Coming from a country where sportbikes rule both the roads and the sales charts, Paul’s entry for the S&S show should come as no surprise. “The U.K., as a marketplace, is much more focused toward performance bikes than customs. When the S&S thing came up, I thought from our point of view representing the U.K. that I wanted to do something that was a very British-type bike,” said Paul. “We decided we wanted to do our own crazy version of a café racer.” I’m not sure if crazy is the correct word to describe it, but the more I stare at this bike, the crazier I get about it.

Any discussion of this bike has to begin with the frame. It dominates this build, but doesn’t overpower it and lends structural credence to the bike’s high-performance aspirations. “That frame came about after working with Drew Ford, a good friend of mine and a hot rod builder who designed the chassis of my 1931 Model A hot rod which has holes all the way through it,” said Paul. “We came up with the idea of building a frame like the hot rod, but also had a light feeling to it. It wasn’t your normal Featherbed frame that everyone else does in café. It was a bitch to build.” The swingarm was made from matching billet sidepieces with a central link to mount the Ohlins’ monoshock. The massive headstock area raked at a steep 26-degrees should be easily able to contain any leftover road-induced forces from the bang on Ohlins’ fork attached to it with thick Harris Performance triple-trees. Strong, light frame and exceptional suspension, not a bad starting place to build on.

Rolling stock is dominated by brakes, but they’re not the usual discs setup. “The front brake was a local find, a brand new Ferodo 4-leading-shoe drum that had been sitting on a shelf for 25 years. It cost me a lot of money to get that brake,” said Paul. To match the vintage front four-shoe design, the rear brake consists of two Kustom Tech brass-finned, twin-shoe drums (with the left drum having the sprocket machined off) mounted on a Kustom Tech hub. The complete braking system must have been one dear bill to pay; Paul only laughs when I ask the cost. Metzeler’s finest in a 240mm rear and a 130 in front surround 18” spoked alloy rims that are a classic contrast to the ultra-modern frame design. The vintage wheel package anchors this design to a different era while still providing acceptable performance levels.

Hanging underneath the aluminum cradle frame, the S&S 100” SB-Series Sporty motor looks like it’s floating in zero gravity. With no need to make it a stressed member, Paul isolated it instead. “It’s rubber mounted to give it rideablity. The front mount is the same as an older-style Buell while the rear is actually a Chevy engine mount. We used a front tie-arm and a top tie-arm to locate the engine, much like the way they do on FXR’s and stuff,” said Paul. “We allow engine movement, but we restrict it to a certain extent.” Speaking of the engine, Paul said, “We didn’t do anything to the motor. It’s a standard S&S 100” fuel motor and that was powerful enough with the incredibly lightweight frame.” Nothing’s keeping it from making power as the air coming in is unfiltered through the velocity stack and the tightly-wrapped twin header pipes with tiny reverse-cone megas peeking out underneath the left side of the engine provide an unfettered exit. “We tried to put a little bit of a modern twist to it instead of the usual café racer-type that normally come out each side,” said Paul “It sounds very good!” Power is transferred by an attractive Nastybikes 3”-belt primary and clutch to a Bert Baker’s 6-speed Sportster tranny.

Lording over this bike is the aluminum fuel tank made by Parkers, a UK father and son cottage industry, which also houses an oil tank inside, but that’s not all. “We’ve hidden the battery in there, all the electrics, all the wiring, everything we could, so it’s very clean looking around the frame and the rest of the bike,” said Paul. The sateened-aluminum finish extends to the solo seat with twin LED taillights. “We put holes in the seat pad to match the frame. I used cookie cutters to do it. It actually looked quite nice with the cookie cutters still in there so I cut down the cookie cutters and installed them in the hole,” said Paul, laughing at the idea.

“It rides lovely. Round corners it feels good,” said Paul. “I think I need to be talking to the Ace Café about organizing a meet-up with Nick Gale. We should do at least one small section of the North Circular, two roundabouts, and back to the Ace to see who’s fastest.”