We have hundreds of photos waiting to post on the blog, and not enough time in the day. This first post of a glut I'm trying to get online are the street bikes, road racers and drag bikes of the most recent Bike Shed Show, held last month in London. Here goes... Gary Inman, editor
First up is Track Wolf, life imitating art in fifth gear. Ryan Roadkill drew a graphic for Bike Shed T-shirt of a werewolf on a 1980s race bike. Bike Shed and Sticky's Speed Shop worked together to make it a reality. The bike is a Harris F1 with a Suzuki GSX-R750 oil-cooled engine. Millar Models, a London based model-making company, specialising in advertising, made the amazing track wolf head. What a great idea, perfectly realised.
Track Wolf wasn't the only Ryan Roadkill and Sticky's Speed Shop collab, they also worked together to create Widow Licker, this wild slabside GSX-R, with Ryan's graphics and mad fluoro powdercoat. Ryan told us, 'Sticky's Speed Shop asked if I would come up with a design for the bike. He had the base design sprayed in at his workshop, before it came up to me to get the number boards and bird and cat details painted in by hand.'
Sticky's have fast become one of my favourite bike builders. They (he? Matt), mix so many elements, never trying to be period correct or trying to please the herd. Bravo!
Another Sticky's Speed Shop bike is Sixty Nine, a turbo GSX-R in hardtail 60s-style drag frame, alloy fairing, monster turbo, sparkly seat. By the way, I tried to take photos before show was open, to avoid people in the background, but I couldn't always manage, because we had a stand there...
You'd wouldn't need to be laid over that turbo before it cooked your liver and kidneys as you rode.
Sixty Nine's wastegate/dump valve that purges the system of high-pressure air when the throttle is closed, to avoid catastrophic damage to the turbo system.
Looks mad from every angle. Ahead is the 'Turbo Wheel' display that Sticky's Speed Shop helped organise. The 'wheel' is just Bike Shed's description of that layout of bikes.
Heavy duty Z1000!. Massive big block, billet covers, external start mechanism. Single-minded quartter-mile stuff. RC stands for Russ Collins Engineering, a company founded by legendary 1970s drag racer and record holder, with his twin-engined Honda, The Sorcerer. Terry Vance and Byron Hines both worked for RC Engineering before setting up their own firm.
I love a cyclops. That's an intercooler (I'm pretty sure), in the GSX-R fairing. Also check the size of the cone intake filter. Big gulp.
Our mates at Racefit showed up with a couple of bikes. This is a Spondon/GIA Engineering GSX1400 with one of their much-loved Ti Legend four-into-ones. I'm pretty sure that's a 1098/1198 seat. Seeing a Ducati seat on an inline four muscle bike takes me back to my Streetfighter magazine days, but they were 916 seats back then.
You want pure Racefit? This is it for me. This Katana looks like a piece of military hardware. Of course, there's a Ti pipe, but its the details that make it Racefit. The massive WP forks (not Öhlins like most people would choose), mad fork disc carriers evoking those used by Lawson in the very early days of AMA Superbike, rare AP calipers (not Brembos like most people would choose), suede seat!, obscene Spondon swingarm, FTWCo sticker, tons of RCD parts. Street bike perfection.
Perhaps a more realistic daily rider is this good looking Yard Built XSR 700 from Bad Winners, France. Öhlins, Berenger brakes, Dymag wheels, angular bodywork. Neat.
In and among so much eye candy it was easy to miss this matt black Ronin. This is one of the 47 that were built in Colorado. I flew out there to ride one when the company just launched, and introduced our poet/correspondent Travis Newbold who ended up racing the Ronin to an overall second place behind an HRC Fireblade at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Wild times.
My Ronin feature was in SB19. Travis and the PPIHC Ronin was in SB22.
I didn't get any details on this 1970s style endurance racer, based on a, I'm pretty sure, Buell S3 Thunderbolt. Tidy though.
A splash of Cal Rayborn, a dash of Guzzi Le Mans, and cup full of 24 Horas de Montjuic.
XTR Pepo (who launched the famous Radical Ducati before XTR) came from Madrid with his Royal Enfield Twin endurance-style bike. Pepo really helped make this style popular with custom builders around the world. High spec suspension, wheels and brakes, and is that a Ducati Sport Classic swingarm?
Cascabel is Ducati V4 Panigale modified by Dutch custom builder, concept creator and more, Luuc Muis Creations.
Look at that carbon weave. LM Creations are making some very original bikes across a variety of genres. We featured his Dirtitis, his Honda XL500 dirt tracker in our STORIES section.
There seemed to be more 1980s superbikes than ever before, still not many, but more. The seat unit on this one is made by the current owner from sheet alloy. He says this is a former TT proddie bike racer.
Did I mention I love a cyclops?
deBolex had a handful of bikes on show. This wild Kawasaki ZRX with handmade alloy bodywork is a one-off created for a customer.
Whereas this is one of deBolex limited run of Ducatis. Bodywork and tank cover is all carbon. They are really beautiful creations that seem to be finding owners who are happy to pay strong money for a limited run 'coach-built' supersports bike. Congratulations to Calum and the team at deBolex for making it happen.
More from the Bike Shed Show 2022 to follow.
#bikeshed #racefit #turbo #streetbike #streetfighter #Superbike #Ronin #TravisNewbold #RyanQuickfall #RyanRoadkill