Royal Enfield Continental GT650 – TG's Custom Bike Build

Over the last few months, the big, visual changes to TG’s custom Conti GT have been made. And if you click through the reports above, it’s pretty amazing to see how far this project has come.

The transformation from boggo red Continental GT to something, wider, meaner and a hell of a lot more colourful shows what’s possible with a little imagination, some incredibly talented folk in the bike community, a little patience and a few swear words. Oh, and some late nights and prayers.

But there’s plenty of little things to tidy up on TG’s Conti GT before it’s finished. Because, like anything, the devil is in the detail. Don’t let Insta or Pinterest fool you, many bikes can look great on a phone screen in low-res, but the reality can be quite different.

So, this month we headed to Urban Rider, one of the coolest bike shops in London, to make sure our little details were taken care of. It’s a boutique-y store in one of London’s boujiest areas that packs a big punch, offering pretty much everything a motorcycle enthusiast could want – cool clobber, hot coffee and a wall of enviable helmets to simultaneously make you very safe and very poor at the same time.  It’s also recently become a Royal Enfield main dealer, so we can get the TG Conti GT serviced here later down the line too.

We had an appointment with Max Vanoni, Urban Rider’s in-house custom guru. He exudes passion and takes great care in his work. “There are two ways of doing things,” he says. “The right way… or not at all.”

Max is the kind of guy you want working on your bike. Born in Varese, he was out of the womb and into the heartland of Italian motorbikes with legendary bike brands MV Augusta and Cagiva on his doorstep. Having watched Elefant Dakar bikes being shaken down on his doorstep as a kid, Max quickly became bike obsessed. Meandering his way through life and a few careers (notably as a chef), one constant was building bikes on the side. Moving to London he got involved with the precariously named but visually bewildering bespoke bike outfit, Death Machines of London. If you don’t know their work, indulge yourself immediately. Done it? Good. That’s why Max is the guy to tinker with the details of your bike.

And tinker he has, pulling a few off-the-shelf parts from Urban Rider’s catalogue. Yes, a flashy fairing and loud paint job makes a statement. But to do a build well, it’s the small things that can make a big difference. So Max advised us on parts to clean up and hide bulky parts. Like a cute aluminium oil cap (£36).

Wanting to add a retro flourish, we’ve also added new soft rubber handlebar grips that look more fashionable but are also more functional than the cheap stock ones (£30). Finally, we’ve cleaned up the mirrors and indicators thanks to Moto Gadget. Both are now fitted at the end of the handlebars, providing a clean, classy visual and minimalist look for £110. Gone are the chrome stalks that instantly draw your eye and spoil the shape of the bike. Now it looks as fast as the paint, don’t you think?