CR focus: JB Racing – Two Wheel Classics
This is the first part of a series of new features, shining a light on some of the biggest and best players in the Classic Racing world.
The first in a look at some of the biggest names in the classic racing scene. In this issue, we visit Jim Blomley and his Two Wheel Classics business to find out the story behind the name.
To get under the skin of Two Wheel Classics, we sat down with owner Jim Blomley at his Warrington home and workshop for a quick interview. In between a move to new premises, we took the chance to question him about the past, present and future, while exploring his Aladdin’s cave of seriously cool Italian-oriented kit.
WHO ARE TWO WHEEL CLASSICS?
Two Wheel Classics specialise in original and aftermarket parts for your classic motorcycle – offering everything from single bolts to full bodywork kits. Essentially, if you’ve got an original condition bike but would like to make it operational – without obviously looking restored, Two Wheel Classics is the place to be. The business’s real specialty is Ducati TT1 and TT2 bodywork kits – and it even offers a rolling chassis so you can drop your own engine straight in. But there’s big news – Two Wheel Classics is pushing the boundaries once more and is just in the process of beginning to sell its new road legal Ducati TT2 chassis kits.
WHO’S IN CHARGE?
The man behind Two Wheel Classics is Jim Blomley. He’s been involved in racing for more than 40 years, and has obviously got a bit of a thing for Italian metal, having raced Moto Guzzis – but in recent years, it’s been Ducatis that have held his attention. In fact, Jim has been involved in building specialty frames, bodywork and bits for the Ducati TT racers for the past few decades and with great success. If you’re after a restoration (particularly for a classic Ducati), then he’s your man.
WHAT SERVICES DO TWO WHEEL CLASSICS OFFER?
If you’re after anything for your classic bike – chances are Two Wheel Classics will be able to help. They offer complete restorations, partial restorations, engine rebuilds and repairs, cylinder fin welding and machining, electrical upgrades, stainless steel exhausts for the road and racing, wheel stripping and powder coating, vapour blasting and ultrasonic cleaning – and UK collection and delivery too.
“I THINK THESE NEW ROAD LEGAL KITS ARE GOING TO REALLY TAKE OFF THOUGH. I DO HONESTLY. IT’S NOT A JAPANESE OR CHINESE CLONE – IT’S A ONE OFF.”
CR: HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS?
JB: Well, I served my time at Jaguar as an apprentice. I went and did day release and all that – and then I came out and I had a garage for 20 years in Salford. It was just cars, but I was racing bikes at the same time. And you progress, don’t you? I worked – but I worked while playing at it. You understand me? I loved it. And eventually the bikes just took over. Then I built the Guzzi and started racing – and then we started winning races. And that’s when I sponsored Stan Woods. I’ve got an interesting story for you now. I’m the only person in the world – trust me on this one – to have someone riding for America and England in the Transatlantic races. I went to Daytona and bought a bike from a bloke called Bruce Hammer, an American TZ750 rider. I bought his bike off him for Stan Woods and I’d bought a brand new bike off Don Vesco – a standard TZ750. I knew that the Bruce Hammer bike was a Vesco special – so we stripped it, copied everything. And then Hammer rang me up and said that he’d been picked to ride for America, and asked me if he could ride his bike. I said yes, because we’d already got everything we needed from it, but Stan wasn’t too happy about it – because it was his back-up bike at the time. So, like I said, I was the only person at the time to have somebody on each team riding one of my bikes. Good days. In the early days of the Battle of the Twins, I bought an ex-works Ducati TT2 from Roy Armstrong of Italsports Manchester. It was Roy’s own bike, which he’d been racing quite successfully in Battle of the Twins. Interestingly, the series was initially the brainchild of Alan Cathcart, before it was taken over by Gordon Anderson (who’s sadly no longer with us). I gave the ride on the TT2 to John Heselwood and together we raced at all rounds of the Battle of the Twins, along with Geoff Baines, Tom Knight and several other very good riders. Fantastic times. Eventually, I sold the TT2 to finance my Moto Guzzi racer – but after a bit of time passed, I decided to try and find my old bike and restore it. I didn’t have any joy finding it, so that’s where my desire to build Ducati TT2S came from. I got in touch with Tony Rutter, and he agreed to lend me his bike to copy all the parts I needed – and from there Two Wheel Classics was born.
CR: WHAT’S THE CORE OF YOUR BUSINESS?
