There is some amazing custom bike content on YouTube, but with 3.7million new videos uploaded to the platform each day – finding what you’re after can be a nightmare. So to ease the burden of searching for hours and watching endless duds, we’ve got just the new show for you. Shannons Insurance has teamed up with Pipeburn regulars and custom builders, Purpose Built Moto of the Gold Coast, to create a six-part series called the Shannons Dream Bike Build. Sit back and relax, as Tom Gilroy and his team take you step by step through an entire build, from acquiring just the right bike, a less than perfect Honda CB500, to presenting the brilliant finished product to a client who’s been waiting with eager anticipation.
Purpose Built Moto will be no strangers to regular readers of Pipeburn, and the shop from Australia’s sunshine state of Queensland is renowned for turning out beautiful classic custom and restoration builds. But there is only so much we can show you in pictures or tell you in words, so to take a deeper dive, a six-part video series really lets you sink your teeth into what it takes to turn an old wreck into a truly classic custom.
To make it all happen, Tom has teamed up with Shannons Insurance, who have a long-standing reputation in the vintage, classic & modified car and bike categories, and each episode is hosted on the insurer’s YouTube channel, which also has plenty to check out for the motoring enthusiast. Both companies have experience in creating high-end video content and the production quality is first rate.
Each episode is just under 15 minutes in length, and the pace isn’t a plod but takes just enough time to show you the details you really need to know. For those who are looking at commencing their first project build, this will be a great step-by-step guide from one of the industry’s finest. While for those who are old hands at the game, there is plenty of tips and tricks to enjoy and it’s the perfect thing to watch when you aren’t wrenching on your own rocket.
Not only do you get to hang out inside the shop with Tom, Donny and Jesse as they work their magic, but there is a host of characters to keep you entertained. From owner Scott as he rides the rollercoaster of commissioning a custom build, to the source of the donor bike, the wild back shed of collector ‘Honest Dave’. And it’s not highly edited fluff either, things can and do go wrong, as they do on all project builds, and learning to navigate the solutions is a great insight for anyone dealing with vintage machinery.
One thing that turns many a fan off a YouTube series is the incredible wait times between each episode, but there is none of that here either. The first two episodes are already live and a new episode will be added to the Shannons Insurance channel every three days. Witness a tired old Honda CB500 get turned from barn find into cool custom, and see if the talented team can deliver Scott’s dream bike.