In this episode of 'Two Wheels' Paul Johnston and Jeff Stone are in Pentrek in deepest Derbyshire where 20,000 people are attending the Rock and Blue's Custom Bike Show. Paul meets the judges of the show and talks judging tactics.
In part two Jeff meets Tony Canning, winner of 'best in show' last year. We take a look at a triumph like we've never seen before and Paul discovers who has won the prestigious title of 'Best Rat Bike'.
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In part two Jeff meets Tony Canning, winner of 'best in show' last year. We take a look at a triumph like we've never seen before and Paul discovers who has won the prestigious title of 'Best Rat Bike'.
"Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell so you never miss a video!
------------------
Enjoyed this video? Don't forget to LIKE and SHARE the video and get involved with our community by leaving a COMMENT below the video!
Check out what else our channel has to offer and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Men & Motors for more classic car and motorbike content! Why not? It is free after all!
-- Social Media --
Follow us on social media by clicking the link below to elevate your social media experience by connecting with us!
https://menandmotors.start.page
If you have any questions, e-mail us at talk@menandmotors.com
© Men and Motors - One Media iP
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:29 Welcome to Pentric which is in deepest Derbyshire and I reckon there must be
00:33 close on 20,000 people here on this campsite this weekend for what is without
00:38 doubt now the number one custom bike show in the UK. It's the Rock and Blues
00:43 Custom Show.
00:46 [Music]
01:15 Dave, amazed by the range of bikes you've got here. They're not all custom chops are they?
01:21 That's right, no. You get all sorts of bikes from all sorts of walks of life.
01:26 I mean we do street fighters which are like your standard Japanese race bikes.
01:30 Slightly customised I suppose you could say but not along the stereotype style
01:34 of a chopper or what, you know, that sort of a thing.
01:37 So can you run through the actual categories for us? I know you've got the old
01:40 rat bike here which tends to be a bit of a tradition anyway doesn't it?
01:42 That's right, yeah. It can be really good with the rat bike down on the thing.
01:46 It gets quite comical with that but of course we've got other things.
01:49 We've got the classic, you know, you might see down there there's some really nice
01:52 old triumphs and things like that. We've got a new category this year,
01:56 American Hot Rod, which is based on the Harley Davidson style aftermarket thing
02:01 what people build with the S&S engines and that sort of thing.
02:04 That's the new one for this year. We've got Japanese category.
02:09 We've got trike categories. We've got 14 categories altogether.
02:14 I mean that's not including the best in show, you know, overall best in show.
02:19 And I saw somewhere the visitor actually gets a chance to vote as well.
02:22 That's right, yeah. I mean we give the chance to the visitors who come here
02:25 to actually vote what they think deserves a trophy and we've got a category and a trophy
02:30 set aside just especially for that.
02:32 So who actually does all the judging here? I mean it's not a one man band is it?
02:36 It's not really, no. It's quite a hard job to set all this up.
02:39 Basically judging is left down to two of us and myself because of all the hard work
02:43 I've put into it and, you know, I do know what I'm talking about.
02:46 You don't have to make excuses.
02:48 And basically we've got a lad from a local Harley Davidson shop who specialises in customising.
02:54 Harley's obviously like, yeah, who else is out with that?
02:56 But he's not biased?
02:57 Not at all, mate. No, not at all, no. There'll be none of his bikes winning this year.
03:02 And he knows that, does he?
03:03 Yeah, that's right.
03:04 So engineering wise, I mean it's not all top show and paint is it on these?
03:08 No.
03:09 They're beautifully engineered. So you've got some qualified guys doing this stuff?
03:11 That's right, yeah. They're really hard to look for, like, you know, I mean you can see
03:15 a lot of bikes around and at first glance they look like the sort of thing you would
03:18 buy out of a shop. But looking at them closer you can see that there's all the brackets,
03:23 everything, yokes. There's a lot of things get made in the guys' garage at home, you
03:28 know. Even down to wheels and hubs and all sorts of things like that.
