Steve Boakes has built an attractive V-twin, using his skills and a collection of parts acquired over the years.
Words and photographs: James Adam Bolton
The green V-twin special had caught my eye on a couple of occasions at local meets and it always stopped me in my tracks as it didn’t conform, and I like things that don’t conform. “Looks fantastic. But what the hell is it?” had been my first impression to myself.
At first sight, the bike, with springer front end and V twin motor had, to me, seemed like some kind of prewar Harley EL ‘Knuck’, until I spotted the Velocette badge on the fuel tank. Then, via our local MoT man in the know Dave ‘Tiddler’ Rogers, I manage to track owner and builder Steve Boakes down to his home workshop somewhere in the Chilterns. The green V-twin is sitting there among Steve’s machinery and tools for metal and woodworking, bikes old and new, and the wooden frame of a classic car. We pull out the green bike to have a proper look, and Steve explains what it is, and how it came about.
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Any readers and concours restorers sensitive to a man building his home-brew special out of a 50-year collection of old parts might want to turn the page now…
“I call it my V2Mac. A member of the local vintage motorcycle crowd referred to it as just a BSA with a few Velocette parts thrown at it. If it only were that simple!” laughs Steve.
Read more in the April issue of TCM – out now!
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