Beard Juice

Price Increase

BJNedeN — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 20:03:05 +0000

I spoke a while back about the pricing at Beard Juice and they we were doing everything to keep our prices as low as possible.

Unfortunately we simply cannot continue at these prices, and today we have had no choice but to increase the prices of our core product range.

The simple truth is since our formation in 2015 every single product we purchase to make our products, from base oils to packaging has increased in price. We have tried to absorb these costs, and earlier this year we moved away from the more expensive clear glasses to the slightly cheaper natural (brown) glasses.

But still, the prices of some of our more ‘exotic’ essential oils, and some of the organic base oils are still increasing in price. As we are all about consistency we do not shop around and use different suppliers, as those products can come from different countries and sources, so we like to keep our oils from the same source to ensure our products are identical every time. This practice does somewhat tie us to our suppliers along with their prices, but this is something we are happy to continue with as our product and its consistency is key to our success.

So the 7x range of beards oils has increased from £10.90 to £13.50 for the 30ml and from £5.50 to £7.00 for the 10ml. All other products prices will remain as they are.

In our defence with the price increase and compared to the majority of our competitors prices, we are still offering excellent value with our perfectly blended mix of 5 base oils, and we are still leading the way in Synthetic Free, Cruelty Free and predominantly organic products.

The post Price Increase appeared first on Beard Juice.

Stand out from the Crowd

BJNedeN — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 14:51:29 +0000

Crowder Watch

Here at Beard Juice we like to think our products, let’s rephrase that. We KNOW our products are the best, and thus we only like to collaborate with the best and like-minded brands. Which is why we have teamed up with Crowder. One of Great Britains finest watch makers.

So why Crowder?

If you take a look at the Crowder Story you can see there is a lot of passion and heartfelt emotion that goes into the making of these watches. There is a story going back 3 generations. There is no focus on current trends or ridiculously oversized watches that weigh as much as a small moon, and scream look at me!

The Crowder watch has timeless style, class, sophistication and speaks volumes about the person wearing them. It isn’t shouting Come Look At Me, it’s merely whispering “here’s the time old chap”.

The watch comes in three styles. A Black dial with a Black and Citrus Nylon Strap. A Silver dial with black leather strap and A blue dial with blue and citrus nylon strap. All watches are a ridiculously generous price of £149. Who needs a £14,000 Breitling!!

We were lucky enough to use all three watches on a Photo Shoot with Brian and his gorgeous Honda CB250 Brat, and have to say the watches feel great around your wrist. Not bulky or anyway near as intrusive as the modern bulky watches. And with riding bikes and wearing gloves the watch doesn’t get in the way. And the presentation box with the ration book style guarantee card, adds all the more class to what already is something to make you stand out from the Crowd(er).

You can get your Crowder watch Here

The post Stand out from the Crowd appeared first on Beard Juice.

Beard Juice Cafe Racer Video

BJNedeN — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 09:46:14 +0000

9 Months in the Making for 1 Day in September

Some of you may have seen me going on and on about the bike (quite a lot). But for those of you who havent heres a quick recap of what and why.

Last year (2016) I was in London for a day out with the family. We were having a very British afternoon tea at The Ritz, and upon leaving we were met with the most spectacular explosion of noise and machinery. The London Distinguished Gentlemans Ride was parading past us, and the sound was echoing and being magnified by the tall buildings. It was AMAZING.

There and then I declared i wanted to be part of that. At 43 years old I had never owned a bike, and had only ridden a moped on holiday many many years ago.

In January 2017 I purchased a wreck of a BMW K100RS, which was destined to be broken down for spares. I spent the next 9 months stripping it down, modifying, repairing and styling the bike to my desired taste. I call it a Cafe Racer but its not 100% Cafe Racer as it has high and wide handlebars so its kind of a cross between a Cafe and a Bobber. Ultimatey it is what it is and I like it!

On September 20th, with 3 days until the DGR, I passed the last of the bike tests legally allowing me to ride my bike, and on Sunday 24th I very happily rode in the Maidstone Distinguished Gentlemans Ride.

Since building the bike I have met so many amazing people within the biker community and I hope to have lots of ride outs and meet ups as time goes by. I still need to get a lot more experience on the bike so am still taking it slowly.

You can see more about the bike build here.. https://www.beardjuice.uk/beard-juice-cafe-racer/

The post Beard Juice Cafe Racer Video appeared first on Beard Juice.

Celebrating DGR

BJNedeN — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 14:58:32 +0000

Its probably fair to say I ave been banging on about the Distinguished Gentlemans Ride for quite some time now (sorry). The truth is it has had quite an effect on my life. To the point of going against my fathers wishes from 30+ years ago, dedicating every spare minute and every spare penny on building my bike, all for this one day in September.

And now that day is looming I am still quite a way from being able to actually ride the event. There is still some work to do on the bike, then it needs a MOT. Then I have the motorbike Theroy Test, then the CBT, followed by 4 days physical bike training and lastly the practiall bike test. The pracitical and the CBT mean nothing if I dont pass the theroy, so yes still quite a lot to do!! And lets not forget if I jump all those hurdles I have just over a week to get used to my bike which I have yet to ride.