03:31 It is a really, really hard one to look for.
03:34 And thinking of that, and people working at home on the bikes, I mean, where do you get
03:38 your audience from? Do they come from far afield?
03:41 Yeah, they do. We've actually got some guys here today from Canada. So, I mean, going
03:45 back to the categories, there is a service travel category, so I think they're probably
03:48 going to be up for that one.
03:49 Yeah. Are you telling me they've come on a bike?
03:50 That's right, yeah. That's right. They've been riding around for a month now in England
03:54 and they're definitely, you know, they've sent the bikes over. Obviously they don't
03:58 ride over the water, the bikes have come on the boat, right?
04:01 I understand.
04:02 But they've given them some serious mileage to get here.
04:05 Look, this Rock and Blues show, it's famous, but it's been a bit of a sort of a cult thing,
04:09 you know, it's the biker lifestyle thing. But I mean, how many years has it been going now?
04:13 This is the 16th year now we've had this. Obviously it's not always been this big. You
04:17 know, back in the old days, it was just a small daytime party for just a smaller group
04:22 of bikers. And it's just grown and grown to what you see here today.
04:26 Now judging these fantastic machines is a job in itself and Jamie Milliship has the
04:30 thankless task of being a judge. Jamie, you're particularly proud of this thing, aren't you?
04:35 Yeah.
04:36 Right. I mean, it looks fantastic. Here, I presume we've got an example of paint work,
04:40 engineering, bright work, everything. It's stunning. But talking about the engineering,
04:44 what are you particularly proud of on this?
04:47 Carburettors mainly. You can only get the one manifold to come out the one side.
04:51 Right.
04:52 But it made its own manifold to come out the other side. So you've got like four carbs
04:55 in all.
04:56 Yeah. So you've had to engineer what, another manifold?
04:58 Another manifold, yeah.
04:59 Right.
05:00 Yeah.
05:01 That's a job in itself. And what else? I mean, it's beautiful. It's chrome. The bright work
05:04 is stunning. But what about the wheels, for example? Where have they come from?
05:08 They're Performance Machine wheels in America.
05:10 Yeah?
05:11 They're straight from there, yeah.
05:12 Right. Oh, you've built this, what, for a customer?
05:14 Yeah.
05:15 Right. And did you build it to his spec? Did he know what he wanted or did he leave it
05:17 to you?
05:18 He knew roughly what he wanted. Then we dry built it to a standard.
05:22 Right.
05:23 Then invited him up to have a look at it. And we took it from there.
05:25 And I bet he liked it when he saw that. So how long's that took, a project like that?
05:29 Took about a year.
05:31 Yeah?
05:32 Yeah.
05:33 And you can't put a price on it, I presume?
05:34 No, it's hard to put a price.
05:35 Yeah.
05:36 Yeah.
05:37 In man hours alone, it must be astronomical. What about the paint work? Has it got a name,
05:40 this bike? What's it called?
05:41 Curley's Joker.
05:42 Curley's Joker. Curley's the lad who owns it, isn't it?
05:44 Yeah.
05:45 Right. Right. So has he designed, does he come to you and say, "Hey, I've got a paint
05:47 work." Has he designed, does he come to you with sketches and things?
05:49 The paint work was designed by the painter on his own.
05:51 Right.
05:52 Yeah. He knew what he wanted. He knew he wanted a Joker on the tank.
05:54 Yeah.
05:55 And the painter just took it from there.
05:57 Right. Fantastic. So you've built this and you're the judge. That could have some influence,
06:02 some bearing on the result, could it not?
06:04 I don't know yet.
06:05 I'll say nothing about that. Right. It's fantastic. It's stunning. But it's only one of many.
06:09 So we're going to have a look at some more.
06:11 Yeah.
06:13 [Music]
06:24 One of the categories is best chopper. Now a chopper to many people is just long forks
06:29 and big handlebars. A lot more to it than that. And this one caught your eye, Jamie,
06:33 before I saw you looking at it. What's particularly impressive about this?
