Deus ex Machina special for Burt Munro

SOUTHERN MIGRATION: Deus Ex Machina rider Sid Hodgson astride Twister with store co-owner Doug Rikard-Bell just before packing up the bike to head to Invercargill.

HAND-MACHINED: What began as a flat-track inspired build turned into something that could cope with all four Burt Munro Challenge events.

Relevant offers

Features

Lending a helping hand Vintage flight treat The power of 10 Ride 'em cowboy Legendary piper remembered No ordinary man Central Otago fires recalled Youthline work challenge 'rewarding' Taits receive a golden tick The need for speed

Since the first Burt Munro Challenge rolled off the starting blocks in 2006, the event has grown up pretty quickly.

All the usual growing pains associated with establishing a major event seem to have been bypassed by this creation of The Southland Motorcycle Club. It has almost seamlessly risen to ride in the slipstream of the film, The World's Fastest Indian, that captured so many people's imaginations.

So what happens when an Auckland-based race team that's part of a multi-national bike franchise swaggers into town with the intention of scoping-out this most southern of events?

To understand what Deus Ex Machina are up to, you have to understand what Deus Ex Machina is.

The company was kicked off by Mambo founder Dare Jennings in 2005 and sells retro-fitted, tricked out, 70s-era motorcycles and other examples of beautiful machinery with a seriously individual twist.

Think stripped-down, sexed-up single-speed track bicycles and early model BMXs sitting alongside a classic Kawasaki W650 that's had a ground-up rebuild to look like it's just ridden off the set of a hi-sheen version of Mad Max.

Think all of that, plus art and a huge amount of motorcycle apparel displayed in a cavernous, wood-panelled central Auckland base that feels like an art gallery.

The type of art gallery where you can park your bike, slide into a leather couch, have a coffee and watch the latest Frankenstein machine assembled in a hermetically sealed, gleaming workshop manned by A1 mechanics who look like tattooed greasers or the escaped road crew of a rock band.

Deus Ex Machina co-owner, Auckland based Australian entrepreneur Doug Rikard-Bell, has significant Auckland CBD land holdings and an Auckland city fringe property development venture that's featured heavily in financial news.

Rikard-Bell is also a seasoned adventurer who has climbed major mountains, sailed most of the world's oceans and more recently ridden a Triumph Bonneville coast to coast through the toughest Australian deserts.

With another desert biking expedition planned for 2010, Rikard-Bell keeps a pretty busy schedule, but will be bringing his 1969 T150 750cc Triumph Triton south to race in each of the Burt Munro Challenge sealed events this weekend.

Ask him what he wants to achieve by bringing a small team to Invercargill and he'll give you a straight answer.

"We want to have some fun," he said.

"I'm amazed by New Zealand and its bike subculture, and the BMC must rate as the best window into this culture.

"We've had a lot of fun building a bike that's entered in all four events and will be campaigning our very own rider Sid Hodgson.

"I'll bring a few friends, our custom building team and a side tent with a few of our other custom bikes and some apparel – we really can't wait to get down there."

The bike has been dubbed the Twister and started out as a flat track-inspired build. But to cope with the beach, hill-climb and street circuit events, plenty of fine-tuning and hand-machining took place.

The engine started out as a Triumph Bonneville scrambler but, as you'd expect from this crew, didn't stay that way long.

"It's changed plenty now.

"We've added a cromoly frame, Bonneville performance cylinders, big flat sliders, and ..."

Rikard-Bell cuts off here.

An astute businessman knows that picking the right moment to stay quiet is as important as knowing when to speak.

He continues with a certain amount of tentativeness.

"Well let's just say that a lot of work has gone into it.

"It should be kicking up a big rooster tail of sand once it hits Oreti Beach."

He nods to himself, confident that trade secrets – carried out by a team that put as much importance on passion as performance – are safe.

But are they swaggering south to win?

"This year we're all about a good time in Southland.

"We've been blown away by the southern hospitality, and have some ideas for next year, but would prefer to experience the event firsthand ourselves before we allow them to set."

Newest First

Oldest First