BURNOUT MONDAY

THE IRISH STORM PECQUENCOURT

Congratulations to Ger Conlon of C&C Choppers from Cork for his well-deserved win at the MC Pecquencourt Radical Moto show last weekend, and to the Irish lads and lasses for being, as always, great company. Here's a few snippets from the show.

SPOTTED ON 'COACH TRIP'

It must be said that Channel 4's reality TV series 'Coach Trip' is not the Blog's usual viewing. It's a series which sees all manner of people put on a coach and ferried around the less interesting parts of Europe while doing even less interesting things and voting for which of their fellow travellers they dislike the most. Which is often all of them. American TV gets 'The Amazing Race' in which competitors race around the world for the chance to win $1,000,000; we get a series about people on a bus going to Basildon to play bowls.

Anyway, one of the episodes last week was made less dull than usual by the appearance of one of the competitors rocking a BSH 2009 Tour shirt. As this is posted, Charlie from Leicester and her sister Chloe are still in the running for a no doubt sumptuous prize, and we wish them all the best.

BSH336 RIDES INTO TOWN.

This Thursday the three-hundredth-and-thirty-sixth issue will hit the news stands. 336? How did that happen? Anyway, we’re pretty glad it did, and this issue is, once again, crammed with fine and lovely things, from Chris gunning his home-built ‘Blessed By Demons’ across the cover, to Acal Bruion’s (don’t ask…) fabulous Thunderbird on the centrespread, and from West’s BSA A10 project to Foss and Gill’s show-winning duo. In between there’s a garage Yamaha XS650, a manic Finnish machine, a gorgeous Kawasaki Z1000 street racer, coverage of the huge Verona Motor Bike Expo, the Get Ratted Rally, Barber Festival, El Diablo Run and much, much more … and, of course, Ogri!

RIP DAVY JONES

6 OVER - COMING SOON!

6 Over - Teaser from Wild Honey Productions on Vimeo.

EAST COAST PIRATES

I found this pictures lurking under a pile of, er, stuff, and figured they'd be a reminder that we do occasionally have a summer. Even in Great Yarmouth. Thank you to the East Coast Pirates for hosting another fine Birthday Bash on the seafront.

ALLY PALLY SHOW UPON US

A reminder that this weekend sees the first big UK custom show of the year as the North London event of Alexandra Palace opens its doors to the London International Classic & Custom Show. Once again, LICS will be hosting one of the two UK rounds of the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building, with the victor of the Freestyle class winning £5000 towards the cost of shipping their bike to the finals in Sturgis. BSH and Streetfighters will be providing the trophies while the good people at Zodiac will again be offering super generous prizes worth in total 4500 euros to the top three bikes in the Freestyle, BSH Invitational and Modified Harley-Davidson categories.

Tickets for LICS are £15 on the door, with various concessions for the very old, very young and families. You can find out more at the web site at LICS

SWEDISH SUNDAY: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOGTECH

Think of Swedish choppers and one name will probably come to mind: Hogtech. This year the company started by Peder Johansson and Andreas Jarledal celebrates 30 years of building world-class chops that are not only show winners but rideable – in 1993, Peder and his wife-to-be set off to ride around the world on a rigid Harley chop, a trip which took 14 months and covered 30,000 miles.

One of the nicest men in custom building, Peder is still passionate about Swedish-style chops, and Hogtech now produces the only true Swede chopper which is road-legal throughout Europe. After extensive development and testing, Hogtech’s Absolut Choppers (which you see in the last picture) gained TÜV approval in Germany to certify that they meet the highest standard of welding and strength. Peder, we look forward to the next 30 years!

HOGTECH

DESTINY FRAMES

As we mentioned in last month’s News, Destiny Cycles is now producing hand-built, fat-tube rigid frames. The TiG-welded frames can be configured to fit Shovelhead (as pictured) and Evo engines, as well as Dyna Twin Cam motors.

But … and there’s always a ‘but’ … we misprinted the phone number. Doh.

The correct number is 07979 648689 or email
vic-lin@destinycycles.wanadoo.co.uk.

DK MOTORRAD'S CAFER RACER KIT

MOTORCYCLE LEGENDS: FRED LUTHER

Back in 1935 the first canned beer was launched, Monopoly was invented and the average speed of a motor car was 35mph. Although land speed records were already keenly contested, the idea of a motorcycle capable of breaking the 300mph barrier seems fantastical. But that’s exactly what Fred Luther, a Los Angeles racer, decided to attempt.

He asked his employers, Chrysler, to supply him with an engine, and it duly provided him with a complete 1934 six-cylinder Plymouth flathead engine and gearbox. Luther built the bike around a much modified Henderson-X Cycle, lengthening and strengthening the frame. Harry Miller worked on the engine, taking the standard 77hp motor to 125hp. Skid plates were attached, partly to keep the bike upright and also to keep the bike upright on the salt of Bonneville where Luther intended to make his record attempt. Not only was fame and glory at stake, but, apparently, a $10,000 prize to the first man to break the 300mph mark on a motorcycle (Donald Campbell had only just managed that landmark the same year in Bluebird, an achievement so prized that he was knighted for the feat.)

On his first run, Luther clocked 140mph and then stepped up the speed on the return run. Disaster struck at 180mph when a connecting rod broke while the bike was still in second gear. Although he brought the bike to a halt safely, it seems that he had decided that it was too hairy an adventure to continue. Although he was always certain that the Plymouth/Henderson-X could reach 300mph, no-one appears prepared – or brave enough – to try it. An added disincentive to any prospective pilots was that the $10,000 prize was found to be a hoax.

It would be another 76 years before a motorcycle managed to crack the 300mph barrier when Bill Warner took his Suzuki Hayabusa to 311mph last July.