NCC LONDON BIKES – THREE BUZZIN’ BUDGET BUILDS FROM THE CAPITAL

JIMY AND TERRY FROM NCC LONDON HAVE THREE COOL BUDGET CUSTOM BIKES BETWEEN THEM…

Jimy got his 600 Bandit three or four years ago from a mate who’d smashed it to bits… no, really, he had, and it sat around in boxes for ages in his shed like a big Lego set. There wasn’t, admittedly, much that could be saved, but still there were some good bits worth keeping, including the engine.

He picked up a Hard Up Choppers Wormburner frame, and an electrics box from Gasoline Alley Speedshop (who’ve take over the building of the Wormburner frames), a 600 Bandit front end, and a 1200 rear wheel, and sent them all off to be powder-coated by Paul at Bristol Motorcycle Powder-Coating who he uses for all his powder-coating as they do a brilliant job and

don’t cost the earth. While they were off, the engine was painted and, as soon as the frame returned, lined up and fitted into the frame without a scratch. He must have a very steady hand! He then fitted a Stage 3 jet kit to the carbs, along with RamAir high-flow foam air-filters, to deal with the imbalance caused by the short (and very, very loud!) exhausts – they’re loud ’cos they’re about a foot-n’-a-half long (I’m kidding… well) and absolutely straight-through. They do solve the age-old Wormburner ground clearance problem though… although I’m not sure his neighbours’re as happy about that as he is. He has plans to get some better ones, with baffles in, at some point in the future.

The Lego set in the garage also turned up a set of Bandit clocks, and a loom too, but just about everything else he’s either made or adapted to get it to fit. The tank’s a Mustang, and the ’bars are Zs, but he’s made most everything else, including the very useful carb shield for the ’filters that allow it to run in the rain without ingesting several pints of the damp stuff – always a Good Thing.

He also did the paint (and on Terry’s VN too) in a candy apple red over a gold metallic base and, as he’s getting to be a dab hand with an airbrush, did the intricate artwork too. He says he wasn’t really sure what to do with the tank, so started by doing a raven and, as that screamed ‘Gothic’ to him, that was the theme he decided to go with, just making it up as he went. “I find it’s better sometimes to let the bike tell you what paint it wants…” There’s a lot of detail there for a non-professional, and I particularly like the figure under the seat on the electrics box – it is, apparently, Ragnar from the TV programme Vikings (no idea, never seen it).

Having been lucky enough to take the Suzook for a quick spin, I can confirm it when he says the bike rides really well. The ’bars and ’pegs are where you expect them to be, and the slightly tipped forward riding position just feels right. Yep, it is loud (but I didn’t think overly so personally), and it is low, but it’s a Wormburner, isn’t it, so it’s going to be.

Terry bought his

VN800 from a guy in Nottinghamshire on a freezing cold day, and rode it back to London. It was a fat little bike, covered in tassles and tut, but it only had 7,000 miles from new, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with it. He has no garage at home, no cover anywhere, so all the work had to be done outside on his doorstep… in January. Dedicated or what?

As it was his first ever proper build, he was a bit daunted, but he’s good mates with Jimy, and so always had an extra pair of hands/extra pair of ears to help. The bike was stripped, and the frame sent off for powder-coating, and a Blue Collar Bobbers rear mudguard and sissy-bar ordered from the States, along with a Sportster tank to replace the stock VN one, necessitating the frame being cut underneath and the radiator filler moved – something that Jimy did as, as Terry says, he’s got hands like dinner plates and welding needs a delicate touch.

He stripped the forks and rebuilt them, and was then wondering where the electrics’d go (usually they’re under the stock tank) because it was starting to get tight for space. Jimy had a big tobacco tin he’d brought back from Amsterdam, and that looked just about the right size. That done, it was time to start the rebuild, and he soon found out that putting the engine back in without marking anything was slightly more difficult than he expected…

A rear rack for carrying luggage (NCC bike remember?) was made, along with a side-mount bracket for the speedo

(something a bit different), and he wrapped the ’pipes (“which made me itch for bloody ages!”), and fitted Remus aftermarket mufflers. The bike was starting to look great.

He’d never been a fan of the stock air-filter, but the bike ran really badly without one, so he took it to the legendary Ken Cooper, drag racer extraordinaire, at Cooperised in Feltham, where it had a Stage 2 kit fitted. It really did the trick – the VN now goes like a rocket! Finishing touches were a sprung seat from another VN, new indicators and front light, a side-mount, new cables from Venhill, and 14-inch apes from Westland Custom in Holland. As I said, Jimy did the paint, using the same base and top colours, and the artwork too, and Terry was absolutely blown away with the candy red look.

The finished bike looks very different from the norm, and rides really well (leaves standard VN800s and 883 Sportsters well behind!), and it’s a definite head-turner, and covers the miles too – just as an NCC bike should!

The last bike, Jimy’s GS, came about after he’d finished a (BSH-featured) GS550 a couple of years ago. He’d sworn he’d never build a GS again as it was a pig to get running properly (“Nemesis’d be a more accurate word”, he says), but he already had a built-up rolling chassis that just needed a motor. After looking at a few over-priced bikes, he opted for, yep you guessed it, a GS, but this time a 500. The donor bike was £400 with 12 months’ ticket, and was ULEZ-compliant (important for London), and it was in pretty good nick for the price.

He wanted this build to look a bit more old-school than the Bandit so the little 500 twin engine’d be

perfect for the look. The whole build went like clockwork - after making up the engine mounts and putting the engine into the frame, everything just flew together. He made up battery and the electric boxes to suit, and Jodie, his daughter, painted the bike for him. He re-jetted the carbs with a Stage 2 Sigma kit, and RamAir ‘filters, and made up the exhausts. After filling it with fuel, then came to the moment of truth - would it be the 550 all over again? To his surprise, after a few turns it fired up, and ran perfectly. The road test went perfectly as well - the little 500 twin flew, is comfortable, and so light, and he’s really pleased with it. He’s built a few bikes now, and rates the 500 as one of his favourites; “the power’s fun, and you can use all of it, not just 75% like other, bigger bikes. It sits at 80mph comfortably, and it’s useable in traffic, and in corners it feels steady… well, for a chop anyway!”