The intial goal was to participate in the London DGR, and that still is a goal, but as the bike build has taken longer than planned and the bike tests are very close to the big day, i really dont feel confident enough to ride the bike to London on some of the busiest motorways in the UK. So I am going to do the East Kent ride, which is being held in and around Maidstone. This is just a few miles from Beard Juice HQ, so shouldnt be any drama getting there.

SO, in celebration of all things DGR, for a limited time we have brought back the 3-4-2 on all 30ml Beard Oils in the 7X range.

You can get this great deal HERE

On top of that, throughout August and September, for every sale made at Beard Juice we will donate 10%. So together we will be supporting a truley great cause and doing our bit combate Prostate Cancer and mens health issues.

If you want to support me in the DGR, my sponsorship page is HERE

If you are riding in a DGR anywhere in the world, why not become part of Team Beard Juice, lets get as many Beard Juice users accross the globe joining forces.

The post Celebrating DGR appeared first on Beard Juice.

The ALL British Beard Oil is Coming

BJNedeN — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 21:24:44 +0000

The All British Beard Oil

Earlier in the year we made a brief announcement that we are working on an ALL British Beard Oil line.

Today we can give a little more information on what to expect.

Its quite a challenge to make a line of Beard Oils that are made from 100% British grown Base and Essential Oils. With the help of some amazing local producers here in Kent we have managed to create a beautiful blend of Base oils, and we will give more details about the blend closer to release date, as it’s something quite special and well we don’t want the competition sniffing around.

The essential oils on the other hand have been a bit more tricky. There are actually an increasing range of essential oils that are grown on these fair Isles, but due to the climate we will never have anything anywhere near as diverse as hotter climates.

It has taken us a fair few months and we have found some excellent British suppliers and we have come up with a few great scents. We still have a fair bit of testing and tweaking to do, but we are close, really close.

We are also introducing a new logo design for this range as we want it to scream “Made in Great Britain” but we are not announcing a release date just yet as we want it to be perfect.

The post The ALL British Beard Oil is Coming appeared first on Beard Juice.

DGR Sponsorship 2017

BJNedeN — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 13:27:59 +0000

DGR Sponsorship for the 2017 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

So the time has come to start begging and pleading with friends, family and strangers!

As many of you may know I am in the process of rebuilding an old 1986 BMW K100 motorbike, in order to ride in this years Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride in London.

The main aim of the ride, (and to be able to enter) which takes places in locations all over the UK and rest of the World, is to raise money for Men’s Health issues.

I make no apologies asking strangers for Cash. Celebrities with millions in their bank accounts seem to do it every other day. I don’t have millions in my bank, and I am also putting in some work to try and get this bike up and running. I hasten to add I have zero mechanical background other than changing wiper blades and filling up the air in the tyres on my car every now and then. Plus I need to get my bike licence. So there are a LOT of hurdles to jump before the big day.

Although this is reaching for the sky somewhat but the organisers of the DGR ( distinguished gentleman’s ride) give out prizes every year to the entrants (world wide) who raise the most money. And some of these prizes are BIG! We are talking 2 Triumph Motorbikes, Belstaff Coats, Zenith Watches, Bespoke Hedon Helmets and more.

So what the plan is, is that if by some miracle I jump all the hurdles, complete the DGR and manage to raise enough money to win a prize, I would then put all the entrants of people who sponsored me and pick a winner who would then win that prize.

So if you feel in the charitable mood why not send a few quid here and you never know together we could both be winners.

Below is the Sponsorship box. Simply enter the amount you would like to give. Then you would need to checkout like a normal transaction.

IF your kind donation is under £10.00 you will need to enter the text dgr in the coupon code box on the checkout page, otherwise you will get charged for postage! Sorry I am working on a better way for this to work!!

Many Thanks to all that are supporting me in this venture.

Wayne Pollard

My Distinguished Gentlemans Ride Sponsorship Page can be found here

If you are riding ina DGR event why not join Team Beard Juice. Lets get a global team of Beard Juice Riders.

The post DGR Sponsorship 2017 appeared first on Beard Juice.

Natural vs Synthetic Beard Products

BJNedeN — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 15:37:58 +0000

Natural vs Synthetic Beard Products

Men with beards and facial hair generally fall into 2 categories.

They either use a product or they don’t.

Those that do, in general are not the type to just randomly select a brand or scent, it usually requires a bit of research and or advice and recommendations from other like minded men. And those that do are generally the guys who take pride in their look, have spent a lot of time growing, grooming and moulding it into a great looking beard.

Here at Beard Juice we feel it is our duty to point out a few facts. To give you the chance to make a more informed decision to help you maintain your beard and give it the proper treatment it deserves.

As the ‘trend’ for beards is still growing in the UK and abroad, the amount of beard related products grows. Not only do we have small independents, but the big boy brands are also getting in on the act. Not to mention the hundreds if not thousands of white label brands.

The majority of beard oils follow the same structure of ingredients.

Base Oils

These are the 99% of the oil and can be a single or combination of anything from Argan Oil, Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, and to be honest the list is almost endless. These oils are all full of great vitamins and minerals, that if blended correctly and used correctly, will help your hair and skin in many ways, such as moisturising, aiding in hair growth, making the hair more manageable, anti bacterial, anti dandruff and again there is a long list of benefits.

