Probally the best Birmingham-based vampire motorcycle movie ever made.

Review From Eat my brains.com

"At first glance it seems like the most unlikeliest of combinations: the guy who does the voice of Bob the Builder and the guy who plays C-3PO appearing in the same movie? A horror movie? A British horror movie about a vampire motorcycle set in Birmingham? Well, truth is often stranger than fiction and this movie is living proof of that, or rather proof of what happens when a production company behind a hit show lie to the TV studio backers about doing re-shoots, borrow the show’s sets, props and even actors, and make a low-budget horror comedy of their very own. About a vampire motorcycle. In Birmingham.

The film itself opens with a good old fashioned bit of biker turf war action. A devil worshipping biker gang has moved in to the territory of a rival gang called the ‘Road Toads’ to do a spot of demon summoning, so the Road Toads break out the weapons and carnage ensues. The Road Toads win, slaughtering all the devil worshipping bikers easy, but little do they know they were too late to stop the summoning and the demon is now here finding refuge in a damaged Norton Commando motorcycle.

So when Nick Oddy (or ‘Noddy’ to his friends, Neil Morrissey to you and I) heads off to buy a second hand, slightly damaged Norton motorcycle, you know exactly what to expect. At the beginning things are quiet, with only the brutal decapitation of Noddy’s mate Buzzer giving any hint that something is amiss (that’ll teach him for stealing the bike’s petrol cap). Then there’s the bike’s handling going bananas when Noddy happens to ride past the Road Toads, but he puts that down to dodgy steering, which is sensible really as that’s a little more probable than your bike being a vampire. The straw that finally breaks the camel’s back, though – when the bike reveals it’s true nature – is when Noddy and his girlfriend order a Chinese takeaway from the guy who plays Kato in the Pink Panther movies. That’ll teach them to order garlic prawns.

So with the bike now unveiled it appears that no one in Birmingham is safe. In a few sequences clearly inspired by a handful of contemporary American horrors (An American Werewolf in London immediately springs to mind) the bike goes on the rampage, killing other bikers, traffic wardens, coppers and old people indiscriminately. Noddy soon puts two and two together and he decides to head to the only place he can think of for help: the local church!

Watching I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle again after all these years feels almost like you’re unearthing a lost classic. The crack I made earlier about this movie’s Boon connection (a popular late 80s TV show starring Michael Elphick) sounds like a joke but as you watch the disc’s excellent retrospective documentary you soon realise that it’s absolutely all true. It’s a classic tale of low-budget filmmaking and one that warms any respectable film fans heart. Practically all the principal cast had appeared in Boon at some time or other (except Anthony Daniels), Noddy’s house is Boon’s house and the crew are all the same too. Sure, this gives I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle that cheapo TV movie feel, but this flick’s never going to be winning any awards for direction or cinematography, so who cares? When you’re out to make a tongue-in-cheek horror comedy with sod all budget, you take all the help you can get.

And anyone involved in this project should be proud. The script is knowing and self deprecating, plus it doesn’t mind making Morrissey, the movie’s hero, out to be a lazy male-chauvinist pig. The British predilection with toilet humour is here in full force (the ‘talking turd’ sequence being a particularly disgusting highlight, especially when in jumps into Noddy’s mouth) as is our obsession with having nice cups of tea to solve everything. The music is also suitably ridiculous, ranging an incidental score that sounds like it was lifted from a Carry On movie (yes, they borrowed the composer from Boon, would you believe) to pumping rock tracks, one of which is called “She Runs On Blood... She Don't Run On Gasoline” (which is included in it’s separate entirety as a special feature on the DVD). But the biggest gem in this pot of treasure is seeing Anthony Daniels – Mr C-3PO himself – as a camp gung-ho biker exorcist, complete with razor-sharp throwing-crosses. “Let’s go kick some bottom!”

So, don’t take it seriously and don’t expect anything ground-breaking or Oscar worthy and you won’t be disappointed. Do expect to see biker rock carnage, garlic bandoliers, multiple decapitations, fingers severed, vampire bike POV shots (through the cracked headlight, obviously) and Neil Morrissey with a fake turd hanging out of his mouth. This is one of those good bad classics that I’m sure a lot of people have forgotten about, so thank goodness M.I.A. have finally given this baby the golden DVD treatment it deserves as this is clearly the best Birmingham-based vampire motorcycle movie ever made."