06:36 This is clean lines really and everything. Now he's got all these cables going through
06:39 the handlebars. He's got his lights going through the frame.
06:43 You were looking at the frame. You think that's a one-off made frame, do you?
06:46 Oh, yeah.
06:47 Yeah? And this, I know you've spent a lot of time looking at these here because that,
06:51 when you first look you don't notice that, but that's very neat.
06:53 Yeah, it is, yeah.
06:54 And the throttle must go...
06:56 Oh, it's internal, yeah.
06:57 Down there.
06:58 Through the handlebars, yeah.
06:59 And then just pops out there.
07:00 Yeah.
07:01 I'll tell you what I noticed, the headlight. I was looking for some switches on the handlebars.
07:03 It hasn't got any switches anywhere.
07:04 No.
07:05 If you look at the back of the light, that wire there, that goes straight in the frame.
07:09 Yeah. Yeah, it's neat that is, yeah.
07:11 So this is obviously in with a good shop. One of the best shops here.
07:14 Yeah, most definitely, yeah.
07:16 Right.
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09:12 Well, you might have seen this bike before, but now that the owner's turned up,
09:19 well, you've been loitering, haven't you, Paul?
09:21 Loitering with intent, yes.
09:22 But tell us a bit, this bike to me is absolutely fantastic.
09:25 I mean, it's just full of bits and pieces to talk about.
09:27 And so, starting with the carburettors, I mean, I haven't seen these before.
09:29 Where do you get these from?
09:30 I bought them from Daytona in America.
09:33 New kind of carburettors that come out just took my fancy.
09:37 So, I decided to go the whole log and have one each side.
09:40 Or two each side.
09:42 Exactly, yeah.
09:43 Do they come as a pair, then?
09:44 It will come as a side raft with the manifold,
09:46 but we fabricated the manifold to suit coming out both sides.
09:50 Nitrous oxide as well?
09:52 Nitrous oxide as well, yeah.
09:53 Plenty of punch.
09:54 Yeah.
09:55 And how big is this motor?
09:56 Because it's not a Harley motor, it's an S&S, is it?
09:58 It's an S&S engine, yeah.
09:59 It's a 98 cubic inch motor.
10:01 What's that in English?
10:03 Well, that is English, isn't it?
10:04 It works out to something like 1800cc.
10:07 Yeah, pretty big.
10:08 It's very powerful, yeah.
10:10 And what about the frame's special on this as well, isn't it?
10:12 The frame is unique, really.
10:14 It actually pivots on the back there.
10:17 The mudguard goes up with the suspension.
10:20 Everything moves on the back end.
10:22 It's very slightly.
10:23 It's more of a hard tail, but there is a bit of spring there.
10:27 And the whole finish of it is absolutely amazing,
10:29 particularly this paint job.
10:31 Where did you get the inspiration for this?
10:33 There was a chap in Chesterfield called Percy.
10:35 Yeah.
10:36 Fantastic painter.
10:38 It's incredible the paint work he's done on it.
10:40 I've never seen nothing like it.
10:42 But was it your idea, the Joker theme?
10:44 The Joker theme was my idea, yeah.
10:46 I allowed the painter just to go with the flow kind of thing.
10:52 And as you can see, he's done an incredible job.
10:55 That chequered flag on the front in particular is brilliant.
10:58 Was that Daytona inspiration?
11:00 Yeah, it's all going in with the theme.
11:02 It follows through from the front right to the back.
11:05 And tell me, this Daytona thing, you've been more than once, I understand.
11:09 Yeah, I have, yeah.
11:10 Go on.
11:11 It's a bit of a drug to me, really.
11:13 I mean, you go over there, you can get your parts cheaper,
11:17 your pastry older, nice girls, good weather.
11:21 Well, it's seven times you've been there.
11:23 Seven times, yeah. Seven times I've been there.
11:25 And have you thought of taking this over?