Essential Oils

These are the oils that make the scent, and again can be a single or combination of essential oils. Not only do essential oils have a wide range of scent, they also contain properties that are used in aromatherapy and can have a range of effects on the body and mind. A few examples are calming and relaxing or stimulating scents to get you up in the morning. Essential oils must be used carefully and in many cases very small quantities as they can cause a manner of effects to the body and skin such as irritation and burning. Within the EU there are strict guidelines as to the quantities that can be used in cosmetic products, and all companies that sell within the EU must be registered on the EU Cosmetic Products Notification Portal, along with having Safety Reports.

Base Oils and Essential Oils are made from a wide range of products such as roots, leaves, barks, nuts, seeds, flowers, buds and more, but they are all made from natural products, and can also be Organic.

Synthetics

Synthetic Scents are scents that are made in a laboratory using a really REALLY big list of chemicals and other man made products. The goal is to recreate a specific scent perhaps found in nature, and then take that scent, replicate it, enhance it and prolong the lifespan of that scent. For example essential oil scents are broken down into ‘notes’. The high note oils have a quick evaporating time and therefore the scent burns away quicker than those oils with a low note. Fruity essential oils have a high notes, whereas something like Patchouli has a low note, and the scent can last for days.

A synthetic scent eliminates the notes and every synthetic scent will have a long lasting scent and generally a more powerful scent than the natural essential oil.

It all sounds great, to have a scent that smells stronger than the original and lasts longer to boot. The problem lies with the chemicals that are used to create it. If you were to ask a beard oil company for the ingredients that make their ‘toffee crumble pie’ beard oil / balm, they simply would not be able to tell you, because the fragrance or scent they use to make that oil does not come with an ingredient list. And the beard oil bottle will simply state ‘Fragrance’ or ‘Perfume’ on their ingredient list. Ultimately they do not know what is in their own product!

Facts

The Fact is some of these synthetic scents use up to 600 different chemicals to produce that scent, many of which are OFFICIALLY classed as hazardous waste in countries like the USA. And the real worrying part of this is the side effects that some of these chemicals can cause..

Environmental Working Group (EWG) researchers found more than 75 percent of products listing the ingredient “fragrance” contained phthalates (THAL-ates), which have been shown to disrupt hormone activity, reduce sperm counts, and cause reproductive malformation, and have been linked to liver and breast cancer, diabetes, and obesity.

NOW of course the scent of a product should only be the 1 or 2% of the product, so it is very small quantities that are being applied to hair and skin. But also remember, 60% of what you put onto your skin ( the largest organ on the body) is absorbed into the blood stream. So even though the product has a small percentage of ‘bad stuff’, 60% of it is going in your blood stream…. EVERY DAY! Think about that accumulating in your body!.

So what can you do ?

Match Making

To be honest if your buying a product purely for its scent your doing it wrong. You should always make sure the product has the correct balance of base oils for your hair and skin type. Do your research and match your hair and skin type. Then choose the scent.

Read

Read the ingredients. If it says perfume or fragrance and doesn’t mention where it came from for example if it doesn’t say ‘Naturally Derived’ you know that there is a synthetic scent used. Some companies including ourselves sometimes use the term ‘fragrance (naturally derived)’ purely to stop the competition copying. We no longer do this, as with our new labelling we simply list all our essential oils used to make the scent. If the competition want to copy then that’s fine.

Double Check

There are a LOT, and we mean a LOT of companies, not only in the beard oil sector that like to throw about certain key words like ‘Natural’.

Natural is an extremely vague word, but when we read it we think of.. well natural, so we assume that the product is healthy and good for you. The truth is everything on planet earth was at some stage ‘natural’. Even the synthetic C**P was at some stage natural. It doesn’t make it any shape or form good for for you or….. Natural.

Summary.

Before you decide on Natural vs Synthetic Beard Products

Don’t be fooled. If they say its natural but it has synthetic scents, its far from natural. Yes it is only 1 or 2% of the product, and yes it is being used in a huge amount of products from shower gels, aftershave, washing up liquid etc, but you have taken a long time to grow and develop your mane, surely it deserves the very best 100% natural goodness..

And if you hadn’t guessed already Beard Juice Beard Oils only use 100% Natural Scents, Made with Organic Products, Cruelty Free and Vegan.

The post Natural vs Synthetic Beard Products appeared first on Beard Juice.

The Beard Juice BMW K100 Cafe Racer

BJNedeN — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 18:36:14 +0000

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer 2017

At the ripe old age of 43, I have never owned a motorbike. I could say that I have always been a petrol head and I do love cars, and when in my early teens you were either in the get a bike when your 16 group, or save up for a car when your 17 group. I got a car, browny orange Mark 5 Ford Cortina GLS no less. It never left the driveway as it was a rust bucket. My proper first car was a Mark 1 Golf GTi (great days). Anyway, looking back I know very well why I was in the car gang and have been until this day. 6 words that my late great Dad firmly spoke to my brother and I when we were nippers….

“You’re never having a F***ing motorbike”

Without going into the details my Dad had a bad accident when he was a teenager, and he didn’t want to see me or my brother have the same fate, and those words certainly didn’t fall on deaf ears, well until now. In my defense this beauty is not intended as a daily rider, this is about business mixed with a little pleasure perhaps.

