- So, I'm Vikki, Bosswoman of the The Bike Shed
and this is my time to shine with the staff bike picks!
(upbeat music)
This is one of my bikes, the Honda Dominator,
this was originally a 1997 donor bike, it's the NX650.
A guy did a lot of the work for me, really,
so it's a bit cheating,
Pete Sutton from Bath, he actually built the bike
ready for last years Malle Mile,
which I actually raced against and didn't even realize,
and so it came up for sale on eBay
and then I saw it and just had to have it.
The really nice thing about this is like,
it's had quite a bit of stuff done it,
and it's really tidy,
two into one headers, even the mudguards are handmade,
I put a smaller front sprocket on it,
just to give it a bit more punch on the start line,
as if I'm a famous racer or something,
but, you know,
I've put a new headlight, can't remember where that's from,
but it was just kind of like a nice, cheap eBay buy,
nice little clock, which was a nightmare
to wire in, and Dalston Motorcycles did it for me,
but the thing I love about this bike massively
is this tank, the CG125 tank,
and I got Image Custom Design,
or Image Design Customs, that's right,
to do the paint job, and if you haven't seen the video,
you need to check it out, because the work on this is epic,
and the whole point of the design was to be in keeping
with the original Honda logo,
but actually incorporate my raven kind of style into that,
so that's where they did this,
and if you watch the video, it's so clever,
they like pick the bits off, and reveal this amazing design.
Little Big Noise is my nickname, I don't know why,
I haven't got a clue why they call me that,
but yeah, love this tank, these guys rock, who did this.
I love the details on this bike,
and actually what I really love are my new indicators,
that I've just put on,
they are so small, but so bright.
Maybe a bit like me?
I don't know, super bright.
But love those, love the open exhaust,
and actually you're gonna get to hear it later.
This lives up to its name, Little Big Noise, completely.
But the thing I love about these bikes
is that they're light, they're flickable,
they're perfect for London,
going through town, everybody hears you
if they don't see you, and even with the knobblies,
like people go, "How can you ride with the knobblies?"
To be fair, these are great, in the wet, it's fine,
you know, you might get a little bit of slide,
but that's part of the character of the bike,
it's all talk, so you know,
off the starting line I can beat most bikes,
but then once we get up to speed,
then I get left, but I look cool,
and its very noisy.
I actually raced this bike this year at Malle Mile,
and in the custom class, and actually
really proud to say that when I saw the bike,
my little dominator, amongst the paddock
of all the other bikes,
I was a bit like, "Oh my God, how am I gonna do this,
these are really big bikes,"
I think I was the only woman in the custom class,
which I think was a shame,
but actually I won all four of my races,
I was really pleased about that.
And, she lived up to the expectations,
so yeah, I'm not sure what else to say about it,
apart from, it's ridiculously loud,
it makes me smile every single day I ride it,
and it's just full of character,
and people stop me all the time,
have been called obscene at the traffic lights,
because it is so loud,
but what do they say, "Loud pipes save lives?"
That's what I'm going with anyway.
Oh, and I forgot, so originally they had
integrated brake and indicators,
and actually it didn't really work well
and the LED strip kind of broke up,
so I've put a little bait style light on the back,
I actually think it adds, like, shit loads of character,
and yeah, as you can see I keep my tank really clean,
but I do not clean the rest of the bike.
I think we need to hear her.
Shall we go and start her up?
Dan, can we start her up?
Woo-woo!
So, should we listen to what she sounds like?
And see if she lives up to her name?
Let's go.
(engine revs)
And that's why I love her.
How loud is that?
(screams joyfully)
I love her.
(laughs)