BIKE CRAZY: A LIFELONG LOVE OF BIKES.

Hi guys this is my second post on #mancave created by #brofund, my first post was all about my man shed a special place I disappear to for a bit of me time.

But what do I do in there? Well blast out music play on the pinball machine and spending general hang out time with my buddies is always on the cards but mostly it's all about bikes. I love the dammed things I just can't get enough of them, some would say I have a bit of a problem, I think it's perfectly normal to have 20 plus bikes at any one time.

KTM 2 smoker.

My interest started as a kid, I grew up with a guy who was a superb motocross rider and this drew me in, I started riding and racing from a young age, never achieving a high standard but I became hooked and this sowed the seed for a lifetime of bike riding and ownership. On the other hand my friend David Thorpe went on to become 4 times world champion, I got to travel along side him seeing him rise up through the ranks, progressing from UK national champion on to his world titles.

This happened during the 80' and 90's and Dave was a large part of developing modern motocross bikes along with his chief mechanic father Keith, he was the #1 rider for Honda and Kawasaki through the period of major change to single shock suspension and todays riders have a lot to thank him for.

Mr Honda Dave Thorpe.

https://www.mxgp.com/

Since the early days off road bikes have been my main obsession but not exclusively, I have owned a silly amount of road bikes and love rebuilding vintage machines, if you can't find me when you arrive at my house you can guarantee i'll be found in the shed tinkering with a engine or rusty bit of vintage metal.

1954 BSA Bantam engine rebuild.

Working on a vintage bike is very satisfying, some of the basket cases I buy dissapear into the shed to reapear months later in their shining glory ready to take on the world, sometimes the transformation is amazing.

From this.

To this.

Time alone in the workshop with these projects is some of my most enjoyable moments, it's not that I hate the world but I like to concentrate on what i'm doing and getting lost deep inside a engine is not really a sharing thing.

Next time I will delve deeper into the shed and show you some more of my projects, from mopeds to cafe racers to modern street bikes. Until next time stay safe folks!

My last post.
(https://hive.blog/hive-174122/@biggypauls/the-ultimate-man-cave-somewhere-for-the-toys)