VERONA EXPO part five.......SIDEBURN SUPPORTERS

Unfortunately my camera battery ran out so I didn't get as many portraits as I would have liked. Anyway, from the top we got Renzo Ruffo and his lovely wife. He's the son of Italian 50's/60's road racer Bruno Ruffo. Don't know what attracted him to Sideburn but he kept coming back to see us!

Next shot is Jacopo Monti, hot Italian dirt track racer who competes in the UK championship.

The guy in red is Sven from SCRAPERS car club he does a nice mag called MOTORIZED.

Next up is the guy behind SINNER SUPPLY.....sorry but his name escapes me.

The last shot is of the singer of an AC/DC clone band hired to play throughout the day.......not supporters....more like competitors...we got into a soundclash with them with Mr. Martini's 300w amp!

VERONA EXPO part three ...MR. MARTINI

Mr. Martini is a big TRIUMPH dealer in Verona.....across the street from his dealership he operates a small retail shop selling really nice customised vintage and modern Triumphs. The shop looks and feels more like a VIVIAN WESTWOOD/AGENT PROVOCATEUR lingerie emporium than a bike shop. To say Mr. Martini is an Anglophile would be an understatement, for his stand at the show he rented a London double-decker bus and utilised the top floor as a VIP lounge.
The geezer in the last shot is on the Mr. Martini payroll, his neck tattoo says "IT CANNOT RAIN FOREVER".......He's obviously never been to Manchester!!

THE ORIGIN OF "SKOOTER FARM"......

On my recent trip to Finland I saw a lot of bicycle choppers being built. This made me think back to a project that me and Capt. Highside did between us back in the summer of 1995.

The Captain was actually recovering from a broken foot that was the result of his first and only vintage motocross race and to fill his downtime he began playing around with some old cycle parts.

When I saw what he was doing, I got involved and like most things I seem to do, the project "snowballed".

The Captain did all the engineering and I took care of sourcing parts, paint, cosmetics and graphics.

This bike was christened "Subversion" and I came up with the name SKOOTER FARM CYCLE CONCEPTS...little did I know this name would stick and that over a decade later would be the moniker for our fledgling dirt track team.

People ask me a lot what the name means..... so I'll try to explain:

"SKOOTER" is an outlaw biker term for a stripped down, purposeful motorcycle. Originally spelled "scooter" I decided to change the spelling to disassociate the word from Lambrettas and Vespas.

"FARM" is a word that suggests homegrown productivity, dirt, agriculture and hillbillies.

So I guess the jist of it is..... motocycles built in outhouses and then ridden around in fields by inbreds!! ha ha!

Anyway, back to the bike, the frame and forks are a heavily modified, stretched Raleigh Burner.

The front wheel was from a unicycle and the rear is from some old moped. Other trick parts are a Mongoose Supergoose stem, one-off custom seat, faux-springer forks and the bullet head light and tail light.

The little guy sat on the bike is the Captains nephew, Tom, aged 9, up at Sunday biker hangout Rivington Barn when the bike was first finished.

Finland trip PT. 6 HOMEGROWN CHOPPERS

We spent a couple of hours over at the HOMEGROWN CHOPPERS clubhouse in Helsinki. This is a relatively new club with mainly younger guys.....many with a skateboarding background. The club currently has 30 paid up members who share the rent on the clubhouse. It's a great way to do things, there is a real communal spirit and different guys specialize in different aspects of bike building. The clubhouse also had a pretty cool, well stocked Tiki bar.

An impromtu photo shoot for DAVIDA HELMETS took place when a professional photographer, some pretty girls, Fiddy with some helmets and a cool chopper all happened to be at the same place at the same time!

The girl in the last shot, who was very clearly "with her boyfriend".... propositioned me later on in the evening....whilst her psychotic-looking "fella" was prowling around the party with his arms folded and a frowned expression on his face, watching her every move.....it left me a little uneasy and on edge.

FINLAND TRIP pt.5...ANTSU

This is Antsu, a really great guy who looked after us on our trip. He's been a friend of Fids for over 10 years. The last picture is Antsu in action and this shot is actually part of the DAVIDA MOTO PHOTO exhibition.

He's been a mainstay and innovator of the Finnish Chopper scene for 30 years, building and riding hardtails. As a result he now suffers with severe back problems, which has led to a change of lifestyle that includes a rigorous daily exersise workout on his rowing machine.

He lives in an amazing traditional wooden house, full of interesting stuff.

He owns a bunch of British/American bikes but currently his passion is J.A.P. engined projects.

He is picking up ,whenever possible, various J.A.P. engine parts and is also the proud owner of a early 50's J.A.P. grasstracker in totally original condition...I will do a post about it when I get more pictures!!

A top-notch host, a great cook with a great taste in music!

FINLAND TRIP pt.4 Petrol Circus Chopper show

The PETROL CIRCUS CHOPPER SHOW was held in a plush exhibition hall in Helsinki.here are a few bikes I liked the look of.....

Below is a bike called THE ROCKET REDUCER after an MC5 song, this was a very unusual bike which represents the Fins radical approach to bike building. Its a VICKER-WOLSEY crank/bottom end with VOLKSWAGON BEETLE cylinders engineered to fit

below is a bike belonging to Mala, the owner of Finlands best chopper mag KOPTERI. Its called DOUBLE-MOTOCROSSER!

Found these swastika hats for sale at the show in amongst the usual Ducati, Yamaha and Repsol merchandise.......Hmmm??!!