Raptors and Rockets review of the CCM Cafe Racer.

From Raptors and Rockets:


Words: Tor Sagen/Photo: Gary Freeman/Redeye & Tor Sagen

"Since rising from the collapse in 2004 CCM have recently launched an all new retro collection of offroad and road motorcycles. The British maker of offroad and competition motorcycles has only recently turned to the retro market. And it’s a wise choice since CCM’s heydays was in the 70’s and 80’s. We rode the new Street Scrambler and Flat Tracker on English roads and on the Speedway track.


On my way to pick up the SR40 Street Scrambler it was my first time visiting the Bolton based CCM factory. CCM is hidden away inside an industrial area typical for the North-West of England, the industrial revolutions cradle. I am greeted by Gary Harthern (49), the Managing Director and saviour of the modern CCM. Further inside the new CCM premises off Vale Street in Bolton I find Austin Clews (42) on his knees working on next years FT35 Flat Tracker race bike. Austin is officially the Sales Manager, but everyone is very hands on in this family run business. Russel Clews (30) is the youngest of the two Clews brothers and the Purchasing Manager. These three make out the CCM management.

Austin runs through the controls and idiosyncrasies of the SR40. Idiosyncrasies because the SR40 Street Scrambler is the only existing prototype! So the seat is not final, the exhaust is too close to the rear tyre etc. I am being told that I am now an official test mule and if any problems just call. Worrying, but after writing down all the mobile phone numbers I feel safe that I would at least be picked up by a CCM van if something should go wrong.

The SR40 is a tiny and very short motorcycle. With a punchy little 398cc single cylinder engine taken from the Suzuki DRZ400 SR40 becomes somewhat wheelie prone. But with 42bhp and wide retro offroad handlebars it’s all very controllable. The SR40 is a Scrambler modelled on popular Triumph’s and BSA’s from the 60’s and 70’s. The handcrafted untreated alloy fuel tank makes a clear statement of minimalism and true retro looks. The aluminium mudguards and headlight with stainless steel guards are also retro and for someone that is used to riding a lot of modern bikes this is a real treat to the eyes. Despite the retro looks and image this Scrambler can and will handle most terrain.

The dry weight merely tips the scales at just over 120kg and riding it away from the Bolton factory I feel like a giant on the small bike. The ergonomics on this one and only existing prototype is nothing short of torture. I was shown the new seat at the factory that will replace this thin piece of leather that is fitted to this bike. When seated I could feel the sub frame trying to crush my bum-cheeks, but as mentioned this will be changed before production starts. The SR40 like any other new CCM will only be produced as Limited Editions-All handmade and assembled in Bolton.

The Paioli front fork has got modern internals, but is modelled on exactly how a classic offroad bike would have looked like. The suspension at the back is just as retro with double shocks from Brit firm Hagon. The suspension feels quite soft, but never bottomed out. The wheels are 18inch at the back and 21 inch at the front with offroad spec tyres fitted. These give the bike a tall and swampy feel on the road. They are slippery on the edges in the bends, but will easily do a wheelie on the wet when the bike and road is straight. Top speed on the motorway is around 90mph which is plenty enough on this short and small Scrambler.

On difficult offroad terrain is where this little gem could give a few grown up offroaders a surprise. It could be described as a mixture between a trails and offroad bike. Because it is so small and light it is nimble as very few bikes. At the same time it has got that low Scrambler seat height that will allow even docile offroad riders to perform daredevil manoeuvres on the dirt! The SR40 is a very forgiving offroad bike and I can’t see anyone ever getting into trouble on one! It’s like a small and stubborn mountain goat that will climb and climb when others have given up. So yes, a mixture between a trials bike, offroad and Scrambler is what the SR40 is. CCM have fitted Brembo brakes both at the front and back and not much is needed to stop this lightweight.

