Biker Build-Off Compton vs Williams

Hey,

  BBO finally appeared tonight on schedule. That, in and of itself was a pleasant surprise. I thought the show was interesting and fun. James and Andrew are cool guys. You have to like them.

  James Compton played fullback at the University of Washington. He got the “bug” after school and this was just the second custom he had ever built. He has a lot of skill but you never really find out where he acquired these skills. He spent the first 3 days of the build doing everything himself. He had a small crew but they really didn’t do much until about half way. He took a japanese frame, modified it, customized everything. The engine was a four stack.The engine was a modified Suzuki. He had built his first bike called Crusher and this was basically Crusher”2″. This episode was about drag bikes so, basically, they have to be custom. You can’t pull into a motorcycle dealer and buy one of these things.The judging was simply mano vs mano in a best 2 out of 3. We saw the same type of thing in the first of this series when Jay Hart took on Gard Hollinger. I thought that 2 out of six builds with the very same format was a little much but the guys made it fun. James built his radiator ala Roger Goldammer and I was really charmed by the guys talent and personality. He eats health foods, has four kids and builds out of his garage. The motorcycle he built wouldn’t do well for a long ride but this was about speed and the bike was cool.The gas tank was under the seat,200 h.p.There was a bunch of carbon fiber and in the end he got 137 m.p.h. out of it.Kudos to Hugh for putting James on t.v.

  Andrew Williams is the head guy at Departure Bike Works in the great state of Virginia. He has been building for a long time and is a master. There is a story here as the owner’s son passed in 2001 and he and his wife basically were devastated.They gave it up and Andrew took over. He too was devastated by the loss of his lifelong friend and building partner. He said that the first episode of BBO got him hungry for the business again, hungrier than ever.

  The boys at Departure also fabbed and customized almost everything. They chose to use a 1969 Harley Panhead which was basically brand new. The guys built a cool bike.The bike again was built for drag racing and not for aesthetics. It still looked good with a sharp paint job.The painter was “the riddler”. The “Virginian” kicked right over when Andrew started her. So far so good.

  The race took place in Louisiana. The guys only had to do a hundred miles which was a good thing as they were riding drag bikes.Hugh made his entance on an air boat. It was funny to see him go from water then over land. The departure bike did an unexpected wheelie when they tried to race her and that really set the tone for what would happen.They bent an axle. James won the first race as a spark plug on Andrew’s ride shorted out the engine. The departure guys fixed the problem but in a very close second run Compton got there first. That was it. Two out of three.

 Next week we should get to see Scott Webster and Dawn Nowarkis. That’s a wrap for this run of BBO. There is supposed to be a motorcycle mania on April 15 and we will see if the schedule holds.

                                                                      Over Easy

                                                                        Beach