‘Slick’ wins Royal Enfield Bike Build Off
The 2017 Royal Enfield Custom Bike Build Off saw a diverse group of interesting and unusual customs created, with seven Royal Enfield dealerships from Australia and New Zealand vying for the Custom Bike Build Off crown. Most chose the Bullet or Classic as their base for the custom build, but Experience Motorcycles in Auckland went for the Himalayan, giving the LAMS adventure bike a cool scrambler-style makeover, while NT Powersports in Darwin chose the Continental GT. Each dealership brought their own taste and style to their builds, but in a competition decided by public vote on the Royal Enfield website, the runaway winner was ‘Slick’ from Royal Enfield Sydney, which claimed almost 40 per cent of the vote.
Chopper King
Royal Enfield Sydney said ‘Slick’, their winning creation, was inspired by a chopped Honda Scrambler that Will Keith, the dealership’s boss, lusted after as a teenager: “It was love at first sight and I wanted that machine so bad I could taste it. Unfortunately, my mechanic older brother proclaimed it a ‘hunk of junk’ and crushed my dream.”
Aiming to bring to life that ‘60s Frisco chopper that Will never got, the pattern was set. Starting with a Classic 350, Will and his crew started by removing the factory seat and rear suspension, replacing them with a low-slung Harley saddle and custom Ikon shocks that lower the seat height by a substantial 130mm.
That Harley Sportster ‘peanut’ fuel tank is the main point of difference, though, adding to the chopper stylings and further masking this bike’s Royal Enfield origins. Finished in metalflake green with a contrasting red stripe, the tank sits high and proud on the Classic 350’s backbone, further accentuating the dumped back end.
Up front, the Classic 350 forks have had the outer shrouds removed and factory top yoke replaced with a Royal Enfield Trials yoke with integral speedo mount.
While the rake is unaltered, a few changes, like the compact headlight and ‘bars, gives the impression that some more serious chopping and welding has been done. That headlight is a Harley-style unit from Bates, while the classic Z-bars are capped with Biltwell Thruster grips and custom levers.
Front mudguard delete, indicator delete and mirror delete keep the theme going, while the chromed rear mudguard has been chopped and topped with a Lucas-style 525 tail light from Arion Pacific.
The TwinSpark 350 single has been left untouched internally, but a Ram Flo Air cleaner has been added and the factory exhaust header is capped with an upswept slash-cut shorty muffler that delivers what Will said is a “mellow, but authoritative note”.
“We dedicate this build to all the bikes we wish we’d bought, wish we’d built and dreamed about in our misspent youth,” Will said.
Unveiled alongside other Royal Enfield factory and custom models at November’s Sydney Motorcycle Show, Slick drew a lot of attention, validating its winning performance as the public favourite in the Custom Bike Build Off.
Fresh Mint
Runner-up in the 2017 Custom Bike Build Off was ‘The Royal Mint’ from MotoMAX in Perth. Positively benign compared to the turbocharged Continental GT that the WA Royal Enfield dealer produced in 2016, this creation was all about showing how a Classic 350 could be customised on a budget.
With only $1,500 in the pot, MotoMAX started by chopping the rear guard and mounting it directly to the swingarm for a more tyre-hugging fit. To complement this, the front forks were dropped by 50mm.
The Mint Green on the tank and guards is an RE factory colour, but those black rims aren’t, nor are the oversized whitewall tyres. Replacing the standard saddle is a slimline seat with compact springs, while the bars were replaced with units from a Classic 500, rolled back in the clamps to give a sleeker profile.
The factory battery and airbox were removed, with the latter replaced with a Pod filter. The budget limited remaining mods to a fishtail muffler tip, bar-end offside mirror, compact rear indicators (mounted on the modified rear guard’s new brackets) and a compact tail light.
Northern Exposure
Amongst the other entrants, special mention must go to NT Powersports. If JUST BIKES were choosing the winner, this cool custom would have got the nod!
Dubbed ‘Bare Bones’, the first Build Off entry from this Darwin dealership treated the Continental GT to a pretty radical makeover; NT Powersports’ Scott MacFarlane calls it an ultra-modern take on the classic Continental GT.
The first thing you notice about Bare Bones is the monoshock rear, but that’s only part of a custom job that has replaced the factory swingarm and around two-thirds of the original frame.
With a GT12 turbocharger fitted to the Conti GT’s 535cc single, along with modified fuel injection, a new engine management system and super-short exhaust, power is increased by a claimed 35 per cent and torque by a whopping 70 per cent.
Gunmetal grey on the modified frame has been complemented by HSV Special Edition Green on the tank and ducktail for a more subtle effect compared to the factory GT’s bold red.
A compact tail light, delete mudguards and delete indicators were also on the menu, along with custom rearsets and a custom fuel tap.
When NT Powersports called Bare Bones an amazing work of art, they weren’t boasting – this machine is something else.
To see all the entrants from the 2017 Royal Enfield Custom Bike Build Off, go to: <a href="www.royalenfield.com.au/2017-custom-bike-build-off/"> royalenfield.com.au/2017-custom-bike-build-off/</a>
