A Rebel Forever

“It’s in my blood…”

DAMO: I’ve been in the Rebels for 13 years. I’ve got two uncles and three cousins in the club.

Ozbike: There are a lot of families — brothers, fathers, cousins — in the Rebels.

Damo: Yeah, there’s like seven brothers in the club at the moment.

Ozbike: This bike originally belonged to Gino, Alex Vella’s brother.

Damo: Yeah, Gino’s my uncle; he’s been in the club for 35 years. I remember the bike when I was a little kid; I was like 10-years-old. I remember him riding around on it.

Ozbike: It must have been a different bike to what it is now.

Damo: Yeah, the basic look was exactly the same — the motor and gearbox are the same. The only things I’ve changed are the front wheel — it had a spoked wheel on it before — and maybe the bars and headlight; and I had to add a speedo and blinkers because nowadays you can’t fuckin’ get around without them.

When I got the bike, I pulled it apart, re-chromed everything, and gave it a new fresh paint job.

Dave from Mild & Wild did most of the work. Joe Webb from Bad Image did the paint-work.

Dave also freshened up the motor a bit.

It’s been around Australia a fair time. When Gino had it, it was his club bike.

Ozbike: Is this the bike you’re going to ride to Perth on the annual club run?

Damo: No, not a chance. I love to ride it around town — it’s my pub-to-pub bike — but I’ll leave riding a rigid to Perth to Little Mick in Queensland. He’s sure to ride his rigid Knuckle.

Finally, I want to dedicate this feature to the brothers world-wide, brothers in jail, and brothers who have passed.

Dave from Mild & Wild Custom Cycles

DAMO’S BIKE got dropped off at Mild & Wild after not being ridden for six years. He asked me to strip it down and do a ground-up rebuild using most of the original bike.

The motor, gearbox and primaries were stripped down, and either polished or chromed.

The engine was fully rebuilt, balanced with hi comp pistons, heads ported and flowed, carby polished, and highly modified with a TwinTech ignition system.

The frame and all other parts that required painting went to Joe Webb from Bad Image. The paint work includes the full club colours.

When the paint work was returned, assembly started, and with only a few weeks to go until the annual Bringelly Bike Show, the pressure was on.

It was finished on time for the show and turned out better then I expected. It even took out Best Rigid at the show.

A big thanks to Dave and Brad from Mild & Wild Custom Cycles, Joe Webb at Bad Image, Cow from LA Cycles for engine work, Darryl from Farnon Fabrication, Pat from Sounds for wiring of bike. Big thanks to my cousin AV Junior for doing his head in about my crazy ideas while building the bike.

Mild & Wild Custom Cycles, Unit 2, 92-94 Jedda Road, Prestons NSW 2170; 02-9607-2960.

Parts List:
Attitude Spinger front-end, Renegade Monterey front wheel, PM hand controls, Dakota speedo, PM forward controls and rear pegs, Wimmer intake, original centreline back wheel, Monterey front and rear brake discs, PM front and rear brakes, fishtail pipes, 16-inch inch apes, bullet headlight.

Photos by Wall 2 Wall

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