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KEDO and Natuschke & Lange present the newcomer Custom Battle 2024 between Jolene Endler and Philipp Piechura
There is a lot of experience and fascination for classic cars that needs to be passed on. Young talent on the lifts is immensely important.
That's why the guys from Classic & Custom Bikes Bremen have come up with a top campaign - they want to help ambitious young people to immerse themselves in the workshop and the world of classic motorcycles.
At this year's "BREMEN CLASSIC MOTORSHOW" this idea became the "SR500 Custom Battle 2024" born.
Over an after-show beer, Michael Silbermann (Classic and custom bikes / ShedOne), Manuel Endler (Natuschke & Lange), Heiner Wörl (Chrome Company), Gerhard Findeisen (CCP - Classic Custom Performance), as well as Markus and Lutz (KEDO GmbH) got together and came up with this great idea.
The framework was quickly defined - two young "screwdriving enthusiasts" were to meet two old motorcycles and redesign them with their ideas.
We were therefore looking for young creative people who see their professional future in dealing with old technology - as a two-wheeler mechatronics technician away from fault diagnosis and parts replacement.
Two classic donor motorcycles were also needed for this battle.
Natuschke & Lange and KEDO have each agreed to provide an SR500 for this battle.
The two candidates were also quickly found after a few phone calls - Jolene Endler, Manuel's two-wheeler enthusiast daughter, and Philipp Piechura, who is currently completing an internship at Natuschke & Lange as part of his degree course.
The two SR500s are to be turned into official custom bikes under professional guidance.
The finished machines are to be auctioned off at the end of the year.
It goes without saying that we will accompany and document your career.
The starting shot has been fired and we would like to introduce the two candidates to you below.
Jolene is 27 years young and comes from Syke near Bremen.
Her hobbies are photography, motorcycling & rebuilding and her dog Maya.
Jolene about Jolene:
"I grew up with motorcycles through my family. My great-grandmother (born in 1910) was the first woman in Bremen to have a motorcycle license.
My grandma and grandpa met in the 1950s when they went on factory trips for HERCULES.
My father started working at HEIN GERICKE in his early 20s. Initially on the side, he took over his first own store after just a few years.
He managed HEIN GERICKE stores for about 20 years until he started at Natuschke & Lange and later took over half of the store.
I've been in the motorcycle scene all my life and have been working in it myself for a few years now.
Riding and converting motorcycles is and remains my greatest passion.
I'm keen on the conversion project because I love to realize and live out myself in a way through individual conversions.
I learn so much every time I work on a motorcycle and it's just great fun.
If you then have the opportunity to build and design something entirely according to your own ideas, it's like winning the lottery."
Jolene is supported in the practical implementation by her father Manuel Endler.
Philipp - 18 years old, vocational baccalaureate incl. internship at Natuschke & Lange.
Hobbies: Motorcycling & motorcycle wrenching
Philipp about Philipp:
"I used to spend a lot of time on the computer until my father had the idea of buying a DT80 for me.
The project with the DT80 was quickly realized due to the low price of 300€ and my father's experience with his DT50.
At first I neglected the DT80 a bit, but at some point I started tinkering with it with my father.
Especially the stories and pictures of my father inspired me to go to the workshop and rebuild this bike.
There's a big difference between having built your own bike and knowing every screw and simply riding a modern off-the-shelf bike.
Obviously, my father's screwdriver genes have finally got me.
Among other things, my father completely dismantled and rebuilt a Kawasaki GPZ900R and, of course, also rode it.
He also rode other motorcycles such as a Yamaha DT50, an RD250, a Honda CB1100R and also had a gigantic project with a Porsche 911 3.0L SC from the 80s.
So I would say it was only a matter of time before I got infected with wrenching and took on projects like my Yamaha DT80 or my latest project, a Kawasaki GPZ750R.
Converting an SR500 as I imagine it is of course a unique opportunity and I would have liked to do such a conversion anyway.
So I didn't have to think twice about it."
Philipp can count on the support of his father, Gernot Piechura, for the practical implementation.
