Fighting Talk 193

The word ‘paradigm’ means ‘benchmark’. It is a standard that is set at a certain level and is based on available fact. It is the yardstick for comparison, and the target at which competitors must aim. And a paradigm shift occurs when that benchmark is suddenly, and drastically, raised.

Here at Streetfighters, we’re privileged enough to see the best of the world’s modified performance motorcycles on a daily basis. Between our sister magazine BSH and ourselves, we like to think that we cover the best variety of custom bike specials, certainly from the UK, and also from elsewhere around the globe. But even then, there’s a benchmark. There’s a level that is rarely touched, let alone passed, except in fevered imaginations and in scribbled sketches on the backs of beer mats. Sure, we see original ideas all the time, and almost every issue sees us cover new concepts in design, engineering and styling, but since I’ve been at the magazine (nearly a decade, it feels like longer, I remember when this were all fields, etcetera), never has a project broken the mould quite so comprehensively as this month’s cover and centrespread bike, Paul Wilkinson’s turbocharged and supercharged VTR.

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