At the end of the test we headed out to Scunthorpe speedway circuit in the North-East of England. It was a bloody cold, wet and misty day-but I haven’t had this much fun in ages. On any Sunday is a brilliant film, and racing on the Flat Track ovals is all it’s about. This was my chance to play Mert Lewwill anno 1970 and I grabbed it with both hands! After doing loads of static shots around the track and action shots on the road I could wait no longer. I had Scunthorpe to myself and three bikes to choose from. The SR 40 Street Scrambler, the FT35RS and the FT35 race bike that won the British championship in 2006.

Since I had spent more time on the SR40 than the other two bikes at this point I headed out on the wet dirt track with the Scrambler first. First I just felt my way round to find out where the major puddles of standing water was and then I tried to start sliding like a pro. And I tell you it’s not easy and particularly not when it’s wet! The slide quickly becomes uncontrollable and who am I to demolish CCM’s one and only SR40 prototype? So I decided to go fast instead to let the sliding happen naturally. I forgot to ask the CCM guys which direction you are supposed to ride around Scunthorpe and went anti-clockwise. Not that it mattered as I was the only guy circulating. Pete Boast was present at our event to get some real sliding done for the camera and it didn’t take long before I had to call him in to get the job done.

But first I swapped the SR40 with the FT35 Flat Tracker race bike. A tuned single cylinder beast with a growl that shouts Torque! With 46.2Nm of torque on the rear wheel (!) available at just over 6.000rpm it tells a story. The race bike is a 500cc conversion though with Remus race exhaust and the max horsepower figure is 46bhp @ 7.500rpm measured on the rear wheel. Before I had had the chance to do one lap I was covered in mud! As you might know a Flat Track race bike comes without a front mudguard, but one usually put a mudguard on when it’s wet! We had still planned to shoot the FT35 roadbike and the CR40 Café Racer on the road so I thought it would be best to wait until last with the race bike when it was ok to get all muddy. But too late for my white Scott jacket. There’s no front brake which takes time to remember and you do need to brake even on an oval sometimes. The Brembo rear brake will have to do the job.

Later Flat Track racer Pete Boast went out on the FT35 race bike to show us how it was done. Even he found it difficult with the sliding on the wet Scunthorpe surface, but we got a couple of shots before he got a puncture on the rear tyre. We rode with Speedway tyres by the way to get some grip on the wet. Just a couple of weeks later Boastie won a race on Scunthorpe so the man knows his way around a dirt track. But with a punctured rear tyre and the light going fast we had to call it a day. No more Flat track racing for me that day.

CCM have been best known for making Supermoto bikes in the last few years. You might be mistaken to think that the FT35 road bike is a supermoto. It isn’t really, but you can treat it like one when riding. The main difference from a supermoto is that the FT35 is derived from Flat Track racing which means it has a much lower seat height for better control with those slides when leant all the way over. This FT35 has got road tyres and superb suspension from WP.

The first thing you notice about the FT35 is the tiny instruments from Accumen. It lights up like a Christmas tree. Then when pushing the electric starter button the bike is unbelievably loud! There is a reason for that and that is the cone shaped stubby exhaust from Remus. This is not standard off course as it’s highly not road legal. A single cylinder engine releases a lot of noise given the chance to breathe freely, even a small 398cc engine like in the FT35. As soon as the engine has warmed up and you can push the manual choke back in place it’s a little more civilised-But only until you touch the throttle.

This was fun for a while, but the loud noise is such a hard noise rather than a smoother sounding V-twin bike with open pipes. You really should ask your neighbours about permission before installing that Remus exhaust…

Out on the motorway this 400cc bike accelerates all the way to an indicated 120mph! That’s pretty unbelievable for any single cylinder bike to be honest. But then again the Accumen speedo might not be completely honest. This very bike that I was riding belonged to a certain Mrs Foggarty and might have more goodies mounted than I was aware of. The windblast is relentless and the sooner I could turn off the motorway the better it was.

In town I absolutely loved this bike. It doesn’t wheelie unless you want it to, but I certainly wanted it to and it did. In town I think it’s ok to be loud, agreed some poor little old lady might get her hearing aids blown up, but at least pedestrians and everything else can hear you coming. We were so close to getting into so much trouble several times during the weekend on the CCM FT35 that it was a slight relief to return it. I was chased away by this lady that claimed her horses that were in a stable several miles away, found the charming little bike disturbing.

