‘The quiet winter gave us time to play in the workshop’

Over the winter, things often get a little quiet on the sales front – and this one was no exception. I should be fretting about that, but it gave me and our Classic Superbikes engineer Gerry time to play about in the workshop. And that’s what we both love.

This winter, we got into building specials. We’ve got our own take on a Norvin coming together – a Commando rolling chassis with a Vincent twin engine grafted in. The plan is to make it look as close to a factory build as possible. It’s not really meant to be for sale – it’s just something we wanted to do – but who knows? At some time in the future, it might appear on the website.

We’re building a long-distance trials bike, too. A few of my mates are really into them and I fancy giving it a go this year. It started out as a Triumph Tiger 90 that Gerry converted for trials years ago. But he prefers sidecar trials, so I’ve bought it from him and we’re building it up with lights.

I’ve used the quiet time to clear out a few of our sheds, too; it’s amazing what you find. I have a shed full of Yamaha AS-1 twin stuff that I’ve sorted out. I love them. I bought one back in 1978/9 from a mate’s wife and used it for commuting between Crowthorne and the bike dealer in Reading where I worked at the time. I really fancy building one up from the parts we’ve found.

Finally, we’re building a Triumph special – and it’s all CB ’s fault. I read the feature on American racer and dealer Bobby Sirkegian in the magazine back in March 2019 and really enjoyed it. The magazine has been in the workshop ever since. So when I got stuck with a hardtail Triumph sprint bike I’d paid too much for, I looked again at the Sirkegian feature and thought we could build something like his bike. I’ve got the frame dated and registered and it’s up and running, but it needs a little finishing off. It’s been a really fulfilling project and it’ll be on the website for sale soon.

Now the phone has started ringing again, so I suppose I’ll have to go back to some real work and sell a few bikes. But the slowdown in sales this winter has had its benefits. You can get down about things, or you can get up and get going – and have some fun at the same time. classicsuperbikes.co.uk