{"id":4579,"date":"2025-08-14T17:19:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsonlyahill.co.uk\/?p=4579"},"modified":"2025-08-15T04:19:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T04:19:54","slug":"the-centurion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsonlyahill.co.uk\/?p=4579","title":{"rendered":"The Centurion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Centurion Motorcycle Projects can be found in the rolling hills of Northumberland just outside Hexham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian McCall has been messing around on motorbikes since he was about 9 years old, what started out as blasting round fields on a Casal 50 and a BSA C15 has now become a passion, a passion that now extends to his working life, working on all things Motorbike related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never one to be idle Brian\u2019s first job on leaving school came from wandering round the garages in nearby Brampton asking for a job, the last one took him on at the weekly wage of \u00a323.50 making the role full time as his Christmas present the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of years later the garage closed and Brian switched roles becoming a heating engineer, initially self employed then with a local firm JP Westhall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The motorcycle bug bit properly aged about 15, a moped arrived and the girlfriend went.  Racing mini moto\u2019s followed where he met two other well known locals Ian and Andrew Feeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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want something clean, vapour blast it, as good as the day of manufacture, ready for coating<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Original fasteners, go through the process and end up like this, all shiny<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When Brian decided to build himself a head turning CB900 he wanted to do things himself.\u00a0 A cabinet arrived to do his own vapour blasting, this extended to cleaning parts up for others.\u00a0 Zinc plating followed and a business started from just wanting to do things himself, Centurion was born, taking inspiration from the nearby Hadrian wall remains left by the Romans, I mean, what have the Romans ever done for us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CB900<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From a home set up, to a couple of 40 foot containers welded together, he has now moved to bigger premises on a nearby farm where he has dedicated work areas for each service offered<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fitting out the new work space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ably assisted by Pete as and when needed, sometimes you just need that extra pair of hands to get on with the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fed up with off the shelf paints he took some time to research, finding a paint with a part number rather than a given name, Brian now markets this under the banner of Richochet coating, a tough finish and importantly fuel resistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Services soon extended, need a custom loom making up, no problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Need your carburetors fettling, he can do that, cleaning, repairs, full strip and re furb, yes, all done in house.  He has also sourced \/ has manufactured and markets some of the no longer available carb parts, seals, rubbers, drain screws, fuel screws, air screws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carb re builds go on here, all the parts needed close to hand in the storage bins<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Twin shock mounts ready to be welded on to a modern monoshock arm to retro fit to some oldskoolcool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Starter clutch mods<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Dedicated engine area, for stripping and building.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Bikes waiting to be fettled.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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No one likes a sloppy clutch, get your big Z clutch refreshed here<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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There’s a couple of Spencer reps alongside Brian’s own 900.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Three of Brian’s own builds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track bike<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Race bike, two seasons in formula prostocks with a class lap record at Anglesey<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The road bike, the Centurion, sporting one of the in house produced end cans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Find Brian on facebook, Centurion Motorcycle Projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He can ride too…….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Centurion Motorcycle Projects can be found in the rolling hills of Northumberland just outside Hexham. Brian McCall has been messing around on motorbikes since he was about 9 years old, what started out as blasting round fields on a Casal 50 and a BSA C15 has now become a passion, a passion that now extends … <\/p>\n

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