So I returned the anti-social little beast back to CCM quite content. A weekend was enough, but there could still have been more fun to be had. Fun is all this bike is about and it is a great little short distance commuter.

I was now due to ride the CR40 Café Racer. But there was a problem when I arrived, there was no sidestand on the bike and the new one was not ready yet. We could have disengaged the sidestand switch and gone for a spin, but then CCM remembered that they had removed a footpeg as well to use on another bike that had gone out to the press in a hurry. So I had to settle with sitting on the CR40 S with the 80’s TT inspired fairing. The bike is very different from the SR40 Street Scrambler that it shares both chassis and other parts with. The clip-on handlebars are retro racing and the tyres are road orientated Dunlop’s rather than the knobby ones on the Scrambler. Great if you fancy the look, but me I’m a Scrambler man.

Conclusion

Of all the CCM’s that I rode the SR40 Street Scrambler is my favourite both when it comes to looks and offroad ability. There’s just nothing like it out there. The FT35 roadbike with loud pipes made the most spectacular impression and it handles better than all the other CCM’s-Perfect if you ride a lot in town or if you are not tall enough for a supermoto. But that Remus stubby silencer is bloody loud! Riding the bikes on the Flat Track was the highlight of the test and this experience is highly recommended. CCM organises Flat Track experience days and you should try it if you have got the chance. The combination of reliable Suzuki engines, quality suspension and brakes and hand built CCM chassis and fuel tanks should be irresistible if you like how the bikes look like. If not you could always buy a puke yellow DRZ400…

CCM brief history

CCM was founded in 1971 by Alan Clews-Then called Clews Stroka that soon became Clews Competition Machines, now known as CCM. During the 70’s CCM had great success in Motocross with John Banks and Bob Wright. In 1976 Eddie Kidd jumped 13 double decker buses on a 2 valve 500cc CCM. More than 54 machines were then sold to the Sultan of Oman for his display team. In the early 80’s CCM Armstrong won the British trials championship two years running with Steve Saunders. In 1981 CCM Armstrong won the 250 TT with Steve Tonkin. Niall McKenzie dominated the British 250cc Road racing championship with the world’s firs all carbon fibre frames. CCM produced over 4000 motorcycles for the North-American market under the Can Am brand. During the same period CCM produced more than 3000 MT500 army motorcycles to the British, Canadian and Jordanian armies. Harley-Davidson bought the rights to produce the MT500 in the US. In the late 90’s and until the bankruptcy CCM were active in four stroke racing with rally success in Dakar, but mainly on the supermoto track. In 2004 CCM was at the brink of extinction. Gary Harthern, a local business owner from Preston came up with the cash needed to restart production. Together with the two Clews brothers Austin and Russel he now runs the small British company from the North-West of England. Since then we have seen the launch of new bikes each year at the International motorcycle & Scooter show in Birmingham. This will continue and CCM are now developing a brand new 450cc motocross bike. Motocross is where it all started in the 70’s and be sure that CCM will soon be back on the MX scene."

The Manchester Online review of the Voxan Cafe Racer.

From Manchester Online:

VOXAN have been around for nearly ten years, but financial problems and a corporate restructure have kept them out of the UK until now.
There are three Voxan 1000 models about to be launched as the French company sets up its UK dealer network. The bikes are the Black Magic Roadster, Street Scrambler and the Café Racer. All of them use the same basic chassis and 996cc V-twin engine.

The first thing that strikes you about the Voxan Café Racer is the meaty engine. It's a smooth, torquey motor, producing about 100bhp at just 8000rpm. Digital fuel injection keeps the throttle response rapid, although there was some popping on the over-run. It isn't as fast as a 999 Ducati, but it does feel potent enough.

The motor is set very low in the chassis, which comprises of two steel tubular backbone sections, with the engine hanging low from the main tubes. The weight of the bike is 185kgs, which is lighter than, say, a Suzuki SV1000 or Aprilia Mille. Suspension is top notch, with 41mm Marzocchi forks and a Paioli monoshock, mounted underneath the engine, which keeps the wheelbase short. The riding position is semi-race, so you soon get into chucking the bike into roundabouts and bends with confidence.

