Steve Hillary, Google me - it's all bikes!
Have done a bit of everything bike orientated in my lifetime & including........
Drag Racing, Supermoto, Enduro, Sidecars - on and off road! Road racing, sprints and hill climbs, the one thing you'll notice is I wasn't any good at any of it! But I enjoyed every moment.
During all that I found I could build a good Ducati motor, and we won the Drag racing for a good few years with those engines.
Mainly I'm interested in Twins and singles- mainly four strokes with a few exceptions. Started out interested in British bikes, influenced by my dad (Tony) from a young age, and got involved in the Rockers Scene from school onwards 1977 etc. Brit bikes led me to the Battle of the Twins where I developed an interest in Ducati's as all the Brit bikes slowly disappeared from the racing.
Had a bike shop right from the moment I finished my apprenticeship (used to live in the storeroom of my first shop!) and have rented more units than I care to mention over the years! Got a bit of sponsorship off the back of the racing and ended up working for Ducati and then opening up a few Ducati Shops along the way Dr Desmo and Moto - Rapido being the later shops. Building engines for British superbike last year and Superstock this year - with Scott Smart as our rider!
Now I'm selling my share of the Ducati shop and doing something I have a passion for - Flattrack, so here we are. Just moved into the new premises, and going down to 2 days a week at the Ducati shop, so I can put plenty of time and effort into this.
The Flat Track side of the Speed shop is borne out of our Racing involvement with Shorttrack UK, the idea being to support the series by helping to build interest in the bikes at a street level i.e. street trackers and make parts and services available to racers under one roof.
Am currently racing my 1977 XR750 Harley in Shorttrack UK series - and loving it! I'm hoping to promote Flattrack over here as much as possible.
We aren't just talking about it either - we have already signed up to sponsor the Thunder bike class at Shorttrack UK this year, so make sure you get to at least one round for some very close racing! and it's the kind of sport where you can get in the pits and meet the people and smell the oil.
Cafe racers have been in my blood all my life and was passed down to me from me old man at a tender age, and ever since - whenever I bought a new bike home - as I was putting my gloves on I could hear the sound of my dad thrashing it off down the hill before I'd even sat on it!
I'm so committed to it that I managed to crash my Norton on the way to the Rockers Reunion this year, just so's I'd have a better story about the ride than any one else!
Managed to smash off the front brake when she went down, but kicked it all straight, rode the bike home with no brakes and dug another bike out of the shed and still got to Brighton for egg, bacon and a cuppa.
Bobbers - well I just dig all that low-brow vintage look stuff and it fits right in with the Hot - Rod scene which I'm deep into as well (look at our Hayride pics).
So if you wanna be part of it all, just go to the contact page and let me know what I can do for you.
Thanks Steve 'Von' Hillary.