When Derek Gordon’s GSX-R 750-based custom made its entry proper into the world at this year’s Farmyard Party it caused quite a stir. Actually, that’s putting it mildly. It instantly became the focus of attention for just about every passer-by, as you can imagine, and was permanently surrounded by a knot of admiring onlookers (myself included) for the rest of the weekend.
I subsequently attempted to describe it to a couple of people over the phone, but the momentary silence when I stopped speaking told me that they were obviously less than impressed. I wondered if it was my delivery, that perhaps I’d been talking in some garbled version of pidgin English, but I thought I’d been fairly articulate and had listed the main elements accurately enough. In their mind’s eye, though, there was no way that this combination of components could possibly work. On reflection, perhaps I could have done better – I mean, this description would probably confuse anyone…
“The frame’s been built using loads of curved, swooping lengths of thick diameter tubing, and, er… loads of lengths of curved, swooping small diameter tubing… And it cants the engine forward dramatically, hoiking the 
gearbox right up to give masses of ground clearance at that point… And it’s got a thick-and-thin-tubed deep-brace swingarm to bring it all back to earth at the back end… No, it’s not actually a swingarm, but it is, if you know what I mean… It looks like one, then, but it isn’t, because the whole assembly’s been welded to the front half of the chassis to turn it into a rigid… although it hasn’t been just welded on to the front half, more sort of integrated into the overall structure… And it’s called the Banshee…”You’re right, that was a bit pants.But then, this is Vic Jefford and Destiny Cycles we’re talking about here, so perhaps we shouldn’t have been that surprised. After all. Vic has had a habit in recent years of coming up with truly original customs that – regardless of inarticulate description – have really had no right to have turned out as successfully as they did. The fact that he’s kept on getting away with it time after time suggests that the creative process up there in Yorkshire isn’t quite as random as you might at first have thought. With an established track record of always coming up with genuinely fresh ideas that are put into practice with no little proficiency, you can see why Derek turned to Vic when it came time to convert The Idea into The Reality (well, that and his proximity in the north-east to fellow Whitby 77-er Vic, of course).
Prior to hitting the heady heights of owning a remarkable and memorable custom bike, Derek’s relationship with bikes could be described as being a bit up-and-down. His first ever bike, at the age of sixteen, was a TS50 that cost him all of £30. And which promptly blew itself up. Undaunted by that mishap (or the fact that he was a YTS trainee and therefore permanently skint) he managed to scrimp and save enough from his meagre
earnings to buy a Honda H100 from one of his mates. Which he immediately crashed into a dry stone wall, nearly killing himself. One six-month ban later (for no road tax, no MoT and no insurance), and at about the time he met his current other half, Debbie, he bought an AR125. Which he wrote off on the way to pick her up one day. At this point, he thought he’d better take the hint from the big guy in the sky, and that it might be safer to just go out and buy a car
Two kids and six years later, Derek and Debbie took a trip to nearby Just-Harleys in Newcastle to see what it had in stock, and to take a look at what they’d been missing since going four-wheeled. They returned home with an 883 Sportster in tow. As you do… Later on Derek bought what he says was a gorgeous Ironhead Sportster that looked the business, but which didn’t satisfy his need for speed and wheelies, so the Sporty was traded for a streetfightered Z1000. That still wasn’t fast enough for him, so the Zed was subsequently replaced by a V-Max. Which he couldn’t wheelie, Next up was a Yam FZR1000 - which he could.At around that time Derek and Debbie
joined the Whitby 77 Club and, very impressed with the quality of members’ bikes, they soon acquired a ‘70s style Kawasaki Z650 chop. It just so happened that Lin – of Vic and Lin – was an old friend of Debbie’s, so the involvement of Destiny Cycles in the building of what would become ‘Banshee’ was already a distinct likelihood. The following year Vic produced his white Gixer (featured on the cover of BSH213), a landmark bike for him at the time. It inspired Derek to, er, ‘update’ the Z650, and his first port of call was Vic’s workshop. Apparently Vic took one look at the chop’s frame and burst out laughing. The expert’s opinion was that it was so badly twisted there was only one solution - to start again completely from scratch. So much for Derek and Debbie’s original concept of a minimal, simple and – above all – inexpensive chop. Hah!
