David Abraham better known as 'Spike', was a partner / working mechanic in Cambridge motorcycles for 15 years and has over 30 years experience of, in his own words - 'messing with bikes'.

He has been a successful drag racer and engine tuner, who switched to circuit race bikes (He built & sponsored the winning B.M.C.R.C. ZXR400 supersport bike as ridden by Ricardo Ballerini), before he finally moved down to Cornwall where he has since taken up riding off-road bikes.

Shortly after arriving in the Westcountry, Spike set up Versatile Marine Services which also incorporates Versatile Engineering - at his workshop premises in Penryn. Where he is kept busy much of the time, especially in the holiday season, rebuilding all manner of boat engines as well as motorcycles.

One of Spikes circuit racing bikes & van from earlier days.

The years of building and tuning drag race and circuit bike engines, has provided Spike with an enormous wealth of experience and knowledge, regarding assembling and setting up all motorcycle engines to be at their best - regarding maximum usable power delivery and reliability.

Spike recalls some of the weirdest bike specials he has been involved with over the years: "I have done many stupid and strange things with motorcycles, such as trying to build a V8 rover engined bike when I was 17. I got as far as a frame and engine, but at the time I didn't really have the know how and now I realise there's no point. Luckily I haven't really got anymore sensible with age and a few years back in 97 we obviously didn't have enough work to do and decided to have a not very serious attempt at the Bike magazine 'Amphibious bike challenge'. The object of which was to ride a bike on it's wheels into the water and then out round a marker buoy and back out of the water again in the lake at the NEC in Birmingham, all without putting you're feet down.

In the yard we had an old Honda moped and made some wooden floatation tanks for it. Grafted an old outboard leg on the transmission case and sealed the whole lot up with fibreglass. Our mechanic at the time Mark was training himself up to be a commercial diver so was more than game for slinging himself into a freezing cold lake in the middle of November!

It turned out to be a right grin, some very strange and creative contraptions turned up on the day. We won the best Capsize/Toni Bullimore award, after I forgot to turn the fuel on!".

(Spike does have a short video clip of the beast's in action and hopefully one day we can get it on our website for you all to enjoy.)

Spike says; "I have been extremely lucky in the bike crashing department - considering the number of times I've fallen off, having only broken a few minor bones and of course suffered a fair few cuts and bruises. I always seemed to have a good size audience for my mistakes even though I wasn't aware I was showing off at the time! I am fortunate enough to have a couple of these 'spills' on video and would be happy to share them with you as a lesson in what happens when circuit racing bike fight back."

Hopefully now that Spike has taken to crashing off-road, I hope his future spills will all be little ones - and with softer landings!

Spike's Versatile Engineering business has specialised in racing and marine engines for many years, but now with his recent interest in off-road bikes, it occurred to him to offer his services to the dirt bike community at large, - which is how we got to hear about them.

I asked if he thought being at the western end of Cornwall would limit his customer base, to which he replied that he was also happy to receive engines from any part of the country, using the parcel delivery postal services. So now all motorcyclists - with either Four or Two Stroke motors, can take advantage of Versatile's engine rebuilding and race tuning services.

At their current rate of £17/hour +VAT, I must say it seems like a very good deal.

Thanks for the interview Spike, its good to have you on board in the dirt bike community.

If you wish to contact Versatile Engineering or speak to Spike regarding your bike problems, give him a call on 07749 860581, or send an email to info@versatilemarine.co.uk

Versatile Engineering, Unit 2, West End Industrial Estate, Penryn, Cornwall. TR10 8RT Telephone:  07749 860581 / 01326 376084 Email: info@versatilemarine.co.uk

They also have a website - www.versatilemarine.co.uk which has focused on Versatile's marine and diving activities, but is shortly being ammended with Spike's 'bike stuff' added.