So why a bike?

2016 saw the start of something very special. The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride which took place across the Globe including several locations across the UK including London. I was lucky enough to be there outside the Ritz as the Gents cruised by along the Strand. Right there and then I said, “I’m going to that next year”. And there the quest began.

The Bike

After many many minutes research on tin-ternet I soon choose the bike. It had to be a biggish engine, something old and fairly easy to convert into a Cafe Racer. Do an image search online for K100 Cafe Racer and you can see there are a lot. So I was lucky enough to get a second chance on the bike which I forgot I had bid on. Fortunately for me, the winning bidder was a no-show, so his loss is my gain. If I hadn’t have bought the bike the owner was going to break it for spares, so I am saying that I have saved this little German Beauty.

The Plan

Not having much experience with bikes or any major mechanical experience other than tinkering with my own cars, this is going to be a learn as I go approach, with as much help from members of bike forums, which so far I am pleased to say are extremely helpful.

Strip the bike down to frame.
Complete respray of all engine parts in Beard Juice colours (black and gold)
Cut the rear end of the frame off the fit a small Cafe Racer style seat
Send the frame out for sand blasting and powder coating
Rebuild the bike with all new pipes, tubing, discs, pads basically anything that is perishable, the bike is 32 years old after all.
Pass my bike test!
Do all of this before 24th September for the Distinguished Gentlemans Ride

I will be updating the progress of the build on this post so keep coming back to see more photos.

The Beard Juice BMW K100 Cafe Racer. Weekend 1

First weekend is all about stripping down the bike and assessing the magnitude of the work ahead. Also to replace the faulty fuel pump and to turn the engine to make sure all is ok mechanically.

Only just fitted in the Beard Juice Van

Looking very sorry for itself

Lots of must, rust and parts missing

Dirt and Rust

More dirt and rust

DSC_0998

Fault with the current fuel pump

wrong size fuel pump delivered

nice new correctly sized fuel pump

Perfect fit

Missing parts

REALLY Oily engine bay

Dismantling begins

Cleaning

Very corroded hose lines

Cleaner already

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 2

More stripping down and a total clean of layers and layers of dirt and oil, then cover up all the holes and get ready for painting the engine.

Getting ready to take the frame off

Quite dirty Air Intakes

Presto

Stripped Bare!

Wire Brush does wanders

dgr sponsorship

Covering up ready for a deep Clean

Elbow Grease a plenty

Getting reay to paint

Covers primered

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 3

Unfortunately I ran out of paint so didn’t get the whole engine sprayed, but I have to say it looks great already.

Lots of Masking and Primer

Beard Juice Cafe Racer

Getting there

Sweeet

Hell Yes !

Colour coding the brake discs

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 4

So it’s now time to get down to the nitty-gritty. It’s time to bring out the safety goggles and angle grinder. Yes, its the measure once cut twice time!!

The seat, in my opinion, makes the bike. it’s the difference between a good looking bike and a great looking bike. Obviously budget plays a big part in this, as the one-off custom fabricated seats can look amazing. There are so many styles to choose from, along with doing your own thing, and I’m still not 100% decided on what route to take.

Recycle

I have started with the original seat to use as a base and see if it would work, once I cut it down to my desired shape and size. The trouble, I very quickly found is that it would require a bucket load of fabricating to get the desired look. So that idea is on hold while I look at the other options. The next choice is the fiberglass base which I guess is the more traditional cafe racer look. I do like this look but I’m still undecided.

Seat Options

The final option is an off the shelf seat. There are plenty to choose from but my favourite is again with the humped back. This seat can mount straight onto the frame as is but doesn’t give a great look as the frame doesn’t run flat with the seat. The other option is to have an extra beam welded onto the frame giving a more natural look.

Here we go.

Original Seat, minus foam and leather

My favourite seat.

Seat following contours of the frame. Nice.

I’m guessing an original seat base with lots of customisation.

Very nice fibreglass / metal seat base.

A very nice kit covering the entire petrol tank

Humped cafe racer seat with frame customisation. I like this.

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 5

Weekend 4 quickly turned into weekend 5, as I spent most of my time conjuring new recipes for the new Beard Juice range of UK Beard Oils. So a week on I finally got round to chopping the frame.

A fairly daunting task to be honest, as I don’t want to go down the routes of having it repaired if I screw up. So I measured up and let the grinder do its worst. All went well and the frame looks good.

Threaded Bolts

The next job was to try and remove the forks from the Yokes, which I knew would be a problem, as 2 of the bolts had been rounded off, from where a previous owner had attempted to remove them. With much fiddling and banging and swearing I managed to get one off, but the final screw must have been threaded, and after a look online a replacement yoke was only a few quid so I decided to cut the Yoke and save myself a lot of time.

Chopped Cafe Racer

Beard Juice Cafe Racer

Starting to make sense now

Stinky old seat foam

Cut Yoke

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 6

Big Weekend this one, lots to do.

First job prep and ready the seat pan for the fabricator. Being 30+ years old the seat pan is quite badly rusted, so I purchased a little fiberglass repair kit and patched up as best I could just to give a little more strength to the thinning metal. I then sanded down and gave the seat a few coats of paint just to make it a little more presentable and give it some protection from rust.

