KICKING BACK
Kickback is now an early-season staple with plenty of debut builds and a magnificent seven trophy categories to enjoy…
AND THE BEST MODIFIED TRIUMPH IS…
This year’s Kickback – held at Stoneleigh Park in April – played host to the 2018 National Championships for customised motorcycles. The Championship comprises seven different categories: Freestyle; Young Builder of the Year; Best Modified Sportsbike; Best Modified Classic; Best Modified Triumph; Best Café Racer and Best Old School Chopper/bobber. In truth Kickback tends to attract a much higher proportion of chops than a lot of other UK shows. Johnny Freeman’s Trophy-engined machine was certainly one of the highlights, and a deserved winner of the hotly contested Best Modified Triumph class. Understated is the name of the game here, Johnny employing sand-blasted engine cases, a home-made oil tank, well hidden electrics and single Mikuni carb.
PRE UNIT BONNEVILLE
Chris Nichols’ P&D Customs pre-unit Bonneville is a masterpiece of aesthetic imagination and quality engineering. No surprise Chris took the Freestyle Class thanks to panelled girder fork, exotically curvaceous single downtube chassis and cunningly crafted exhaust system. And it looked so utterly other-worldly, yet rideable.
OLD SCHOOL BOBBER
The Best Old School Bobber trophy went to Steve Blacker’s BMW R75/7 with its bespoke rear-subframe and seat, slimline tank and thoughtfully modded exhaust system. Airhead Beemers are popular choices for custom builders but few are as subtle or beautiful as this one.
CB500T, THAT’S RIGHT…
Street-trackers are somewhat in decline, but this effort by Stuart Walker based on Honda’s unloved CB500T was nifty. Heavily modified frame, Suzuki GS250 tank, blacked-up engine cases, white wheels and NRP zorsts set it all off very nicely.
BUTCHERED C70
Brian Ricketts copped third prize in the Butchered Classic class with his radically re-worked Honda C70 inspired by the Malaysian ‘Hot-ped’ trend. Brian Tig-welded his own hard-tail frame and widened the stock forks to accommodate the chunky 16-inch wheels – brought back from Malaysia in a suitcase. He then suspended whitewall Avon Cobras on Bmxsprung shockers, rebuilt the engine, fitted a new underslung zorst system and let new metal into the rear fender before trimming and widening it.
BMW ‘MADASS’
This is retired policeman Chris Whitton’s K75 Madass, inspired by Sachs’ 2007 Madass – a Malaysianbuilt Bmx-cum-moped running a 125cc Chinese knock-off Honda engine. Chris made a wooden jig to imitate the Madass’s Y-frame geometry, but obviously using wider diameter steel tube cut and extended to add rigidity and hold 2½ gallons of juice, which reaches the injectors via an external Bosch pump hidden just behind the engine. USD forks and yokes are from a KTM Duke II and the swingarm was lengthened 50mm, which required machining a new driveshaft and inserting a spacer between it and the bevel box. It’s amazing to me that Chris rode his bike back home to Barnsley bereft of a trophy.