The Summerbud story...
Professional speedway rider Nick Simmons needed a job when he retired from racing 10 years ago. And, having raced for 15 years by then, plus having a father who had been into bikes for as long as Nick can remember, there was always a good chance it was going to be something to do with motorcycles.
“Dad used to race and looked after engines for other riders”, he explains. “I’d be out there in the workshop, helping him whenever I could. He gave me an old grasstrack engine that had thrown a rod and holed the cases and I treated that like a jigsaw puzzle. I’d strip it completely, rebuild it and then pull it apart and start all over again. It was a great way to learn.”
Nick’s dad was always a Yamaha fan, and owned a YDS7 when Nick was a boy. “Back in 2009, I Googled 'YDS7' and bought one,” he says. “It was a runner, but had a few incorrect bits on it, so I sorted that one out and then bought another.. and another. I restored a few of them between races and, after dad and I went to the Stafford show and saw how big the classic scene had got, I thought restoring bikes might make a good post-racing career. In 2011, I started looking for a workshop unit – and in 2012, I moved into my first business premises.”
Nick stayed in that first unit for around six years and, during that time, the business moved on rapidly. The name – Summerbud Classic Bike Imports – came about a little bit later, when Nick added importing to his restoration work. The name is a fusion of two names that are dear to Nick’s heart, as he explains. “Summer is my first daughter’s name and Buddy was my dog.”
The restoration work went well, but the change of direction came in 2015, when Nick decided to branch out into importing. “It was becoming harder to find donor bikes for restoration,” he explains. “And scheduling builds around the timeframes of specialist suppliers like chromers and painters could be difficult, too. So I travelled over to the States and bought a container-load of bikes from a big breaker/dealer over there. There were 63 bikes in that first container, and when they arrived I sold them all inside six weeks.”
Now Nick sells between 500 and 700 bikes a year – still sourced from that first contact. “They know what I like now and just send me a list of bikes they think will suit me. I get a container about every six weeks and the flat tracker builds – and any other restos I’ve got on – fit in nicely with that. It’s gone pretty well and I still get a buzz when I get the list for the next container. It’s not the same as racing, but it’s still exciting.”