Then onto the frame. I have arranged for the very talented Beard Juice Ambassador Tom Hindley to weld seat mounts to the frame. He also added some extra weld to a part of the frame as I had cut a bit too much meat from a part of the frame.

Decisions Decisions

My original plan was to have the frame sandblasted and powder coated, as its a quick and relatively cheap process. But I want to be involved in the build as much as possible, so I decided to have a go at sanding it down myself, and take it from there.

It took the best part of a day to have the frame rust and crud-free, and there was a lot more surface rust on the frame than I originally thought. I then covered the frame with an anti-rust liquid, just to kill off anything I might have missed.

There are parts of the frame where the petrol tank sits that are very hard to get at with the sander, so I covered that area with some Hammerite that I had lying around, and I was quite impressed with the look, so before you know it I had hand painted the entire frame.

Regrets

It was definitely not my original intention, and I am regretting it a little bit at the moment. Standard Hammerite has that lumpy look that works well on certain applications, and I am not sure this is one of those. Although the majority of the frame will be covered in various bike parts, the exposed frame areas need to look the part, so I am going to wait until I can get the frame back on the bike and see what it looks like.

Worst case scenario I can just send it off to the sandblaster and get it blasted and powder coated, or I could give it a light wet and dry and go over it with another few layers of paint.

Tom Hindley Doing his thing

frame welded and ready for sanding

Drilling holes for seat fitting

Very dirty work sanding the frame

Cover with some rust killer

Ready for Paint

Not sure about this

Not too bad

That hammerite effect

The jury is still out

Nope still not sure

A Quick Look Back

Although it’s only been a few weeks since I purchased the bike, when I look over the photos it’s clear how far the bike has come, and to be honest what a state it was in when I bought it.

Here’s a few photos showing the poor condition of the old girl.

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 7

Didn’t get that much done this weekend, other than spraying the forks and wheels. After spraying the frame I discovered that Hammerite do a smooth version, which shows it pays to do your research first! I got in touch with Hammerite to ask if the smooth version could be sprayed over the standard version I used on the frame, and their prompt reply says it can. So, when the frame comes back from the seat fabricator, I will key the frame and give it a couple of coats of the smooth, as the wheels have come out a treat using the Hammerite smooth.

Cutting Corners

I used the same gold paint as I have used on other parts of the engine. Although it is designed for high temperature engine parts I don’t see any issues with it being on the forks. I have to point out, I have intentionally sprayed the wheels the lazy way by leaving the tyres on. I have new tyres coming soon so the current tyres are no good, so no harm in leaving them on.

Wheels were in a very bad way

Very difficult to get all the dirt, grease and grime out of the wheels

Forks also thick with oil and dirt. A wire brush and fine sand paper did the trick

Primer on.

Going for Gold. Look pretty good

Almost a Powder Coat effect

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 8

As its April already I’m starting to get concerned that time is running out, therefore I’m making an executive decision and taking Fridays afternoons of work so I can spend more time on the build.

I think I am nearing the end of the endless spraying, or at least the bulk of it is done. Today I keyed the frame and gave it a new cost of Hammerite smooth from a rattle can. It is a very forgiving paint, but is only as good as the preparation and surface it’s going on. So the frame is ok, but not going to win any awards, but most importantly I am happy with it. I cut down the front mudguard, and have put on some fiberglass to an area that was broken. I will finish this off when I spray the fuel tank.

Tyres

The new tyres have been ordered and will be here next week hopefully. Its been a bit of a nightmare with the tyres as apparently the size of the K100 front wheel is a bit unusual, so I am limited to what tyre I can have. There are some nice tyres but many of them will have an inner tube, and I am told that’s not the best route to take, especially if you get a flat on a motorway. So I have decided on the Pirelli Scorpion MT90. These are a compromise as I was wanting the ‘knobbly’ look to match the style of the bike, but safety comes first. These tyres are rated to a max speed of 98mph, which to be honest is good, as I have zero intentions of doing 58mph on it, let alone 98!

Brakes

I have started on the brakes and cleaned up the rear brake caliper, and have given it a couple of coats of VHT gold, and am going to get the new pads fitted as soon as I can work out how to get the brake piston pushed back in! I have also cleaned up the shock absorber and sprayed over the brake fluid reservoir, as the white plastic holder stood out like a sore thumb on the black & gold styling of the bike.

What with taking the frame off time and time again, plus general tinkering, a few chips, and marks have appeared on the engine, so once I get all the big jobs out the way, I am going to tidy up the chips and marks, before the full rebuild starts.

Seat

The highlight of the week by far was picking up the custom seat. the boys at Viking Motorcycle Seats have done an AMAZING job, and I could not be happier. The quality is amazing and they produced exactly what I asked for. We have a Bentley stitching on faux suede, with a dark brown leatherette surround, and of course the Beard Juice Logo in gold stitch.

Front mud guard cut down

Breaking down the rear Brembo brake caliber

Ohhhhhhhhh YES

Cleaning up the Fork Yokes

The frame after a coat of Hammerite Smooth

Where we are at 8 weeks in

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 9 & 10

As per ‘life’ getting in the way I haven’t got that much completed on the bike, so I will combine the past 2 weekends into one.