The Voxan feels precise, solid and responsive - it handles A roads with agility and finesse, but isn't quite in the Ducati 999S class.

Some details, like the rearsets, the white-faced clocks and the massive Brembo brakes, give the Voxan Café Racer a classy appearance. It looks like a connoisseurs' motorbike and worth the likely £8,000-ish price.

But other aspects, like its notchy gearbox or its dated-looking fairing section, suggest that Voxan still have some development to do on the Café Racer project.

Personally, I loved riding the Voxan and found it unique, exciting and alive with grunty power. It isn't as smooth and effortless as an SV1000 Suzy or a modern Ducati, but it has a certain charm. If you like the V-twin experience then maybe the Voxan could be your cup of café espresso.

Review: The leather boys.

From Webbikeworld:

The Leather Boys
Director: Sidney J. Furie
108 minutes
Made in 1963
Starring Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell, and Dudley Sutton.

"Even though this film is often listed for sale on various motorcycle book and video sites, it is not about motorcycles. It is, however, a surprisingly good film.

When I bought the DVD, I had a vague notion that the film was something about '50's British rockers hanging out on Nortons and Triumphs at the Ace Café in London. Well, yes, there are some great shots of very classic motorcycles, the original Ace Café and the look, the feel and the sounds of that era of classic motorcycling. But the motorcycles provide only the ambiance that serves as background support for the main themes, and are not the featured event.

There are several factors that are necessary to make a good film. Things like the plot, the screenplay, the direction, the photography and the editing are among the obvious. But one thing that is almost always present is a multi-level plot that works on various levels and comes together in the end, and The Leather Boys has it in spades.

On one level, it's a film about the immaturity of teens in lower-class Britain and how they mistake lust for love and show a stunning immaturity regarding marriage. It's also a little bit about teen rebellion against stuffy parents, most of whom are played as very old fogies with hardly a clue as to what motivates the younger generation.

Colin Campbell does an excellent job as Reg, a bike-loving mechanic who falls for Dot (Rita Tushingham) and has a too-healthy libido. Dot quits high school and they get married, which adds complexity to the layers with a commentary on youth, commitment and maturity.

Dot turns out to be unsurprisingly (to us) shallow, and Reg gets fed up and leaves to hang out with his mate Pete (excellently played by Dudley Sutton). They end up moving in to Reg's grandmother's house together to save money on rent. One of the great things about the film is how it slowly becomes apparent to both the viewer and to Reg that Pete is gay and has fallen for Reg and considers him as his own. It's ironic that the Dot/Reg relationship failed but the Reg/Pete relationship seems more successful and is, in a way, a more ideal pairing.

But as Reg realizes what's happened, he reevaluates his life and ends up back with Dot. I think it's all done very well and was certainly a very risqué film and topic for the '50's. It is much more frank and straightforward about the problems of youth and society in general than anything that came out of Hollywood about these topics during that era.

The Leather Boys has great shots of bikes, the Ace and the clothing that we see today only in the pages of "Classic Bike" magazine. As long as you realize this is not a movie about motorcycles, but a very good film that is a social commentary, I think you'll enjoy it. I was surprised and delighted by this gem of a film that will unfortunately remain forever obscure because of its title and because, ironically, it is classified as a motorcycle movie."

From Wiki:

"The film is based on a novel commissioned by the gay London literary agent and publisher Anthony Blond. He wanted a working class "Romeo and Romeo" story and got it, in the tradition of Mary Renault, from a female writer named Gillian Freeman. In contrast to La Renault, though, Ms. Freeman's two male protagonists are not highly educated or members of the upper class.


The film plot was changed considerably, presumably to make it more palatable to 1964 movie-goers. Only one of the main male characters is gay in the film (with Reg leaving Dick upon finding out his sexuality at the film's end) but, while neither has a happy ending, in the novel there is no ambiguity whatsoever regarding the love between Dick and Reg.
The book was published in 1961 under the pseudonym Eliot George – an inversion of the famous 19th century female author, Mary Ann Evans, who published as George Eliot. Ms. Freeman is credited in the film as the author of the screenplay based on the novel of Eliot George."

The daily telegraph's review of the Triumph Truxton.

