The story of the Union GT began when our good friend Kevan decided to dip a toe into the world of two wheeled wonderment. "Let's call it a mild mid-life crisis – when two forty-somethings pass their bike test for the hell of it". Mid-life maybe, we prefer to call it rekindling your inner adolescence.
After riding a Continental GT scrambler for a few years Kevan was well and truly bitten by the bike bug, "Having loved this bike, I wanted more power and something newer and different”. To follow his petrol drenched desires, he ordered a new GT Continental 650 but Instead of a scrambler, Kevan wanted a cafe racer. “Something slick but classic".
What started as some minor cosmetic changes to the rear end quickly blew out to a full blown custom, which is a pretty common occurrence in the bike altering industry. Kevan had a vision for the seat and knew he wanted the frame cut down, but the rest – well, the rest Kevan has to thank Jeremy for. “The boys at Deus always had options throughout the build and kept adding value all the way through”. The result; well, just take a look and see for yourself.
With the frame shortened and the custom seat sorted we moved towards the cockpit- replacing the bulky clocks to a much neater motogadget unit positioned where the key barrel used to sit. The old key barrel was replaced with a RFID key fob, a slim headlight with LED insert helped balance the bike after losing so much length from the rear.
To help correct the stance of the bike a set of YSS blackline shocks with an extra inch of height were used in the rear, and a set of YSS spring, valves and adjusters were used to keep the front from diving into corners.
"As the bike and I share British heritage, I wanted a Union Jack on the tank, but not red, white and blue. So, I ended up with British Racing Green with a darker fade towards the bottom of the tank, crossing down to the side panels."
The final touches come courtesy of motogadget with some super sleek spy r missors and mo.blaze disc bar end mirrors.
Kevan's final words sum this bike up perfectly- "I now own a unique Royal Enfield that puts a smile on my face every time I ride it. That alone is worth five times what I spent each time I get on it."
Based in Australia & want to build your own Union GT? Find the parts at: https://deusparts.com.au/collections/union-gt
For all sale and build enquiries about Union GT please email: bikes@deuscustoms.com
Photos by Kenyon Batterson
