When I was young I used to drool over pictures of those exotic works bikes, the incredibly trick magazine project bikes and the ads in the back of the American magazines offering all sorts of amazing gizmo's to make your motocross bike faster/lighter/better handling/prettier. However being a poor apprentice from working class roots I could never afford a C&J or Harry Hindall frame, a set of Arnaco shocks or even a humble Webco head. Instead I plodded along tricking up my bikes using magazine 'how-to' articles to produce my own frame lowering kits for DT1's, LTR frame conversions for older Maicos and my own custom made alloy parts made at work (usually foreign orders) such my own alloy finned Koni bodies copied from a Poppy body I borrowed from a bloke in my club.
Now that I'm in my sunset years and comparitively cashed up (
compared to my young days at least 
) I can afford to build some of those bikes that I drooled over 40 years ago. I remember panting over the Dirtbike Magazine Project Bighorn in 1972 and now I actually own that very bike...(
or at least the frame and tank). My Hindalls, Boyd and Stellings TM400, hot rod DT1's and other weird and wacky Frankenbikes are the machines I wished I could have built in 1974. I truly understand that many folks just don't get the hot rod bike concept but quite frankly I don't particularly care. I build my bikes purely to satisfy my own passion and if one other person likes what I do, that's too cool. If they don't get it, no problem either, I like 'em and that's all that matters in the end
.
I also like stock restorations and have done a number over the years. Two of my resto's are on display at the Nabiac Museum and Yamaha used my DT1 for their motor show displays during their 50th anniversary year so I'm not just a 'gas axe and hacksaw merchant' as one forum member kindly described me a couple of years ago
. Unless something really special comes along I can no longer see myself doing any more pure resto's though. These days I haven't got the patience and single minded dedication needed to do a proper 10 point restoration. Specials are so much easier to me.
There's room for all kinds of bikes in our sport. It's fantastic to see proper restorations so we can remember exactly how the bikes were and on the other side the inner hot rodder within me is stoked to see a well tricked up period race bikes and well set up race bikes that employ a little bit of both philosophies. Vive, le differance' I say!
