This is my buddy James, better known round these parts as 'PZ' (I don't know why? It might have been a DJ name or something like that?). And that's his MKIII Commando that he's just finished fixing up after a decent crash last year. We'd been for a ride out to Oxford together, and just after we parted ways he hit some gravel on a corner going over the Port Hills. This bike used to look completely different, it was a kind of mongrel cafe racer, with a little P11 tank, downturned bars, and a single humpback seat. It looked pretty cool, but that's another story (which I'll come back to here when I have some photos of it in it's previous guises).
I thought it was interesting that James rebuilt this back to it's standard Interstate trim. He generally likes customised bikes, especially rough ones. This was an odd decision for him I thought. That's not to say I don't like it. As an owner of a 'Roadster' Commando I've always sort of lusted after the bigger 'Interstate' tank. I love that tank. I'm assuming his single seat didn't fit on with it? Anyway apart from painting the tank James did all the repairs himself. James is a sort of self-made 'renaissance man' and likes to do everything himself.
Before we went for a ride I took some photos in his garage. At the back of the garage is an old Harley frame with a springer front end. I think he has plans for this but they are somewhat in the future...
He also has a seriously cool Triumph Speed Twin in there. He used to ride this a lot... and hard! It has some engine trouble now though and so is waiting on a strip down. James has big plans for this bike. He has a hard-tail back end for it, and at some point soon it will begin it's transformation into a seriously mean bobber.
No comments:
Post a Comment