I have been mostly...

...listening to MC5.

GKM is evidently cooler than I thought

Thanks for the heads-up, Pat.

Issue 19 is here

Heading to subscribers in the next few days, and on sale now from the GKM store.

Cover star is Hide and his Shovel – GKM award winner at Yokohama – and contents are:

Frank Kaisler: The Car Show
Hidemo’s ‘67 slabside Shovel (cover feature) (JAPAN)
Salinas Boy Aaron Elliott’s Honda (USA)
TKC’s ‘79 Shovel from Tokyo... night rider! (JAPAN)
The 2010 Mooneyes Show, Yokohama (JAPAN)
Cheap, but not nasty: Paul Whitehurst’s ‘72 Shovel (USA)
Bill Mize sets the bar again: ‘57 Pan (USA)
Pete Stansfield’s GKM Triumph project: part two (UK)
Hard knock life: Renshaw Hiscox’s ‘46 FL (UK)
Dirty! Dan Plucinski’s ‘63 trackin’ XLCH (USA)
Kurt Morrow & Ventura Motorworks
Bedwyr Evans’s mile-munching Panhead (UK)

London, late '70s

Right place, right time for life-changing music. For Matt, Con, Adam...

Now a GKM subscription really makes sense

When we started pumping out six issues a year last year, the subscription you could buy was still for four issues.

Confusing and stupid.

So from now on, when you buy a sub it will be for six issues, or a year.

That makes much more sense. And you save money over buying individual copies. And you get free stickers. Yes? Just $54.95 delivered to your door ANYWHERE in the world.

'38 EL by HawgHolic

'38 Knuckle built by Gak, with a '52 K model tank, B&H foot shift, twin M35s.

Coming soon in GKM...

Happy Australia Day!

Hope all my fellow Aussies (yes, I am proud holder of an Australian passport!) had a beautiful day today.

I wish I could have been with you. Instead, I try to conjure up memories of the taste of cold Carlton Draught after a long ride under clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine...

If I won the Lottery

I would pour enough money into GKM to make it as good as Flywheels magazine.

When Love comes to town

Spent a very pleasant couple of hours today chewing the fat with Ian, owner of this fine Love Cycles-built Knuck.

Never thought I'd be shooting one of Jeremiah's bikes a couple of hours from home, and it's great to see one of his machines in the UK.

Ian rode the bike from Phoenix to LA and says the bike is smooth and steady at 95mph. Wow. My Pan starts to shake, rattle and roll at 70...

Feature soon in GKM.

Family values

Here's another one that never – for reasons lost in the mists of time – never made it into print.

Bought by Geff's uncle Dan as a basketcase in '72 (top), this Pan was then passed down and saw action on the EDR. I like to think I might be able to pass my Pan on to my boy one day, but the reality is I'll probably be forced to sell it somewhere down the line to pay a tax bill!

Something about an exception and a rule

As you'll know, GKM has never featured girls with the bikes... I always figured that the chicks with motorcycles thing was more than adequately covered in other biker magazines.

But this is one of those photos that I kept on file because 1) I knew we were going to feature Aaron Elliott's stunning Honda (in the next issue), and because I'm a big fan of 2) Salinas Boys Customs and 3) also the very fine online Deadend Magazine.

Of course, there's an excellent fourth reason.

Jessy K. 'Nuff said. Have a good weekend.

Archive: Joel Pippett's Triton

Sometimes great bikes slip through the net. Joel from Marvelus Customs (see his Shovel in issue 17) wrote to me four years (and 17 issues!) ago about his Triton. For whatever reason, we never got it together between us to get the feature done.

Thanks for your ongoing support Joel!

Hi Guy, I just got issue 2 and it is great. Check out the Triton I
built. I have more pics if you like it. I have a '74 Trident & A65 BSA
chopper in the works as well. Keep up the good work. I will be getting a
subscription to your mag now that I know it is not going to go away; it
just keeps getting better and better. Thanks, Joel Pippett

More from Gak's lock-up

If that's what my garage looked like, I'd be grinning too.

Happy new year my friend!

Jack Nicholson pants...

... were all the rage in Yokohama.

This is one of my favourite photos from the car park... just wish it hadn't been taken on my phone. What a professional...

Happy new Vibes

Thanks Mino. 2011 is looking better already.

The sun shone

While we drank and shared our memories.

Magnums don't come more lickable than this

Coming soon in GKM.

Another corker from Hidemo

First time back here in a while. Recent events blew me right off course. And sometimes everything seems too trite to bother with.

But cool motorcycles will always revive me. And this Hidemo Sporty is a tonic. Coming very soon in GKM.

Goodbye my friend

By now you may have heard the very sad news that Johnny Routledge died on Wednesday 5 January. You may have known him as 'Slowrider' on the Jockey Journal and elsewhere.

He was a gifted engineer, bike builder, photographer... and a very bright, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, sparky and entertaining individual.

He was the only other person with his own GKM business card and his contributions to the magazine over four years were always top quality, born of his passion for all the old gearhead stuff we love.

I am gutted he's gone, as are all the many friends he made across Europe.

RIP JR. 11.12.67 - 5.1.11.

UPDATE: Johnny's funeral will take place on Monday 17th January at 09.40 in the Carlisle Crematorium, to be followed by a gathering at The George Hotel, Penrith.

The family has asked that the different facets of Johnny's life be represented in the following way:

CSI colleagues to wear CSI uniform
Uniformed officers to wear their uniforms
Friends to wear bright clothing

There will be a motorcycle procession along the A6 from Stoneybeck roundabout, through Dalston to the Crematorium. Motorcyclists gathering just before 09.00, if you wish to join in.

The ceremony will be non-religious and a celebration of his life and what Johnny meant to everyone.

Photo: Adam Bolton for GKM