Kips 13.

Kips 13 is a thing of beauty, he has owned the bike for 15 years and spent a lot of time and money making it what it is today. Three years ago Kip learnt a had lesson; you don't bump start a 13. It threw the cam chain over a couple of teeth and wiped out the top end. Prior to this point the 13 was one of the nicest I'd ever seen but the engine rebuild triggered Kip into undertaking quite a bit of work.

Now most people wouldn't have bothered because it was nice to start, but with the engine out why not stove the frame? So he did, the frame and wheels where stove enameled silver. Which set the bike of very nicely.

The brakes where always a little dodgy to say the least so he had some Earl brake lines, blue to match the paintwork (Thanks to Johnny Ammo). This not only improved the bikes braking but set it apart from the norm.

The very nice rear shocks have a story behind them. Kip had hankered after them for a while, you see a mate had them doing nothing in his garage. They weren't for sale, but one night whilst the guys where out on the razzle, said mate ran out of money.  Kip took advantage of his friend who was gagging for more to drink and in a state of non coherence and offered to give him £10 beer money for the shocks. Of course he took the money got in an even worse state and had to hand over the shocks in the morning. Who needs friends like Kip? 

But the end result is a very nice set of chrome shocks which lower the 13 giving the illusion of being longer. The pipes where custom built out of stainless steel by Mick Jackson. With the bike being lowered and 13's being as wide as a house the pipes had to fit close to the engine to give maximum clearance.  The pipes are not finished yet, Kips taking them back to have the welds polished out and the complete system buffed to a mirror finish.

The purple 13 is mine, it helps show how low Kips monster is. It unfortunately shows just how tidy Kip's is as well.

It didn't stop there, the paint just had to be redone? Why it was fine, but kip had a very nice blue paint job by Andy at The Paint Studio. I must say what an excellent job it is too, I spray but not anywhere near this standard.

The motor is stage one tuned but he's rumbling on about a turbo. Kips 13 had chrome engine casing which he didn't like, so just to be different he had the casings enameled and sprayed the engine black. This is probably about to change as he's not to happy with how it looks. Watch this space.