11:27 Yeah, we're hoping to take it over for the 100th anniversary.
11:31 So that should be a big event.
11:33 Yeah, well, I'm sure you should pick up some awards on this.
11:35 Hopefully, yeah.
11:36 Can I ask you, because it just reeks of money, this does.
11:39 How much?
11:40 Um...
11:41 Don't be shy.
11:42 I'll just disclose.
11:43 I'd rather not say it depresses me.
11:45 And coming up after the break, more from this year's Rock 'n' Blues Custom Show,
11:59 where Geoff meets Tony Canning, the man who last year won the Best in Show.
12:04 He has an amazing 16 pots of brake callipers on his front discs.
12:09 Also, we'll see a triumph the likes of which you've never seen before.
12:13 And we'll discover who's won the prestigious title of Best Rat Bike.
12:17 Here we go, we've found a winner.
12:26 It says, "Worst Rat."
12:28 Rat bike's a very popular category.
12:30 Should it not be Best Rat?
12:32 I had a thought, Shade, but obviously not, no.
12:34 Right, I'm just looking at your brochure here.
12:37 Yeah.
12:38 I'm going to start off, hopefully, by building these custom bike specials.
12:41 This is a special, isn't it?
12:42 It's special to you, isn't it?
12:43 It's special to me, yeah.
12:44 Exactly, right.
12:45 Most of them start with pictures of bikes in bits,
12:47 and then they finish up with a lovely finished piece.
12:50 You've started off with a beautiful CBR 600,
12:53 and finished up with this.
12:54 Well, that's down to a 17-year-old reversing out his drive in front of me.
12:58 He wrote it off last year, yeah.
12:59 Right.
13:00 So you decided to not rebuild it, but to make it into a rat?
13:03 Yeah, it weren't too expensive, obviously, looking at it.
13:06 It looks like it's worth about that.
13:08 I bought it for about £450 off the insurers, and just had fun with it, really.
13:12 So where's your--
13:14 Have you been drinking heavily, like, when you designed this or something?
13:17 Where's the inspiration come from?
13:19 Yeah, a few illegal substances and alcohol, yeah.
13:23 So what are you particularly proud of with this, now, then?
13:26 The whole thing, really.
13:27 What's the actual, you know, the bit that you say, "That bit's great. I'm dead chuffed with that."
13:31 Perhaps the wax on the tank. I like that.
13:32 The wax!
13:33 Oh, are you in the--
13:34 The melted carrier.
13:35 Look at that! Filthy dirt!
13:37 The melted carrier bags, as well.
13:39 You must get covered in crap every time you ride it.
13:41 So this has won the worst rat, or best rat?
13:44 Yeah. Well, worst rat.
13:45 Worst rat, right.
13:46 So why has it won, do you think?
13:49 Unique.
13:50 Why is it better than some of the other rats?
13:51 I don't know. I mean, this one there, I thought it'd give me a run for my money, and it did.
13:55 I thought I won my win, but I don't know. It's down to the chappie's judgy hand, isn't it?
13:59 It's very different. You must get some funny looks.
14:01 Do you ever get stopped by the police or anything like that?
14:03 Funnily enough, I've never been stopped by the police.
14:06 You wouldn't know where to start, would you?
14:08 Apart from this weekend.
14:09 How do you go on with MOTs and things like that?
14:11 Fly through. Everything's legal.
14:13 I'm sure it is. It's fantastic.
14:15 So what's your plans now? Any more rats? Any more baby rats on the way?
14:19 Probably. Hopefully. I'd like to do a rat trike. Rat one of them.
14:23 To tell you what would be a really, really difficult task now, convert this back to a CBR 600.
14:28 It would be a difficult task.
14:29 You don't fancy that?
14:30 No, no, no. If I was a member of the Streetfighter Owners Club, I'd probably hand it over to them to do that for me.
14:36 To cremate or something like that?
14:38 Whatever. Whatever they can do with it.
