The Fabulous Lifestyles of Professional Motorcycle Racers - /RideApart

JAMIE ROBINSON: We're here at the Rock Store in Malibu Canyon with pro motorcycle racer Eric Bostrom. He's built his custom bike, but so have I. Welcome to Ride Apart. Eric. This is a masterpiece. I am so impressed. I'm a big fan of vintage motorbikes. Grew up in the '70s, obviously, watching Barry Sheene. And it reminds me of Kork Ballington's motorcycle. Tell me more. ERIC BOSTROM: Yeah, that's exactly it. I'm also a big, big fan of old bikes, whether it's British or Japanese or whatever. And so this bike was after one of my heroes, Gary Nixon, and also a great friend. And unfortunately, he passed away last year. And it was right at the time that I was wanting to do kind of a cafe style project. And I thought, what better than kind of a Gary Nixon tribute of his old KR 750 that he nearly won the world championship on. And it was a real challenge. We started off with a Z1000. And it's a big motorcycle. And the old bikes in the '70s were low slung and really sleek. And there wasn't much wiring to them. So that was probably the biggest hurdle, was trying to get the bike authentic and low. And then also trying to get rid of as many wires as possible. And then we just went into putting on a few parts that were great parts of the time, and nowadays probably not so great. But we have this old Germika master cylinder out of the '70s and a Tommaselli clutch perch off an old British bike. JAMIE ROBINSON: This Tanken seat really is what makes this. ERIC BOSTROM: They really do set off the bike. It's like this big coffin-style tank that the old bikes had. JAMIE ROBINSON: Yeah. Well, at least you could go for a picnic and this can be your table. ERIC BOSTROM: The part that I love about this is when people see me riding up, they're like, what the hell is he on? But when they see you ride up, they're like, this guy is a mad man. JAMIE ROBINSON: Usually usually. ERIC BOSTROM: And it's appropriate. ERIC BOSTROM: I raced the CBR 600 for quite a while. And then I met some stunt guys. And pretty much that's where it all went wrong. Spent a day trying to pull a 12:00 wheelie. And it just ended in disaster. And I crashed my bike. And it put a big hole in the engine, and it just sat there. So I destroyed my only ride. Well basically, I did do the 12:00 wheelie. It's just that I wasn't on the bike when the bike did it. So I'd fallen off the back slightly beforehand. And it landed-- ERIC BOSTROM: I think I remember doing that when I was like seven years old, off the starting line on a CR 60. JAMIE ROBINSON: It was similar. I asked my buddy Roland Sands, please, design me a motorcycle. And I was like, I like Mad Max, and I love flat track. But we have a CBR 600. Well, Roland just went crazy. He drew me this amazing motorcycle. And just from there, it's evolved. And this is what it is. And realistically, very similar to your bike, just get rid of a lot of wear. So we just junked everything at the front end. Came up with a smaller number plate. And then junked everything at the back, so it's no pillion, no nothing. And it's really raw. But there's a lot of fun to be had from this bike. And I love that for a motorcycle in terms of, it puts a smile on my face every time I ride it. ERIC BOSTROM: That's my kind of favorite part of this project, is when you buy a bike these days, they're so good. And you're like, well, how do I put my personality into it? JAMIE ROBINSON: Yeah, exactly. ERIC BOSTROM: And to look at you ride up on this bike, I'm like, that is Jamie Robinson. I totally get it. And then I get a little closer to the bike, and I see this story on the gas tank. JAMIE ROBINSON: Yep. ERIC BOSTROM: And it's like, Mount Whitney here, Death Valley there. I mean, what else? JAMIE ROBINSON: This was places I've gone on this motorcycle. So I went to Mount Whitney, Death Valley, San Francisco, and down Big Sur. And then there's a few little twists of my own in there as well. We're at the top of one of the most beautiful roads here in Malibu Canyon. And it was a joy following you, man. It was absolutely beautiful just watching the seat. It was like we were going back in time. It was brilliant. ERIC BOSTROM: That's totally what this thing's all about, is that kind of almost awkward seating position. And yet you're like, it kind of takes you back. It transports you back in time. Because you're like, man, this isn't quite right, but it feels pretty rad. JAMIE ROBINSON: And it sounds great, as well. Just, there was a lot of [INAUDIBLE], but there was a little bit of distance now and again. And you lit it up, and it sounded fantastic. It took off like a bullet. Oh, it's a dream. ERIC BOSTROM: For sure. So I'm really curious to jump on your bike. JAMIE ROBINSON: Did you hear it? ERIC BOSTROM: I heard it. JAMIE ROBINSON: Eric, you didn't disappoint me with this motorcycle, man. That is fantastic. ERIC BOSTROM: And thank you for this, the ultimate hooligan machine. JAMIE ROBINSON: I can't believe it. You're one of the most sensible racers I know, and you turn into a hooligan within seconds. ERIC BOSTROM: It's impossible not to. You have all this leverage up here, and you're just like, rev, rev, rev, and the transitions are so fast. And then the front wheel comes up so fast. And it's just a really easy bike to ride. JAMIE ROBINSON: It is. ERIC BOSTROM: I don't know if I should put my knee down, my foot down, slide the rear brake, like everything. JAMIE ROBINSON: Yeah, yeah. That's what I wanted to create was like this play bike. And