The Valespeed '28
PEOPLE STRIVING LATE INTO THE NIGHT IN out-of-the way workshops were the origins of the British motorcycle industry. Oil-stained and grimy, bending this, turning that and welding the other, their hands built legends and imaginative one-offs. And for some, these efforts have never stopped.
Custom builders in particular have often been the holders of the welding torch of innovation, but usually they don't get further than spectacular one-offs. They certainly don't tend to materialise as short-run bespoke production machines.
Ben Hall, toiling away in his Worcestershire workshop has managed to turn a one-off custom special, produced to a tighter-than-tight deadline, into a reality you can buy.
Ben's company, Valespeed Motorcycles, has built world record breaking sprinters and finely detailed customs. Currently he is converting a Honda Firestorrn engine into the powerplant for a supercharged SOO single with Hossack front end and he put together an aggressive Harley-Davidson Lowrider from "things I had in the workshop" during lockdown . And he sells a budget kit bike, to build your own