14:41 It's very good. It's certainly very different.
14:44 It's part of the family now.
14:46 Tony, just admiring your bike, it's absolutely fantastic.
14:51 The first thing that caught my eye were those eight-pot calipers up the front.
14:54 In fact, you've got 16 pots up the front. It does stop you, does it?
14:57 16, you just tip the brake and it'll stop you on a five. It'll just stop you.
15:01 You don't really need to press the brake. Well, only in the wet.
15:04 But even that, you've got four pots on the back as well.
15:07 Yeah, well, it stops you. Like I said, it's there.
15:10 Brake system, extreme of extreme, but brakes are very important on a bike.
15:14 It's been an 88-inch motor, big valve heads, built by Ness, Carl's Speed Shop.
15:19 So it's a quick enough motor. There's not so much back pressure.
15:24 You probably need a set of performance pipes on it because I built the pipes myself.
15:28 They're designed and made by myself. There's a lot of hours and detail into it.
15:32 But you're lacking performance because they're handmade.
15:36 But then again, the look is what you want.
15:39 Tell us about those pipes. I know you said earlier that they're handmade.
15:42 But you've actually made them in sections and then cleaned up the welds.
15:45 Yeah, I welded them all together with a MIG welder and cleaned them and polished them with emery cloth.
15:50 And they're stainless steel welded. And then I sent them to London Chroming to be chromed,
15:54 which gives you the effect, like the colour discolouration down the pipes.
15:59 It's the stainless steel and the chrome, the effect of the heat.
16:02 I don't know what way, but it just turned out beautiful.
16:04 I didn't plan it, but that's the way it came, you know.
16:06 Tell us a bit about the rest of the engineering.
16:08 I mean, that swingarm, I've never ever seen anything like that before.
16:11 You designed that, did you?
16:12 No, well, Technoblues have one, but then I asked them what they do, cutaway sections and all.
16:17 And they sort of, that was about two or three years ago.
16:21 And now it's actually, it's manufactured by them.
16:23 It's not my idea, but I just wanted a less solid swinging arm, which, they're a big company.
16:28 They do a lot of billet stuff.
16:29 And it's expensive, but it looks well and it handles well.
16:33 The bike basically suits the look, the flow of the pipe, meet the swinging arm and suits the fender.
16:38 That's why I built them, you know.
16:40 It's absolutely incredible.
16:41 Tell us a bit about the paint scheme. That paint scheme is absolutely fantastic.
16:45 The paint work is sort of 15 separate photographs from J.R. Tolkien's work.
16:52 He's an artist.
16:56 Like, a lot of people relate to him.
16:57 Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, like, the Scandorf on it.
17:01 And, like, they would know the pictures.
17:03 There's 15 of them.
17:04 I displayed them out on the tank and on the fenders and all.
17:07 And the painter, which is Matt and Brian from the House of Colour,
17:11 which is, I reckon, is probably the best painters in the world.
17:14 Maybe I'm overstepping my mark, but, like, it's won in the States.
17:17 It's won Germany, best airbrush.
17:20 It won Wales.
17:22 It won Waterford in Dublin.
17:24 It's done very well, you know, for the paint work stands out, you know.
17:28 And tell me, you mentioned in Dublin, and you've come from there just for the Rock 'n' Blues, have you?
17:33 Yeah, well, I just decided I was coming again this year.
17:37 So I just hopped on the scooter.
17:39 Last year it didn't run.
17:40 The ignition blew.
17:41 I transported it here.
17:42 I told the people, the organisers and all, that it wouldn't run.
17:45 It didn't go.
17:46 I brought it here in the van.
17:47 I was up front, but yet I still won best in show last year.
17:50 I pushed it down to the field to collect my trophy.
17:53 But this year I drove it, it runs, and I'll drive it to the field if I can pick up another prize.
17:57 Well and good if I don't, sure I'm here anyway.
17:59 Yeah.
18:00 So it's not show, it is go as well?
18:02 Oh, yeah, it's go.