also, what did you think of the sound? ERIC BOSTROM: The sound was just ridiculous. JAMIE ROBINSON: Hasn't Race Tech done a great job with the suspension? ERIC BOSTROM: Yeah, bike's sick. Like that's the thing, it sucks up everything so well. And I can see where I can make my bike better. Because it's like a little soft and a little gushy. And this is how you want a bike to handle. You want it to be accurate and just point, point, point. So I got a little work to do on it. JAMIE ROBINSON: Well, I loved riding your bike. You've taken me back to racing 252 strokes, that my foot and my butt is so close to each other on this bike. I'm pinned already. I feel like I'm going down a straight, and I'm around the corner. It's real old school. ERIC BOSTROM: It's a total Speed Racer cartoon, all balled up. But it is how most of the race bikes were back in the '60s and '70s. JAMIE ROBINSON: Yeah. Isn't that amazing? And just the single tacker there just looking at you. And obviously, then you've got nothing other than just looking at the road ahead. ERIC BOSTROM: How did we hit the same theme and yet be so far apart, you know? JAMIE ROBINSON: Yeah. ERIC BOSTROM: We just have a tachometer on this bike. JAMIE ROBINSON: I guess because in many ways, we had a similar influence in our upbringing. We both talked about Barry Sheene and Kenny Roberts and those kinds of influences. I was on one side of the pond, and you're on the other. But still, the same sort of people, influences in our early lives, I think. ERIC BOSTROM: Yeah. JAMIE ROBINSON: OK. Are you going to ride this, or? ERIC BOSTROM: I'll trade you up. JAMIE ROBINSON: OK. He doesn't like it. ERIC BOSTROM: I'm just afraid I'm going to end up in shackles in this thing. JAMIE ROBINSON: So where are we, man? Where have you brought us? ERIC BOSTROM: We took a short ride from Malibu over to Simi. And we're over here to see a friend's collection of old, vintage motocross bikes. And he has well, has arrived. Good, Mark, how are you? MARK: Back then were like Mulder and Van Leeuwen. ERIC BOSTROM: Yeah, my dad and uncle raced both those guys. JAMIE ROBINSON: Oh my-- I'm shaking I'm so excited. Wow. ERIC BOSTROM: Jamie is like, do you know anybody that we could go look at their bike collection? I'm like, yeah, in fact, I do. And so does it live up to expectations? JAMIE ROBINSON: Oh, everything today is way above expectations. ERIC BOSTROM: Good. JAMIE ROBINSON: This is absolutely amazing. I've never seen a collection like this. MARK: It's a bit eclectic. Because it has some six-days bikes, it has motocross bikes, it has some celebrity bikes. It has some desert bikes, and some with provenance and some without. This Husqvarna is a motion picture celebrity named James Coburn. And James Coburn was good friends with Steve McQueen. ERIC BOSTROM: I really feel like I recognize this exact helmet from Take It to the Limit with Peter Starr. MARK: Well, you know-- ERIC BOSTROM: I think they had a weird mount where you could see his head, and he was racing through the desert. MARK: He was probably the greatest desert racer. I mean, just to give you a few stats, I think J.N. won the first Mexican 1000 with Malcolm Smith. So he won two Mexican 1000s, two Baja 500s, three Mint 400s, four Barstow to Vegases in a row, every year. And then he was number one plate holder in the Southern California desert district, 37. JAMIE ROBINSON: I've never seen such a collection of vintage and classic bikes before. There's even more in here. I'm just looking at the photograph. They are actually doing that now and getting away with it. Yeah, they actually pull it back. But I don't think he got back from that one. MARK: No. ERIC BOSTROM: It's really quite special. I remember the photos of this bike when we [INAUDIBLE]. JAMIE ROBINSON: You see, you could just literally ride this on [INAUDIBLE]. MARK: You could sit on it. I don't think it'll come off the stand. And you can put your feet in the skis, and get an idea of how-- and then you'd stand on the skis. JAMIE ROBINSON: Oh, wow. This is insane. ERIC BOSTROM: I've never seen this. JAMIE ROBINSON: A [INAUDIBLE] will fix it. Oh no, we're hitting ice. And where do you go to even start to find documentation? MARK: Just some friends of mine. One friend of mine has a lot of the original document invoices. If you can tie them together with the invoices-- like here's one for one that belonged to Eakins. JAMIE ROBINSON: Eric, when I asked you to bring me over to see somebody with a few bikes, I never expected this. Mark, what a collection. MARK: Oh, thank you. JAMIE ROBINSON: This is fantastic. MARK: I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. JAMIE ROBINSON: I'm like a kid in a sweet shop. I'm now way into vintage motorbikes. I want to go vintage motocrossing. MARK: That could be a good time. You guys would enjoy it. They're nice bikes. ERIC BOSTROM: I want to get back out in the desert, and go twist some throttle. I'm re-inspired, too. MARK: We've got plenty of old Huskies you could do that on if you want to, Eric. I'm sure we could rig something up for you. JAMIE ROBINSON: Wow. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you. Thank you very much. MARK: Thank you very much. JAMIE ROBINSON: Been a brilliant day. MARK: Eric, thank you guys for coming over. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. JAMIE ROBINSON: More than enjoyed Just take any motorcycle, add your own touches, and give it its own character. Eric has. Really anyone can do this. Just dream your ride, and this could be you.