Asphalt Demon Triumph Motorcycle Pub Hopper
For Paul and his mates, the Kustom Kulture scene is a way of life. A love for the lifestyle, the cars, and of course, the bikes of the ’50s and ’60s, has got Paul thinking that maybe be was ‘Born Too Late’.
PAUL, OR Dodgy as he is known to his mates due to the fact that he also owns a ’50 Dodge truck and a ’54 Plymouth, is the owner of this beautiful old ’69 TR6-P. The ex-Police bike was bought as a wreck from Recycle Wreckers at Capalaba.
“After a few modifications with the grinder and welder, I finally had a rolling skeleton,” said Paul. “I then made up all my cardboard templates for the foot-pegs, etc. I took them over to Scott, my brother in-law’s place, to see if he had any steel plate.
“We sat around and thought about it over a few beers, on what to use. We decided on his rusty old BBQ plate for mounting brackets. We then found some round bar, which we used to make the foot-peg supports.
“I went to the scrap metal yards (which can be your best friend when building a bobber or chopper) and got some flat bar. This was cold=twisted in a vice to form the linkages and rear guard struts.”
Paul opted for the ‘hands-on’ approach as far as the motor and other components were concerned.
“I rebuilt the motor on the bench in my shed and sourced a Joe Hunt magneto from the Gold Coast. I hunted around and tracked down the oil tank I wanted from Gin-Gin.
“The seat base was also handmade and formed out of sheet-metal.”
The end result is a real ‘bare essentials’ bike which has been built with a swag of handmade parts that go together to make up one tough looking pub-hopper.
On the Saturday morning we did the shoot, Paul said he could arrange for a few of his mates to roll up to add a bit more of a nostalgic look to the photos by acting as a back-drop in the disused servo. No sooner had we arrived when in rolled the most awesome procession of old-school cars and bikes you’re ever likely to see in one spot at any given time. The Saturday morning traffic almost came to a standstill and several cars pulled up to check out the wild vehicles.
Even the local cops dropped in to pay a visit and hammed it up for a couple of shots.
Paul would like to thank his mate Matt for his help with some of the engine parts, and his nephew, Nick, for doing the pin-striping.
I’d like to thank Paul’s mates who showed up on the day to help out with the photo-shoot. Paul is a member of an enthusiast group known as the Asphalt Demons. These blokes have been together for more than 10 years now and have attended Kustom Kulture events at Las Vegas, New Zealand, Tijuana-Mexico, and other parts of the globe.
I spoke to one of the founding members and he describes the Asphalt Demons as a group of mates who, basically, just love getting together to customise, modify and ride around in/on their classic cars and bikes. The Demons started out as just a car club but now most members have an old bike of some description in their possession, and as you can see by the photos, all are chopped to suit the theme and in various stages of completion.
In this fast paced world we live in today, full of high-tech, Bic-disposable vehicles, it’s refreshing to see blokes like Paul and his mates who are passionate about the resurrection of bikes and cars from days of old. I reckon they all deserve a huge pat on the back for doing their bit to preserve an important part of our customising history.
Pics by Jo; words by Paul & Chuck