"Nothing could replace the classic Bonneville, but the new Thruxton should be a success, says Kevin Ash

I always wanted to like the "new'' Triumph Bonneville, introduced in 2000. The classic British parallel twin is a fine and distinctive-looking power unit, and the layout is the only credible alternative to the ubiquitous V-twin for cruising bikes, although because it's smaller in profile it's a lot harder to get the styling right without swamping the engine visually. But apart from an ugly kink in the exhaust pipe run, Triumph did it convincingly, on top of which the machine handled and stopped well.


Yet although the engine wasn't burdened with the oil leaks and vibration of the original Bonneville, it lacked the punch and excitement implied by the badge.

The new Thruxton changes that. The capacity climbs to 865cc from 790cc due to a 4mm larger bore, which, with revised cam profiles, modified carburettors and a compression ratio increase to 10.2:1, raises power by 8bhp to 69bhp and torque to 53lb ft. More important than these numbers is the motor's new-found eagerness. It's not sports-bike fast, of course, but now it surges forward willingly instead of leaving you with the feeling you should be apologising for opening the throttle too far and troubling it. In short, it's fun, and that's why most of us ride bikes.

The spread of power impresses, too, the bike pulling with only 2,000rpm showing on the white-faced tacho, and unlike the Bonneville it keeps going crisply right to the 7,500rpm red zone. And thanks to a pair of balance shafts, you'll find vibration only if you go out of your way to look for it - some things are best consigned to the past.

That's where the styling's inspiration came from, however, specifically the British cafe racer scene of the 1960s, most famously centred on the Ace Cafe on London's North Circular (tel 0208 961 1000). Ton-up bikers would gather in caffs and coffee bars and race from one to the next, unencumbered by tiresome speed limits. The tool of choice was the Triton, a 650cc Bonneville engine housed in Norton's seminal Featherbed frame, but dropped handlebars (known as Ace bars) and rear-set footrests adorned almost anything in a bid for cafe credibility.


The new bike's name, meanwhile, belongs to the race circuit near Stonehenge where in 1962 Triumph scored a famous victory in the Thruxton 500, prompting the then Meriden factory to hand-build about 55 T120R Thruxton production racers. These have since become legendary and highly sought-after.

The modern, Hinckley-based Triumph's Thruxton 900 won't win any races, but it stays true to its heritage by being based on the contemporary Bonneville. Apart from the engine changes, the forks are more firmly sprung and damped, the rear shocks are longer to steepen the steering, and the frame geometry has been further sharpened with a one degree increase in head angle. The wheelbase is slightly shorter and an 18in front wheel replaces the Bonnie's 19-incher. The gentle Bonnie was the starting point, but the changes endow the Thruxton with much quicker steering and a welcome agility. The front end will protest with a gentle wobble if you try to flick it from side to side too forcefully, but it never develops into feeling unstable. Triumph has always excelled in the suspension department and the Thruxton is no exception.

The riding position isn't as radical as a typical Triton, either, but it will still come as a shock to those used to a laid-back cruiser. The bars are set forward and low, and at slower speeds your wrists will get sore. Up the pace to get some support from the wind pressure and it all works much better; even without the optional period flyscreen you can still cruise at 90mph. (Well, in the speed limit-free 1960s you could have, anyway...) It will hit the magic "ton'', too, reaching about 110mph.

The only thing that lets it down is the muted exhaust. For all Triumph's efforts to extract pleasingly deep and mellow tones, the sound is a testament to how far legislation, as well as engineering, has come.

The Thruxton will be bought for its style rather than performance and, of all Triumph's retro range, this look works the best. The black and white chequered central stripe is lacquered into the deep paint, the cast tank badge oozes quality and the whole machine blends convincing Brit bike culture, the authenticity of the badge and configuration, and an air of solidity and substance.

It's also a perfectly viable everyday machine, however, and judging by the Bonneville it should achieve 50mpg fairly easily. This would mean a range of about 180 miles from the 3.6-gallon tank, so fitting some of Triumph's extensive touring accessories (as well as plenty of style and performance bolt-ons) will give you have a half-decent tourer, too. Add to that its easy rideability and the new-found vivacity of the motor, and the Thruxton should prove a big success for the Triumph factory."