Watford bike-builder Nick Gale has stormed to victory in the fifth and final Britain’s Got Biking Talent with Carole Nash.
His stunning customisation of a 1942 Harley-Davidson wowed not just the celebrity judges but ordinary bikers who voted in their thousands in what is one of Britain’s biggest bike contest.
Nick’s victory was announced today (Saturday November 19) by actor Danny John-Jules at the NEC-hosted Motorcycle Live. The Red Dwarf and Death in Paradise star presented Nick with a prize package worth some £2,300, including £1,000 in cash, a Protect A Bike shed and an Envy motorcycle lift.
His bike impressed the celebrity judging panel which as well as Danny included motorcycling explorer and TV star Charley Boorman, Jon Quantrell, boss of revered customisers Hawg Haven, and Marc Potter, editor of Motorcycle News. More importantly it won over bikers who named it best of nearly 350 bikes entered for the prestigious competition.
Danny John-Jules enthused: “I love this bike. It’s the sort that can be sat in the window of an art gallery or sat ON rumbling around the roads of the Lake District. Even though every part has been lovingly restored, it doesn’t look overdone. It still has that nostalgic-rustic-retro look. Rock on!”
It’s certainly stunning. Built from a wrecked original it has been painstakingly customised with Nick crafting one-off features, including the fender, seat, seat mechanism and gas tank. He also modified the frame to accommodate a drop seat and used brass plate to create a distinctive and classy custom.
A delighted Nick Gale commented: “I can’t believe it. I’ve won a lot of show with my business but this is more my own bike and I’m very, very pleased to have won. Some really, really nice bikes made it through to the finals, I’d like to own a few myself!”.
Nick wasn’t the only winner on the day. Taking second place was Suffolk-based bike journalist Nik Samson’s stunningly modified Suzuki Bandit 600, which won him a limited edition five-draw Carl Fogarty rollcab toolbox worth £599. Taking the final podium place was Faringdon’s Pete Pearson whose magnificently customised Harley-Davidson Rocker won him £250 of brilliant bike wear, including a pair of Midnight Blue Sartso jeans, Gerbing G3 heated gloves and a Moto One Baselayer top.
But it wasn’t all about the prizes – there was much glory too. The climax to the six month contest sees all twelve finalists being displayed on a special Britain’s Got Biking Talent stand for the duration of Motorcycle Live (which runs until Sunday November 27). Each finalist has also benefited from a professional photographic shoot of their machine with all the bikes featuring in Carole Nash’s 2012 calendar which is distributed to over 100,000 appreciative bikers across the UK and Ireland.
Summing up this year’s contest Carole Nash’s head of marketing, Rebecca Donohue said: “The standard of entries in this, the last Britain’s Got Biking Talent, has been absolutely exceptional. By all accounts it was quite a task for the celebrity judges to whittle down the shortlist for the public vote and I don’t doubt there has been many a friendly pub argument among bikers over which bike was the very best. Having said that, looking at Nick’s Harley re-creation it’s clear he is a deserving winner. That bike is nothing short of magnificent.”