A week later, Vic turned up on the doorstep with a GSX-R750 motor. This surprised Derek a bit as he hadn’t actually asked for one. However, he was soon convinced by Vic that the Z650 engine would have to go on the unassailable grounds that the GSX-R motor was infinitely more reliable and much more powerful than the Zed. Game on! Somewhat perversely, the wheels were the next items to be decided upon. A pair of split rim Compomotives, ones wide enough to take the two huge Pirelli tyres, were chosen and billets of aluminium machined by Vic into hubs on which to mount them. Vic and Derek concluded that such nice wheels deserved equally nice forks, so a FZR1000 that Derek still had tucked away in the garage was duly raided. Don’t worry, the poor thing was given another pair from a Bandit in order to get it back on two wheels. Once back on two wheels (or should that be one wheel?) the FZR was still performing wheelie duties until the day that Derek didn’t quite get one as perfect as he’d have liked…What was left of the bike after that was sold off to pay for the ‘reassuringly
expensive’ Tolle rear sprocket-come-brake disc. Only then did attention turn to the frame, the bodywork and the painstakingly crafted exhaust system, all of which were fabricated by Mister Jefford, and none of which I could possibly make any comment on that would be of more value to you, the reader, than the story that’s told by these cracking pictures. Besides, why attempt to explain – badly – in words the process by which a masterpiece has been created and an improbability gap bridged when just a single glance tells the whole story? And it’s not just myself who has been a little lost for words when confronted with Derek’s Gixer. It’s one of those bikes that seems to defy adequate description, even among those used to inspecting the most radical of customs. The finished GSX-R was in Vic’s workshop on the day that John Reed (of Uncle Bunt’s fame and now one of Custom Chrome’s top designers) paid a flying visit. John looked round the bike in silence for some time while Vic and Derek did their best to look nonchalant. Then, with the gravity of a Papal edict, John Reed issued his verdict: “It’s a bit good”. Concise perhaps, but nonetheless completely accurate.
Incidentally, as I’ve mentioned, Derek has christened the bike ‘The Banshee’. Why? Well, if you get the chance, just stand next to it one day when Derek fires her up, and the howl from those gorgeous exhausts will explain all.
Destiny Suzuki 2003.
Engine:
Suzuki GSX-R750, stripped, powder coated and rebuilt. Stage II dyna-jetted carbs. One-off 4-into-2 stainless exhaust system by Destiny Cycles (07796 225195). Polished by owner.
Frame:
Multi-tube Destiny hardtail frame (43mm & 30mm diameter) with 52 degrees of rake & integrated hugger/seat pan.
Front end:
Polished 1000cc EXUP forks, one-off billet ally yokes by Destiny. Compomotive split rim wheel on one-off hub, Pirelli 15" MT66 tyre. Tolle front disc with Aprilia 4-pot caliper and Goodridge braided stainless hose & Harley master cylinder. One-off WIDDDDE stainless 1.5" bars, Chopper Shack internal throttle. Knurled ally grips & Harley wide blade levers. No front mudguard & no headlight!
Rear end:
Compomotive split rim wheel on one-off billet ally hub. Avon 230 x 15" tyre, Tolle disc/sprocket, polished Suzuki rear master cylinder. Hugger ‘guard integrated with frame.
Stuff:
Much-modified Quickbob tank with raised aircraft filler. One-off neoprene seat by owner.
Paint & finish:
Very Green paint by Cleveland Bike Spray. All stainless & ally polishing by owner.
Thanks to:
‘Mick & Helen for their help & encouragement. Last but by no means least, Vic & Lin, without whom this bike would not have been possible.’