VOL. 56 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 22, 2019 P95
an engine that little old ladies
come up and ask you about, you
know you're meeting the nicest
people by riding a Honda!"
Quite so—but how did Lee and
Hayley create His and Hers Cus-
tom Cubs? Lee built both bikes
himself in 2015 over eight weeks
of after-hours and weekend
work, using a pair of standard
C90 Super Cubs. Hayley's pink
one came in bits, while Lee's
own orange bike came off eBay
complete and in running order,
costing $575. Seems that's a
bargain, since prices are rising
all the time, and you'd need to
spend $1275 to get something
comparable today—for a 25-year
old 90cc runabout! Mind you,
either of the customized Vigor
bikes would fetch upwards of
$2550 in today's booming mar-
ket for such creations. Back to
the build.
"Anyhow, after completing the
eBay purchase I decided to ride
the C90 home," says Lee. "It
was so funny riding a Super Cub
again after 20 years, but they
just make you smile all day long.
I keep up a good speed on the
roads in my day job, but this pair
are just about tootling along with
the wind in your face at
30 mph, and you feel
so cool and chilled out,
even if our two bikes
with the bigger engines
will do about 70 mph
flat out."
Having got the bike
home, it was time to
start work. "I decided to
build two bikes simul-
taneously, because all
the mistakes I made
on mine made it easier
for building hers," Lee
says. "I started with
mine because it was
the complete one, and I basi-
cally disassembled it so I was
left looking at the frame, then
shot-blasted the paint off it,
and decided what I wanted to
replace. However, even though
it was a runner, I changed ev-
erything in the end. You start off
thinking 'Well, I'll just do this,' but
before you know it you're replac-
ing everything!"
Both Vigor bikes had an
engine transplant, with 150cc
Motosyko Hybrid engines manu-
factured by Zong Ho in China
but assembled in the Isle of Man
installed in each bike, sourced
from the Manx one-stop shop for
Super Cub tuning www.moto-
syko.co.uk.
Their YX 150 engine measur-
ing 56 x 60mm for 148cc via an
What went from a quick
Facebook search turned into
a full life change for James
Gibson and his new business,
Camp Hill Chop Shop.
Hayley Vigor pounds out
more miles than most
riders around the globe as
a Triumph test rider, but it's
the pink Cub she loves.
