BSH CUSTOM CHAMPS 2020 OVERALL WINNER - BEST PAINT

OF ALL THE CATEGORIES IN THIS YEAR’S CHAMPIONSHIP, ‘BEST PAINT’ WAS THE ONE I THOUGHT’D GIVE THE JUDGES THE BIGGEST HEADACHE AS THE FOUR WINNING BIKES WERE ALL ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY PAINTED. I, PERSONALLY, HAD IT DOWN TO TWO, AND SO I WAS QUITE PLEASED WHEN VIC AND LIN, PAUL, DUTCH, AND MURRELLS PICKED ONE OF THEM – CHRIS LINDSAY’S S&S, PAINTED BY GUS AT MUDDY BEACH CUSTOMS.

- NIK

Chris’d always fancied a custom bike after having lots of Japanese bikes so, in January 2018, when this one came up for sale, he went along to see it. It was, he says, sitting outside the seller’s house under a foot of snow (this is Scotland, remember). The paint and chrome were in very poor condition, and it had a horrible plastic tank, but on the plus side it also had a 96 cubic inch (1573cc) S&S engine with a six-speed ’box, and the frame looked well put together. It was registered on a Polish ’plate, and the owner knew very little about it other than it’d come over from America. A deal was done, and he took the bike home (and managed to convince his wife that it’d only cost a couple of hundred quid, and was a great investment opportunity too). He ran about on the bike a bit, doing a few rallies, and decided that he loved the bike, but absolutely hated the plastic tank and the paintwork.

A friend’d just had his hand-built bike painted, and recommended Gus at Muddy Beach Customs, and after a ’phone call he agreed to discuss redoing the artwork. They met, and went through some ideas. Chris fancied a Scottish theme but, really, that was about as far as his input went – he decided to leave it in the hands of the professional.