It started with a vision to create a machine from the ethos of my dreams and An-bu inspiration. Like any story, there are obstacles that must be overcome and I grew in both knowledge and mechanical ability as it went along. Although the project is completed, the five years it took left me unable to ride because of an aggressive onset of ALS in the final months of the build.
It’s odd how things work out. Do I rage against a vendor for having kept key components for two years? Do I have sympathy that tragedy struck him during that time period?
Do I thank him for giving me time to dream up a stage two of the build and also enabling me to complete a Yamaha xs650 cafe racer project that I was able to ride extensively?
Or do I write him off entirely because the final weeks waiting were also the days I slowly lost the use of my clutch hand and my left leg?
In the end it doesn’t matter. He is still the best in the industry and the tally of installed parts built by his hand, makes my machine an homage to his skill and passion for these humble machines.
I will pass on and be forgotten. But my vision, this wondrous machine, will live long after, still thundering out big bore 750 rephased glory to my spirit in the sky.
My soul will rejoice because I, with a lot of help from Hugh’s Hand Built and Meyerbuilt Metalworks, made something exactly as I had envisioned. And, getting exactly what you want is pretty rare.
Submitted by Aron Hanson