Tyre Arrival

The best thing to happen was the new ‘nobbly’ tyres arrived and I was up to the tyre centre in a flash to get them fitted. Due to the unique size of the front wheel I was fairly limited to safe tyre choice so I went with the Pirelli Scorpions. There were a few nice tyres available but they used an inner tube, and all I spoke to said that’s a really bad idea, especially if using the bike on a motorway.

Rebuild time

So with the wheels complete, frame sprayed, it’s now a case of starting to put the old girl back together. As the bike was a ‘boxer’, in that much of the bike came in a big box, there are a few parts missing, lots of parts that need replacing, and some parts no longer required. But as I am starting the rebuild I know there will be areas that I don’t really know what should go where so its’ going to get a bit tricky from here in.

I ordered a service pack so I can change the oil filter, fuel filter, O rings and spark plugs, which will allow me to finally bolt up and tighten the engine.

Handle Bars

I have also ordered a wider style handlebar which will hopefully produce the look I am trying to accomplish, although this could cause me more problems as it will probably make the clutch and accelerator cables to short, so I’ll have to wait and see.

A new set of handlebar grips are on the way, along with some rear indicators which will hopefully fit nicely into the tube ends of the bike frame.

Snapped Bolts

While trying to change the oil filter I ran into problems with a few of the bolts holding the oil filter cover, so after lots of swearing and grazed knuckles, the amazing guys on the K100 Facebook group came to the rescue giving me advice on how to remove them. I got a couple out myself but an amazing guy called Frank came over to help me remove a couple of bolts, which had sheered off into the oil sump pan. I was ready to buy a replacement one, so he saved me a few quid, and I am very grateful for his help.

Pirelli Scorpion MT90

New Parts

Bit of Bling

Beard Juice Logo looking sweet

Forks back on

Starting to like a bike again

Sheered off bolts

Playing with clay to make a badge for the fuel tank

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Weekend 11,12 & 13

So we are now getting into the more tricky parts of the build, well at least they are tricky for me.

The first part was fitting the new ‘bobber’ style handlebars. Now, like most things in life, everything has to be labeled or categorized. The bike is being called a cafe racer, and personally, I don’t think it is. It’s just a bike that I am building to look how I want it to. Its got bits that are cafe racer, and bits that are bobber, like the handlebars. I prefer the more upright position on a bike, it looks more.. well sophisticated, and I am sure will be more comfortable than leaning over, so these are the bars I have gone for, and it gives the bike a great look. But as they are wider the original bars, the brake lines are now too short, so I am going to have to make some new ones, and to be honest it needed them anyway as the rubber lines are 30+ years old and these are very important so best not take any chances.

Rear Sets

Next job was the rear sets or the foot bars. The set on the bike are actually quite rare as she’s an old girl, and they were replaced with better-looking ones in later models. Being quite rare they are hard to come by and therefore quite expensive, so I really didn’t want to start messing about with them, but looking at the prices of aftermarket ones, the cost was ridiculous, therefore I had no choice but to cut them down. I had to do this as they were sticking out too far and they were designed for 2 people and the bike is now a single rider so it had to be done. After cutting them down and respraying they look ok, so probably in the future I will get an aftermarket set that look more appealing.

Forks

I’ve had a complete nightmare with the front forks, as I have scratched the hell out of the paintwork trying to get the wheel on with the brake discs fitted. When I finally got the wheel on, it wasn’t central. After much head scratching and swearing it turns out I had the forks on the wrong way, so I had to take them off and start again, we will put it down to a newbie error. So the forks will need respraying at some stage, but for the moment I want to concentrate on getting it fully built.

Elec-trickery

There are lots of little jobs that I have completed, including getting the bikes electrics and cables almost 100% reconnected. All that remains is to get the wiring tidied up, wire up the new indicators and horn, and then connect the new aftermarket speedometer coupled with a ‘BEP 3.0’, which is a magical box that allows everything to communicate with aftermarket speedos without the need for cutting wires everywhere.

The new exhaust arrived, and as expected the quality isn’t great but you get what you pay for and it was only £25 so I am not complaining. Again, sometime in the future, an upgrade will be required. But it fits and I have covered the pipes with some heat wrap.

The side stand has also been fitted, as this was one of the many parts that were not fitted to the bike when I purchased it.

So I am almost reaching the end of the build and the list of things to complete is small.

The Final List…

Modify fuel filter and fit.
Fit front brake lines, pads and bleed the system
Bleed rear brake.
Fit headlight, horn, and indicators.
Fit Speedo and BEP 3.0
Fit HT leads
Fit mirrors.
Respray forks.
Spray tank, mudguard, and fit.
Fit seat
Check everything, check again and go for launch

I have placed orders for almost everything I need, so am hopeful that I might be able to do a test start this weekend, fingers crossed.

New Bobber style handlebars

Much better look

BMW K100

Beard Juice Cafe Racer

Hello gorgeous

its nearly there

funky indicators

bigger handlebars, smaller brake lines!

Really didnt want to do that

Not what I wanted but needs must

doesnt look to bad

time for an upgrade

problems fitting front wheel

not keen on the light brackets

sweet

The Beard Juice Cafe Racer. A whole bunch of weekends!!