18:03 I clean it.
18:04 I drive it.
18:05 Do you know what I mean?
18:06 I clean the flies off it.
18:07 I scratch it.
18:08 You know what I mean?
18:09 I clean damaged frame underneath.
18:12 It's all scraped from stones and stuff.
18:14 It's used.
18:15 It's not a practical everyday bike, but I still use it.
18:18 Now there are Triumphs and there are Triumphs, but this is a Triumph like you have never, ever seen before.
18:22 I've certainly seen nothing like this.
18:24 I recognise the engine.
18:25 Triumph three-cylinder motor.
18:27 In fact, the only thing that is Triumph on this is the engine and the front wheel.
18:30 Everything else is, well, I don't know where it's from, but the engineering that's gone into this is quite stunning.
18:36 Just look at these handlebars there.
18:37 Look at that.
18:38 There's not a switch, not a lever, not anything in sight.
18:41 It's just quite remarkable.
18:43 And everything's very pointy.
18:45 Pointy there.
18:46 Pointy backs on the headlamps.
18:47 There's pointy little tops on the bolts there.
18:50 Everything's got points on it.
18:51 What is the point?
18:52 I don't know, but it's fantastic.
18:54 Single-sided swingarm.
18:55 Again, great bit of engineering.
18:58 The other side there, an exhaust or silencer.
19:00 How quiet that will be, I'm not really sure, but I've never seen anything like it.
19:04 Look at that hub on the back wheel.
19:06 It's stunning.
19:07 Absolutely stunning.
19:08 And this is just one of many.
19:10 There's tons of them here.
19:11 Just because it's a custom show, it doesn't mean it has to be a Harley look-alike.
19:15 You could have a BSA 810 with a nice non-BSA paint job.
19:20 Or what about this Spondon Blade in patriotic colors with a 916-style seat unit, but made from aluminum and then nickel-plated?
19:29 If you have a classic, how about a perfect BSA Royal Star?
19:33 Into street fighters, how about this Harris Suzuki with a single-sided swingarm and 916 wheels?
19:40 Or you could have a Tidy Bunny complete with Magneto ignition.
19:45 Even Ducatis aren't forgotten.
19:47 You could have a Ducati Monster like this one, complete with nitro, spoke wheels, and a fancy paint job to boot.
19:54 You, you, excuse me putting it like that, but you don't look like the typical sort of biker that comes here.
19:59 What's the attraction to you?
20:01 Everybody's here to party. Great fun, great bikes.
20:05 You can see what some of these guys do with the bikes, it's just unbelievable.
20:08 So are you a regular here?
20:10 Yeah, I come every year.
20:12 And what do you ride yourself?
20:14 I've got a Harley Electra Glide. Couch.
20:17 Is it modified at all?
20:20 It's got lots of extras on it, but it's pretty standard.
20:23 It's at plods.
20:26 So you're honest about it then?
20:28 Oh yeah, it's got a hinge in the middle, it doesn't handle, but it carries all the wife's luggage.
20:32 But for you, it's a good day, it's a party, and you just admire the engineering that's gone into these?
20:36 Yeah, it's a great weekend.
20:38 There's never any trouble, any hassle, and you see all different types of bikes.
20:42 It's unbelievable.
20:43 When you see the custom BMWs down to scooters, like sitting down there, it's just tremendous.
20:50 It's good.
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21:59 Well, believe me, that was just a tiny, tiny sample of the Rock & Blues Custom Show.
22:05 Tons and tons of stuff to see here.
22:07 I've seen some wonderful body work today, and some of the bikes were quite nice as well.
22:11 But they will all be back next year with more chrome, more fancy paintworks.
22:15 And if perhaps you're looking for some inspiration to get you started on that one-off special project,
22:20 then this is definitely the place to come.
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22:31 And coming up on Two Wheels next week, we spend the day at a racetrack watching some junior road racing.
22:41 11 to 15 year olds doing their thing. You will be very impressed.
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