Old Empire Motorcycles Pup

New British-based custom shop Old Empire Motorcycles have finished this ultra-cool Enfield Electra-based lowrider. Pics from 8ngero

 

Enfield Continental GT

Picked this up on Bubble Visor (http://bubblevisor.blogspot.com): Royal Enfield displayed this Cafe Racer concept at Auto Expo 2012. The 500cc efi-powered machine is styled on the original Continental GT 250 single-cylinder and Enfield in India say they may start manufacturing these by mid-2012. 


The bike has apparently been developed with a lot of input from the British importer, Watsonian - which makes a lot of sense since Britain is the ancestral home of the cafe racer and the original Continental GT was THE coolest bike a 16-year-old kid could lust after back in the early Seventies. 


Believe it. I desperately hankered after one but ended up with an older BSA C15 250. What a mistake. I could have owned a sporty little cafe racer. I ended up with a leaky, tardy, lardy BSA. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of smiles with the Beezer but it was hardly my dream machine. 


It was only tales of suspect five-speed boxes that put me off buying the Enfield.....

Maybe a new 500cc Contintental GT could finally lay those old ghosts to rest?

Molly Hatchet Rocks!

Thanks you Molly Hatchet for such a fine gig in Sheffield on Sunday.

They were the one big southern band I'd always missed out on seeing - so 30-odd years down the line it was a pretty emotional experience seeing them live at last. I've enjoyed their music for so long and I stood wondering as we waited from them to come on stage, just how I'd managed to get this far without managing to get to one of their gigs before.

Despite a lot of shitty hassles with the O2 Arena sound system, it was fantastic gig once Ingram's lead guitar could actually be heard (about a third into the set!) and they gave it their all.  I enjoyed every minute of the performance, their huge sound and remarkably relentless style.  I mean, playing a full version of Skynyrd's  Freebird and then ripping straight into Flirtin' with Disaster......

I want to thank the band for working their nuts off, touring to keep keeping the music alive. Long may it continue.

Support act Mojo Perry played a fine set too. Bought both their CDs after the gig, 'Two Equals One' and Absinthe Journeys'. Recommended.

 

Rollerburn!

Rollerburn at Newark Showground was a blast. Lots of cool bikes, cool people, roller skating and rock music. The mix of cultures really worked to create an awesome atmosphere. Motorcycle Live at the NEC, on the other hand was errr, a a bit more conventional but had some good points - like the two custom Enfields. The dirttracker co-incidentally was inspired and built by Sideburn mag, the same people behind Rollerburn. Message in there? Creativity rocks.  

Blackfoot rocks

Awesome Blackfoot gig at the Flowerpot, Derby last night.  Last time I saw them was at the Rock and Blues custom show, forget the year. 

But Charlie Hargrett and Bobby Barth were in the line-up then and it was a wonderful experience – Hargrett bouncing around the stage in his eclectic style and Barth with some impressive singing as well as his cool guitar playing. I thought he did a great job with Ricky Medlocke’s songs.

This time around, The line-up features Mike Estes and Randy Peak plus Blackfoot founder member Greg T Walker on bass as ever and Kurt Pietro on drums and tell you what, they rocked.

I was lucky enough to see Estes a couple of times earlier this year, leading his own band, Skinny Molly (brilliant gigs at The Brooke, Southampton and Long Street Blues Club, Devizes). Estes is such a laidback cool-dude of a front man. Great singer too.

And Peak? Wow, he’s simply a great guitar player – and damn good on harmonica too. Nice tribute to Shorty Medlocke!

The Flowerpot was absolutely jammed-packed. Looked like Blackfoot had as good a time as we all did. Great show…..

Enfield customs

Saw these on Pipeburn and the yellow cafe is on 8Negro too. Lovely bikes. The cafe was built by Rajputana Customs in Jaipur while the red bobber is called Himalayan Outlaw and is the work of Serge  Egorov in Nepal.....

Speedway mini-tour Part2

Somerset, Wednesday, September 7

Day three of my speedway mini road trip took me to Oaktree Arena, home of the Somerset Rebels, my first time at the venue at Highbridge, just on the outskirts of Burnham on Sea.

Burnham wasn’t so inspiring on a damp day but the Rebels’ race track is lovely little venue and if I lived closer, I’d make it my regular haunt. Even after a lot of rain, which mean the track cut up quite quickly, there was still plenty of great racing to savour – although persistent black clouds and occasional showers continued to threaten the evening.

Shame speedway like this doesn't attract bigger support. I reckon there was 500 people there - tops, which is a huge shame. Even on the gate the staff were saying they didn't expect many to turn up, given the iffy conditions. And while it did rain on and off, it didn't detract from the entertainment too much - well not from my perspective.

But I'm not a regular speedway fan. I don't support any team in particular and just enjoy the racing. Even when the racing's not great, it's still fascinating watching the riders working the bike, trying grip or recovering when they find to much. There was plenty of that with the conditions tonight and I couldn't help marvel at the lightening reactions of some riders, saving what looked like sure disaster each time their bikes dug in and found gobfufl's of drive. 

High spot in racing terms was James Wright’s win in Heat 7. After languishing at the back for two laps he suddenly switched to the outside line and won the race with a brilliant charge that set the tone for the rest of the evening with more riders running up close to the fence for a faster way around the 300 metre oval.

Low spot of the evening was a terrible-looking crash when Matthew Wethers went down in the middle of the final corner and was nailed by his Edinburgh team-mate Kyle Howarth. The whole place fell silent, everyone fearing the worst, but both riders eventually got to their feet and hobbled back to the pits, though Wethers needed attention for some time after.

Rebels won the meeting 57-38 but there was some good speedway throughout the evening which, from personal point of view, made the trip worthwhile.