Rising up in the Nineteen Seventies, my Fab 4 have been by no means John, Paul, George and Ringo. They have been Snorky, Fleegle, Droopy and Bingo—The Banana Splits. Conceived by Hanna-Barbera, the present featured 4 creatures who, like prototype sports activities group mascots, have been blokes wearing furry outfits and firefighter helmets.
They have been a pop band, lived in a shared psychedelic home and acquired into Three Stooges-style slapstick scrapes. Hey, it was conceived in California in 1968, what do you anticipate? It was nonetheless being proven on UK TV years later, when it served as a sun-drenched half-hour of primary-colored eye sweet, particularly for a child in a home-knit jumper, rising up within the washed-out, drizzle gray of northern England.
However what caught in my thoughts most is the six-wheel Amphicat all-terrain buggies the celebrities tore round in throughout the title sequence of the present. It was The Banana Splits and their buggies that impressed this 2003 Suzuki VanVan 125. At the least partially. The opposite half was Sideburn, the journal I edit.
Sideburn is closely weighted in the direction of grime monitor, however has at all times discovered room for road trackers, artwork, pictures, films, highway journeys and journey using. Nonetheless, since changing into the official journal of the American Flat Observe skilled race collection in 2020, I had been pondering extra in regards to the professional sport, and the way the magazine appeared to new readers who have been choosing it up at races in Texas or Ohio. This Suzuki was a reminder to myself, and potential readers, that Sideburn is about extra than simply racing.
The premise for the construct have to be one of many earliest VanVan’s within the UK, being a 2003 mannequin. These 125s are standard with learners, as a result of the seat is so low they usually’re supremely dependable. I’ve at all times liked the appears. They’re comical, lovable, immediately recognizable and as threatening as a gummy bear.
This one had much less that 10,000 miles on it, however 20 house owners on the logbook. The final proprietor, an older man, purchased it in lockdown and by no means rode it.
With the look of Fleegle’s Amphicat tattooed onto my reminiscence for over forty years, the very first thing was to seek out one other VanVan rear wheel, so I might have my very own two-wheeled seashore buggy with chubby rims entrance and rear.
It quickly occurred that Suzuki have been virtually definitely going to spec the VanVan this fashion, however backed out late within the growth course of. The gap between the entrance forks, the width and form of the entrance fender and its mounting all permit the identical 180/80-14 balloon rear tyre and rim to suit straight in—and extra naturally than the inventory, extra conservatively-sized 130/80-18 the bike was delivered with.
It wasn’t sufficient that each wheels have been chunky, they have been despatched to CJ Powder Coating, Grimsby, to be turned two-tone. It was tough to get the clear line the place the 2 colours met, however CJ persevered.
Then the well-known outdated British firm, Hagon, laced the prevailing entrance disc hub to the brand new rim with stainless spokes. I managed to snag one of many final model new 14″ Dunlop K180 tires within the nation.
You may need seen the defining component of the Sand Flea: the entrance basket that holds a Dometic Patrol 20 cooler than coolbox, a last-a-lifetime piece of package I’d been lusting after for some time. JB Fabrication, of Lincolnshire, fabricated a metal tube basket round it. JB additionally welded on brackets for the 6in projector headlight and a pair of Motone Billet flip alerts.
The basket hangs off the triple clamps. How does that have an effect on the dealing with? Properly, it’s not going to win any trials competitions, particularly when the coolbox is full of some drinks, a bag of ice and my sandwiches, however I can dwell with it.
The deck chair stripe paint job in summer time sorbet colours was accomplished by Paint By Matt, in Leeds, Yorkshire, whereas the seat was embroidered and recovered by Holy Goat Motorbike Seats, Devon. The newly powder-coated chassis was bolted again along with a Hagon adjustable mono-shock changing the corroded authentic RSU.
The route of the inventory exhaust suited the all-terrain really feel of the bike, and I favored the outsized inventory silencer, however it is a customized bike, so it was chopped to make room for a traditional Supertrapp, one of many neatest finish cans you may get to suit small diameter exhausts.
Biltwell Mushman pegs, leftover from my Harley Sportster hooligan racer, have been made to suit. A Motone Cuda taillight and license plate bracket have been bolted to the rear fender, whereas a KC headlight cowl evoked the identical Nineteen Seventies good time spirit in me as reminiscences of imported Saturday morning TV.
And I lastly discovered a house for the hand-tooled leather-based handlebar pad made for me by Busch & Busch, of Reno, Nevada. I’d had it saved for years in the past, simply ready for the appropriate venture, and match it to the Renthal bars.
There was only one final thing: a flag. Not each bike can carry off a flag, however the Sand Flea might, and one was made by my good friend, Fionnadh Lyle, with but extra Nineteen Seventies inspiration, this time within the form of the SB, for Sideburn, in Cooper Daring font. It’s hoisted on a whippy CB aerial.
With a carrying capability of 20 liters out the entrance, a rear rack for a seashore towel, and flying its personal freak flag, the Sand Flea is an entire 12 horsepower of excellent occasions, and a reminder that life isn’t at all times about checkered flags, winners and losers.
Sideburn Journal | Fb | Instagram | Pictures by Charlie Davidson