JB: I mean, I only sell racing stuff, right? And I sell lots of them to lads – wealthy lads – who do classic track days and all that. And I used to build them myself – but I don’t want to do that anymore – because, what’s the word, I don’t compromise. I’ll do something – and I’ll think, oh that’s an extra £40, I’ll not charge you for that. And all of a sudden I’ll think – oh, I’ve lost £600 out of that. So now I just want to sell the kits. The next big push is going to be on our road legal kits. The thing is nobody does these bikes for the road anymore. Sports Motorcycles used to do them – let’s say 35 years ago, and Harris used to do them too. People have been asking for a little while about building road legal versions. I had a guy come up and see me from Southampton at the end of last year, and he said can you build me a road legal one. Well no, first he said, is it possible to do a road legal one – and I said, yer of course. And then he said can you build me one? And on that one that’s up on the bench, I must be a grand out of pocket already. So what we’re saying now is that we’re going to sell a road legal kit. So we’ll give you a blueprint, along with the frame, tank, seat, fairing, clip-ons, rear sets and exhaust. There’s your kit, go and get on with it. And this is why I can do it, you see – I don’t have to get involved. And I’m not homologating them,
because every country in the world has its own set of rules. So all you have to do is buy a donor bike. A 900SS is the best. They’re already quick little things – but without all the little bits and pieces you don’t need, it’s very fast. So, you buy a donor bike, you get the chassis plate – which I’ll have made for you – and then rivet it to my kit, my chassis, and then put the number plate on it. I’ve given them everything they’ll need – and it’s up to them to sort it out. Then it’s just a case of them getting a daytime MOT – which won’t be a problem. But I tell you what – when these take off they’ll be very popular The only thing with these now is that I must have done about 15% more work than usual. It’s stuff like the sidestand brackets and undertray, just simple stuff like that, because you don’t need them on racing bikes. So I’ve had to make all these new bits and pieces – and of course there’s a lot of back and forth with suppliers and we get the quality right, and make sure it’s consistent and all that. Then there’s the tanks as well – I’ve created this special tank, too. I think these new road legal kits are going to really take off though. I do honestly. It’s not a Japanese or Chinese clone – it’s a one off. And it’s also going to be much easier for me. Rather than spending hours and hours on a project, I can crate the full kit up and send it out to all over the world. I’m trying to do it right – I don’t compromise. A lot of time and effort has gone into developing the specific parts and components to make sure it all works smooth. At the end of the day, it needs to go out and be absolutely spot on for the customer. Talking about customers – the racing kit’s about £5900 – and I’m hoping to get the road legal kit somewhere around £6500, which I think is pretty good. Don’t you?
CR: WHO ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS?
JB: I tell you now – the percentage of trackday riders to racers is changing. It’s all moving towards the trackday lads. I’ve got a dealer friend who’s still racing Ducati singles – a bloke called Craig – and he wants to do a 900, so he’s going to come and see me in a couple of weeks. He wants to build himself a road legal bike that he can still do trackdays on. I would say it’s probably about 55% of people who want to use them for trackdays. The thing is that with the racers they’ve just not got the money and you know, I do sponsor them and give them a bit of discount where I can. But the racers, the pure racers, they’re a bit tight for money. But I still like being involved in all that. It’s part and parcel of it, isn’t it?
CR: HAVE THINGS CHANGED FOR YOU?
JB: Well, first off the Pantah engine is near non-existent now. That was my bread and butter for a long time. About 12-14 years ago I travelled all over the UK buying Pantahs. 500s, 600s and 650s – and I was buying them for a grand and I had a big, big warehouse full of them. I knew what I was doing and I bought virtually anything that turned up. Now, you’re talking £5000 for a Pantah. So really, you can’t buy a Pantah anymore if you’re looking to break it and create a project. The thing is with the Pantah – it’s the right engine, it’s the right forks, it’s the right wheels (although they are a bit heavy). Everything’s right about it – and it’s ready to go to be turned into a TT2. ATT2 now will go from a rough £12,500 up to around about £35,000. But then you realise that there’s no Pantah engines about anymore – so we needed to do something different.
CR: WHAT ELSE IS IN THE WORKS?
JB: I’m trying to streamline the business and make it all work with a little bit less hard graft from me. Rather than building bikes and doing the work myself, I want to be able to send a kit out and offer advice to customers. The plan is to have everything mail order moving forward – so at the minute we’re currently in the process of organising and laying out everything at the new warehouse and getting it all labelled up to make the process as easy as possible. And I’ve got this other unit too, which is brand new and totally modern, that’s still going to work as a front for the business. I’m not going to run it myself though – I’m going to be based here from now on. There’s not going to much stock in there really – I’ll leave a few classic spares and a have a bike or two on display there. But you need a place like that to get passing trade, don’t you?