That’s me Neal Hendes, founder of ProjectDirtBike.com. I have been riding motorbikes for over 15 years and they still excite me, even if I do perhaps ride with a little more caution nowadays!
My Story in Brief
After finishing school I decided it was time to pursue my then dream of being a chef. I’d had a part time job all through school in kitchens, either local pub work or outside catering at weddings and really enjoyed the industry.
Becoming a chef seemed like a natural progression and one I was keen to explore so I enrolled in college and complete my qualification to become a chef in 2003. The small village I grew up in on the south coast of the UK had little in the way of career progression so I found myself moving to London with my then girlfirend and now wife Sophy.
To cut a long and probably quite unnecessary story short I left my cheffing career 7 years later after working at some great places and even starting my own catering company.
It was 2010 and I had came to the realization that catering wasn’t going to give the money or time I wanted to provide for my family which was just about to increase by one.
Next up… I found myself helping out my dad wuith his new venture… a marquee company, and soon became a buisness partner which is where I remain to this day.
We service the wedding trade every season with our structures and create some awesome events for clients. One passion however has never died out and that is my love for motorbikes. The total amount of children at this point is now 3, all boys and it is mental in our house 7 days a week.
Meet Roo, Fletch and Clark…. Taken on one of our many surf trips, another hobby. These boys love the water and something we have always done, prior to them starting to play on dirt bikes.
Dirt Bike First Ride
From a very early age I can remember framing pictures of super bikes that I had cut from magazines to hang on my bedroom wall. Around the same time I had became friends with a lad at school who had his own kawasaki KX80, this was to be my first Dirt Bike experience and I would find any excuse to get round his house so we could take it out in the field opposite his house.
This is the point I come back too when I try and work out when I fell in love with dirt bikes. It was the KX80 and then riding a Honda CR200 if I recall correctly. That belonged to my mates dad, and we sometimes quitely wheeled it without starting it so as not to be heard, then ride it in the field away from ear shot.
To date I have owned motorbikes for at least 15 years, from little mopeds to commuter and finally my own dirt bikes.
My XR250 was found on Gumtree and it was being sold very local to me. That was that, I purchased the bike and have had it ever since which is maybe 7 or 8 years now. I dont think I will ever sell her.
The bike was manufactured in 1991 and was always in need of some tlc since buying it. Fast foward to present day and I decided that I had to restore it.
Restoring and rebuilding a bike is always something I have wanted to do and now was my chance. The Honda XR250 was the first of many and that is when I had the brain wave of creating Project Dirt Bike. Documenting my progress on this blog has enabled me to stay organised and focused, albiet the build is going alot slower then planned, and I put that down to family life.
The boys also have some wheels, they started of on an Electric Dirt Bike and now have their own Honda XR70, it’s still early days but I know one of them (Fletch) definitley has the bug.
Want To Get In Touch
If you would like to contact me, feel free. My email is [email protected], i’ll look forward to hearing from you.