I have to apologize for not updating the blog for a few weeks. Life, work, blah blah, the usual stuff has gotten in the way. But the bike build has continued and I have made much much progress and I can almost taste the bugs in my mouth!

Brakes

So, I have fitted the new front brake lines and also bled the brakes with a £3.00 vacuum device from eBay. The best part of building this bike is that I am learning so much and performing tasks that I have never done, and It gives me huge satisfaction in completing every stage. I was quite nervous about fitting the brake lines and bleeding the system, but after a bit of head scratching, it was very easy. The opposite could be said for the rear brake. I have had several weeks of frustration trying to bleed the brake. I have to completely disassemble the caliper and main piston, as endless pumping the brake the system would not fill with fluid.It wasn’t until by chance I looked into the reservoir that I noticed that the rubber accordion was underneath the brake fluid, meaning the brake oil was not able to enter the system!!! Perhaps if I had taken a look in the manual I would have saved myself a couple of weekends!!! Anyway the brakes both front and back are working like a charm.

Speedo

I haven’t had any luck with the speedometer and the BEP 3.0. Unfortunately, the saying ‘you get what you pay for’ could not be truer regarding the budget speedometer purchased from eBay for a mere £25. The main problem being that the multitude of colour coded wires does not correspond with the instructions, and to add to that the colour of the cables are different to the instruction manual as well. So after much-guessing nothing worked so I have done what I should have done from the start and bought an approved speedometer that is guaranteed to work with the BEP 3.0.

Welding?

I also had my first crack at welding and after zero practice I can proudly say that my welding skills are awful. ‘Bird Sh*t’ is the appropriate term, I am reliably informed after posting a picture of it online. But the weld holds and after a lot of sanding, I am more than happy with it. The weld was for a custom license plate holder I made that hangs over the rear tyre. I also made a set of LED license plate lights which I am hoping will be ok for the MOT. I have completed all of the other electrical issues that the bike had, mainly the front and rear indicators. We had fun and games trying to sort the indicators, and after a lot of testing it turns out the previous owner had hooked up one of the indicator wires to one of the horns!

Bits and Bobs

There is not much left to do truth be told. Lots of tidying and cleaning, as there are a few scuffs and scratches. I am waiting on some new orange LED’s, as I am going to convert a pair that I have but don’t have bright enough bulbs. The main jobs remaining are fitting the new speedometer, which should arrive in a few days, and then the petrol tank… ooooohh the petrol tank. I have had 3 attempts at spraying the tank.

The first and second attempts were a disaster and less said about that the better. The third attempt was almost perfect up until the point when I used the wrong lacquer / clear coat. As I used a VHT clear coat I didn’t take into account that VHT needs heat to activate and make it hard, so after 4 days it was still wet and I had put my mucky pores on it leaving fingerprints. There probably could have been a chance to mop it down and give it another coat, but I took it to a professional spray shop and they advised that it wouldn’t be a great finish. So yet again I am doing what I should have done from the start and letting the pros do it. The tank is one of the focal points of the bike and I want it to be perfect. So next time I update this blog, the bike should be finished (fingers crossed)

Sweet little LED indicators

fitting the headlight

My very first attempt at welding

I guess this is my first custom fabrication

Colours of wires dont match with instructions. In the bin!

I love the belly pan

Testing the aluminum beard Juice Logo badge

A rather sorry state, but rare as hens teeth

Loving it

It was going so well

And the clear coat has gone pear shaped

My hero

lush

The radiator grill came up nicely

The wiring for the speedo

The Beard Juice BMW K100 Cafe Racer is FINISHED!

FRIDAY 1st September 2017 marks the completion of the Beard Juice Cafe Racer. Its’ finished at last. 8 months in the making, bundles of sweat, blood, tears, and cash, but I am one happy chap. The bike sailed through its MOT without a single advisory, even the guy doing the MOT loved it!

So I know I have missed quite a few weekends, and consequently missing out a lot of information and parts of the build, so I do apologise, but as the original purpose of the build was to take part in the gentlemans Ride on the 24th of September its been a rush to get the bike ready, along with studying for my theroy motorbike test, which I passed, then my CBT (Compulsary Bike Test) which I also passed, and currently I am preparing to take the last and most difficult, the practical test, which will be less than 2 weeks before the Gentlemans Ride.

Running Late but Looking Great

So yes I have left it late, and I am putting a lot of pressure on myself, as I have raised a tidy amount in sponsorship. So here are some images of the bike in all her glory. From day one I have called her a Cafe Racer, but as there was no set design, it has kind of ended up in a kind of Cafe Racer / Scrambler, as It has the Cafe Racer rear end and more of a Scrambler front end. Either way, there are no rules when styling your own bike and I am more than happy with the result.

