever did 600 miles before the owner blew it up.  The engine was replaced with a Rev Tech and the blowers left on but disabled and the crucial gears thrown away, and its been garaged pretty much ever since.

I bought what is left of the bike last summer, with the simple aim of making it a nice rideable period style Harley - the period being Arlen Ness's golden years of the 80's and 90's.  Its going to be a very simple job, with a brand new S&S 96" Shovelhead engine, some new beach bars, a nice 2 into 1 exhaust and a slick black paint job from Image Design Custom.  All I need to do now is decide what the look I want and get on with it.  I want it finished for my first big ride of the year which is the 2nd Harley Davidson HOG Rally in Croatia at the end of May 2011 which will be around 1500 miles each way - so a real test.

Here is what the bike looks like now:

Carole Nash Motorcycle Live 2010 - NEC, Birmingham

I was delighted the other day when Stu the editor of Back Street Heroes asked if he could take two of my bikes Hamlet, and Othello up to the Motorcycle Show at the NEC to display on the best of custom showcase.  The show runs from Sat 27th November to Sunday 5th of December, so if you get the chance get up there and check out all the bikes.  Here are a couple of shots of my bikes taken by Ted Parry who rode with me from Las Vegas to Dallas this October - Top Man!

BMW R80 Wheels

My new wheels are finished from Taylor Made wheels - they are 23" diameter and have been CNC'd to match the original spoke pattern of the original 1982 BMW Cast wheels - they are looking pretty damn sweet!
Now they can be added to my forks, the original engine and a hardtail frame built around them....

Bike EXIF

Absolutely delighted that Chris Hunter of Bike EXIF has profiled the new bike  - its a really great site and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.  Many of the readers are not Harley or indeed custom fans which can lead to some interesting debate in the comments section - but its all good stuff and everyone has the right to their opinion.

California Sunriders

Just thought I would do a quick thank you to California Sunriders for organising our amazing ride over 14 days and 2800 miles from Las Vegas to Dallas.  It was an unbelievable trip with a great group lead by Gary and supported by Gladys - the scenery and riding were all brilliant and followed by Tequila every night what could be better - a full break down is on my Road Trips Blog - but otherwise here are a few of my favourite pictures.

Caesar Racer Bike No.VI - Finished

Just had a great set of pictures done by my friend David Bartholomew of me and the new bike  - we shot it in a local wood as night was coming in using some independent flash units to highlight the bike - here are some shots and you can view the rest on http://www.davidbartholomew.co.uk/ian_solley/bike_shots.html