Dark Destroyer (of footrests mostly)

One of the things I really like about the British custom bike scene is the fact that some people in it, despite being surrounded by the latest trends and fashions of the day, look at them and go “naa, not for me, ta.”

Paul Jones, the owner and builder of this ‘ere Bandit-engined hardtail streetfighter, is well aware of the latest fashions in custom bike building, of bikes that look like refugees from the late ‘50s to the late ‘70s, of dark blue jeans wi’ turn-ups, of the resurgence of rock n’ roll at bike events, an’ all that, but as someone who harkens back to the ‘90s, no the ‘70s, doesn’t really see that any of it’s relevant to him.

He’s got a very tough matt black GPX750 (monoshock, three-spokes, Sporty tank, cut-down frame) that was featured in 100% Biker back in the 2000s, but he’d always wanted a ‘90s-style streetfighter/drag-style chop as those were the bikes he’d drooled over growing up. He’s been building for years and, like the rest of us, always keeps an eye open for suitable parts, and turned up the ’97 Bandit 1200 motor that was to be the heart of the bike you see here, an insurance write-off with just 2,000 miles on the clock, when his good friend Alan, who’d bought it at some point in the past, passed away. Another friend, John, spotted a hardtail frame that’d take it on Facebook Marketplace not far away, a Blue Frog Customs item, and Paul bought it, and some B12 wheels too, and, about a month later, another mate, James, sent him a link to a complete GSX-R Eleven USD front end, also locally, that turned out to have a Bandit steering stem already pressed into the bottom yoke, so slotted straight in. That meant the frame sat parallel to the ground, and all he had to do was get a top yoke and risers made.

A King Sportster tank looked a bit lost due to the length of the frame, so he ordered a Quickbob from the now, sadly, closed Cycle Haven in Lincoln, and using a bit of CAD (Cardboard-Aided Design), and a grinder, made a battery/electrics box big enough to house a standard-sized battery and all the other electrickery. He also bent the rear ‘guard out of single sheet of steel, using a folder made from a cut-down fork stanchion screwed to a bit of six-be-two timber clamped in a vice, and made a seat base using the same technology, an had it covered by a local retired chap who used to be an upholsterer at one of the car factories in Coventry. The chainguard started life as part of a hand-dryer in a ladies’ toilet in a local restaurant (“it was broken before I removed it”), and, Rob, another mate, machined the slots into it to match the sprocket cover.

For the exhaust, he bought a complete Delkevic 4-into-1 system, and chopped the link-pipe down, and got his mate Yan (who’d also TiGged the ‘leccy box) to weld in a couple of eBay bend sections to get it to tuck through the frame, and also heated and bent the downpipes so they nearly touch the sump for maximum ground clearance. Then, once he’d made all of the other fiddly brackets required, and reworked the standard footrest hangers, he made a start on the wiring, using parts ordered from Digital Speedos, and herein lies a tale – he’d taken a week off work to get it all wired up, with an MoT booked on the Saturday morning to give a bit of a deadline to work to, and as he’d already had the bike running on the original loom when he first got it,  knew it was okay, but once he’d got everything connected it wouldn’t fire… at all, not even a spark. It turns out the original Suzuki ignition switch has a resistor built into it, that’s not on the wiring diagrams, and if the ignitor doesn’t see this resistance when powered up, it won’t send a signal to the coils (it’s an anti-theft device to prevent hot-wiring, apparently). Once he’d sussed that, thanks to internet forums, he fitted the original ignition, and it fired straight up.

Engine-wise, he fitted a Dynojet kit to ensure it’d run correctly with the foam pod air-filters, but had to change them after a while to genuine K&Ns as they didn’t allow enough flow at high revs (“it now pulls hard, and is far faster than a hardtail really needs to be on today’s roads…”). Then, he sprayed it matt black (“which’s how most of my bikes then stay”), got the MoT, and rode it like that for the rest of that year to see if anything broke or fell off.

That winter, he took it off the road and stripped it to have all the black blasted off as he’d always known that, if he was ever to have a bike painted properly, then the paintwork it’d be having was the album cover from Obituary’s Cause Of Death, with the rest of the artwork by the same artist, Michael Whelan, who did a lot of horror book illustration and thrash/death metal album covers back in the day. He’d seen the work John at Pitstop Paint out in the Hebrides’d done on my silly-sided Bandit, and wanted him to do it so, after a few conversations, posted everything off in two large boxes (“a bit nerve-wracking until I knew it’d arrived safely – if anything’d gone missing, hours of work’d been wasted”). While John worked his magic, the frame, wheels, and bracketry were powder-coated satin and/or gloss black by Warwickshire Powder Coating (“highly recommended!”), and he painted the engine and polished the engine cases, exhaust, wheel rims, and anything else that’s shiny. A couple of months went by and the big day arrived – the paintwork was delivered. “It’s even better than I thought it’d be – not too in-your-face, just the right balance of dark colours, but it really sparkles in the sunlight.”

Final words to Paul: “It rides and corners really well, but I do keep wearing through footrests… I’m thinking of some kind of air-suspension under the seat so I can manage longer runs (longest so far was a 240-mile round trip to the NCC Suffolk show), but I’ve still done over 4,000 miles since I got it on the road. I think I’ll be keeping this one as I can’t see me building another shiny bike…”

Spec: 1997 Suzuki Bandit 1200 engine (Stage 3 Dynojet kit, K&N air-filters, Delkavic exhaust (modified), aftermarket oil-cooler/lines)/footrests (modified)/hangers (modified)/wheels (front/rear)/brake master-cylinders (front/rear)/clutch master-cylinder, rear disc/caliper/torque arm/ignition switch, Blue Frog Customs hardtail frame, aftermarket wavy front brake discs, Suzuki GSX-R 1100 front brake calipers/USD forks/bottom yoke (modified)/front mudguard, one-off top yoke, braided brake lines, pull-back drag ‘bars, Axel Joost push-button switchgear/boost controller, Daytona digital speedo/rev-counter, Suzuki GS125 fairing/headlight, one-off headlight bracket, Quickbob tank (modified), one-off seat, one-off rear mudguard/rack, one-off battery/electrics box, one-off chainguard, one-off loom, Highsider Blaze LED rear light/indicators

Finish: Obituary paint by John O’Hara at Pitstop Paint, powder-coating by Warwickshire Powder-coating, polishing by owner

Engineering: Bike built by owner with help from Yanis, top yoke & risers by Pole Precision Engineering (01788 551654 or www.poleprecision.co.uk), spacers/help with fork covers by Paul Treen

Thanks To:  “Yanis for welding; John O’Hara for such amazing paintwork; Alan RIP; John; Paul; & Mandy for putting up with me living in the garage for months on end…”