More to Come

One day I would like to get spoked wheels and make a few more changes here and there, but I am also looking at working on the next project, as I would really like a British bike, so maybe a Norton or Triumph. Who knows… Huge Thanks to all that have helped me throughout the build. I went into this with zero knowledge of bikes, and without the web, I would have seriously struggled. The specialist groups on Facebook have been my biggest source of knowledge, mainly the K100 dedicated groups mainly BMW K75 K100 OWNERS / LOVERS and BMW K75 K100 K-Bikes Modified. Big thanks to Frank Miles, a global powerhouse of knowledge on the BMW K series. I’m fortunate enough to live close to Frank who has been more than helpful and been round a few times to help out. There is nothing he does not know about the K and I thank him for all his support and knowledge. Thanks to BSK Speedworks for assisting on the electrical issues I had with the speedo setup. Great service and also knowledge

BMW K100 Cafe Racer

BMW K100 Cafe Racer Never Give In

BMW K100 Cafe Racer Beard Juice Logo

BMW K100 Cafe Racer

BMW K100 Cafe Racer Winston Churchill Quote

BMW K100 Cafe Racer

BMW K100 Cafe Racer lowback

BMW K100 Cafe Racer

The post The Beard Juice BMW K100 Cafe Racer appeared first on Beard Juice.

The Face of Beard Juice

BJNedeN — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 11:31:01 +0000

The Face of Beard Juice

Part of the Beard Juice ethos is to appeal to everyday men, and thus when using imagery on our website and promotional material we like to use the guys that use our products and have everyday jobs and lifestyles.

So on 17th & 18th September,2016 we will be attending the annual ‘Salute to the 40’s’ weekend at the Historic Dockyard Chatham #salutetothe40s ,and here we will officially launch our Face of Beard Juice campaign, using our go to professional photographer Alison Lewis . The plan is simple, we are looking for everyday bearded gents who aren’t shy to pose for the camera. We will take a few shots of you looking your best and ask you to maybe perform a catalogue pose or two. It will all be light hearted fun and very informal so don’t expect a make up crew, director and roadies !

Once we have a bunch of photos, the team at Beard Juice will go over all the entrants and pick a winner or two or three to become the new face(s) of Beard Juice. The winners will be announced the following week.

The winner(s) photos will then be used on the website, flyers, promotional material and social media publications. They will also receive an ongoing supply of Beard Juice products for the duration of time that their images are used.

There is no monetary prize for this event, merely the glory and pride of you being the face of Beard Juice.

As there is an entrance charge to the Salute to the 40’s event (ticket info and pricing details at Dockyard website click here) we are giving away 2 pairs of tickets.

To enter the give-away first you MUST be able to attend the event on Sunday 18th September. We have 2 pairs of tickets, so if you win you can bring whomever you like with you. Tickets will be available for collection on the day at the entrance. Tickets can not be exchanged or refunded.

To enter simply go to the Beard Juice facebook page which can be found here Add your photo to the salute to the 40’s post that will be at the top of the page, and add the hashtag #salutetothe40s

To be entered into the ticket give-away you must add both image and use the hashtag #salutetothe40s. A winner will be picked by random when the give away finishes on Saturday 8th September 12 noon.

www.facebook.com/beardjuiceuk

www.facebook.com/alisonlewisphotography

www.facebook.com/salutetothe40s

The post The Face of Beard Juice appeared first on Beard Juice.

Keeping It Local

BJNedeN — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 14:21:28 +0000

Since our launch in November 2015, I have attended a couple of local events mainly to dip the BJ toe in the water, get a feel for interacting with humans, strange as it may sound, but for the past decade I have mainly been locked away in my work from home office running my other business which is Web Design, hosting etc. So apart from dealing with my own clients, I needed a bit of practice meeting people and potential customers. Selling online is one thing but to get the best possible feedback and feel for my client base you need to meet and talk with real people.

So to date I have attended the Peterborough Hot Rod and Custom Car Show. A 2 day event at Peterborough Show Ground, not exactly local but as I love cars, hot rods and bikes this was a must.

I made some contacts and some friends, saw some awesome machinery and had a great time.

The Fort Amehurst 40’s Event

The first ever Beard Juice event. An annual event held at the local Fort in Chatham. A 40’s themed event with fantastic live music, people dressed in 40’s costume. Real good fun and a gentle way to ease me into the trade shows. We even had a mention and photo in the local Kent Messenger which was a bonus.

The Kent County Show

This was big 3 day event at the annual Kent County Show with 70,000+ visitors.

We were situated in the Vintage Hall with some great stands and traders. I met some great people along with some local barber shop owners some of whom will be stocking our products.

3 long hard days but a great experience.

Did I mention we got a good 10 minutes on BBC Radio Kent with the James Whale Something for the Weekend Show.

The experience, knowledge and fun I had at these shows was immense. I made some AMAZING contacts, some of whom I am already working with on some exciting projects, made some new friends which is always awesome, and I also made quite a few sales, and hopefully return custom.

Overall I was able to share my knowledge with a lot of great people who were new to the beard oil thing, and found out a lot about some competitors products, which was actually very enlightening.

So for the time being in intend to do a few more local shows, fayres and the like.

My business is not well established enough for me to consider the industry trade shows which although i ~~feel~~ know the product is MORE than capable of standing next to the other well established brands this is something for the near future.

Keeping it local is where it is for the moment. Getting out there, meeting people getting the brand in the top local barbers and retail stores. Making a name within Kent and the South and then spreading our wings further afield.

Next Up

Salute to the 40’s at The Dockyard Chatham

17- 18 September 2016

The post Keeping It Local appeared first on Beard Juice.