How It All Began: From First Ride to Lifelong Love
Benny is a bit of a legend in the UK Vintage Chopper scene and a real cool dude with an interesting story. For Benny, his love of motorcycles started with one of his first memories, which was standing at the bottom of his driveway waiting for his dad to drop in and see him. That’s when he heard the roar coming down the road behind where he lived with his mum.
When he saw his dad come around the corner on his new 1997 Harley-Davidson bagger which sounded like thunder, he can only explain it as the coolest thing he’d ever seen at the time. To him, his dad looked like the coolest bloke on the planet. From that point onwards that image stuck in his head of his dad being like some kind of superhero that rode the most bad arse motorcycle ever made.
After that, all Benny ever talked about was that bike and how his dad would come and pick him up taking him on rides to shops and shows. And when he wasn’t on the back of the bike, he would be drawing pictures of it to give to his dad to go on the garage wall.
Growing up, Benny was lucky to experience some of his own adventures seeing things that most kids his age would never dream of, like meeting well known models of the time and getting pictures with them. I mean I didn’t know what I was seeing or doing but what young man would not like to meet these beautiful women and get pictures right?
Benny’s dad also told him how he had a friend Russell Mitchell that he grew up with that started building these crazy chopped scooters and decided to move to America to open a custom bike business named Exile Cycles. All this only fuelled his love for motorcycles and made him want his own one day.
First Harley-Davidson
Fast forward quite some years, along with a mortgage, two kids, a recession and everything the world wanted to throw at him, Benny eventually got his first Harley, a 2009 Sportster. His dad picked him up and they set off in the van to see this Sportster, and when they got there it was down the muddiest road he’d ever seen.
It had been pouring with rain all that week and was still belting down that particular day. The bike was sitting in this little shed in near show room condition, completely standard and super low miles. So of course Benny blew every penny he had on it and he and his dad pushed it through the mud and into the van.
Benny’s First Build
When he got it back home, Benny instantly started getting ideas of what he wanted to do with it. So he started cutting the back off and stripping the bike down to eventually get it to this old-style looking bobber. Once he was happy, he got all the parts painted and started bolting it back together. But after that point, Benny had been well and truly bitten by the custom bug, and it wasn’t long after that an old friend he hadn’t seen for years dropped in and started working on his old Panhead chopper. And watching him go to work soon spurred Benny went on to get into the chop game.
But after looking around for a Shovelhead, which seemed to go on for months on end, he had no joy. Then one day, a friend messaged him saying that someone he knew was thinking of selling his, so Benny immediately got his number and called him. He set off to see him the very next day with his mate Ade and had no idea what he was looking at or doing when it came to old bikes, yes Benny was aware he was well out of his depth.
When they arrived, they were shown a high hot rod looking swing arm 1976 Shovelhead, and even though it was so far away from what he actually wanted, his mate Ade assured him that the motor was solid and it had so many cool bits, making it a good deal.
So on his mate’s advice, Benny did it again and parted with all his cash to get the bike. That’s when the fun really began, because as they rolled it back to the van, it wouldn’t fit as the sissybar was way too high, so the tools came out early just to get it in.
The First Ride
Then once they got it back home, they couldn’t get it to run as none of them had any experience with magneto set ups and as they know now, every old bike has a unique start up sequence. When they eventually worked out the special sequence for starting the bike, Benny jumped on this old Shovel with no front brake and nothing like what he was used to on the Sportster and wobbled down the road, stalling and almost falling off.
After that it went in the garage as Benny set about planning the build for months, buying and swapping parts and making bits where he could. It took what seemed like forever, trying to get the look he was after along with ensuring it was sitting right, but eventually, with a little and a lot of help, it just made it on the road for the end of the riding season, looking like a rough running version of what he ideally wanted it to end up looking like.
That winter it was back to stripping the Shovel to get it painted and finished. His friend Lucifer, that’s right, everyone needs a mate called Lucifer, did up this crazy custom paint job for Benny, which is exactly what he asked for with the old school classic flames but in blue and a fantasy art naked lady on top of the tank.
The Panhead
It was after a few months of riding his rebuilt Shovel when he saw a 1954 Panhead for sale, but as he’d only just got his Shovelhead finished, he didn’t even think of getting it, even though now he knew that it was now the direction he wanted to go, proper old school. Fast forward another year or so, and Benny saw the same bike advertised online and thought, “I wonder if I could make this deal happen?”
So he put his Shovelhead up for sale, deciding that if it went quick for the right money then it was meant to be. Six hours after putting the word out, the Shovelhead was sold and the guy came to get it that night, so he instantly jumped on the phone to the guy with the Panhead and made the deal, and again spent all my money on this 70-year-old chopper.
Chopped and Rolling
Now the dream is real and Benny owns his dream bike, a mighty Harley- Davidson Panhead. As Benny stated, “This super crusty looking chopper has it all in my opinion, a nice stance with all the trick bits and the perfect crusty paint job to go with it. It has so much character and looks like some sketchy chopper straight out of the old movies and magazines.”
It seems safe to say that Benny is now hooked on choppers, and as he claims, “It’s not just about the ride on these things, it’s the story that comes with owning them and riding them. Meeting people from all walks of life that you would probably never meet from the shows, roadside breakdowns, to the old guy in the garage when you’re fuelling up telling you how he owned a bike once upon a time when he was a young lad”.
He did make a few changes which included the upswept exhausts, Wide Glide forks, a custom cobra seat along with the four-inch classic Lowbrow rear guard before sending it all off to Rattle Can Ron to paint it in the off white with blue and yellow details.
The Challenge of Old Bikes
Benny does admit that it can often be a challenge with old bikes, especially planning a ride, gearing up only to discover that the old girl won’t start, even more so if it’s been sitting too long resulting in a wet sump. And it’s an occurrence that Benny is all too familiar with, like the time he made plans to go for a ride with his mates and needed to do a quick petcock change because it was leaking.
Should have been a quick job, but when his mates all arrived to ride, he had to change all the fuel lines because the new one was a different fit, then when he was done, he found that somehow he’d knocked the float off so he had to strip the carburettor down. Then when they finally hit the road, they only got five minutes into the ride when his mate’s exhaust fell of his Shovelhead.
But even with all these quirks, crazy breakdowns, and stories they all have, Benny insists there is no better feeling than an old bike. Being part of its history and its future, the thought of where these bikes have been and what they have seen to where they are now is what it’s all about according to Benny. As he says, “It’s all part of the story and that’s something you can only experience if you have an old bike.
It’s a way of life that young me always dreamed of when I first ever saw my dad pull up on his Harley, be on the road with my friends, riding, fixing, building, camping and just having fun! In my opinion, the UK has some amazing roads and places, while the chopper shows are second to none, it’s an incredible time to be on a chopper right now. All I can say is, I’m honoured to be sharing the roads with such fine people and machines!”
Benny would like to thank Stu from Forever Two Wheels, Joel Peet (Rattle Can Ron), his mate Ade, Revs Hog Motorcycles, Lucifer Cameron and last but not least his dad Tim and his family, kids and girlfriend for all their support. Now I guess he’s off to see if his sweet old Panhead will start…
Beyond the ride: discover compelling stories and features in LiveToRide magazines.
