Many of you may have seen the film ‘The Delivery’ by OEM (Old Empire Motorcycles) going around online at the moment, but what you might not know is the intriguing and challenging story behind the film.

The film is only 15 minutes long and will do nothing but inspire you to go for a really long ride! But more than that, it really is an awesome snapshot into the challenge and adventure faced by a group of friends and UK based custom motorcycle builders delivering a new bike to a friend and customer in the South of France.

We asked Rafe from OEM to give King of Fuel some background to the film and some of the challenges that they faced on the epic three day journey. And boy did they face some challenges!

Firstly Matt, who had commissioned OEM to build his bike, ‘The Hunter’ had absolutely no idea that OEM were coming in person to deliver it to France, so Rafe was organising the surprise through his girlfriend. Also the bike was not MOT’d, tuned, taxed or insured at 5pm the evening before they were due to leave, and then to really add to the challenge, the camera vehicle broke down, had no brakes, no PAS and no battery charge the day before they left. (They managed to get a new alternator fitted and had it back by 8:30 the night before they left.) Lastly having sorted the bike and the camera vehicle at 9pm the amazingly talented friend (camera man, co-director and editor) of OEM Chris Fergusson arrived without his passport.

So after all this they finally hit the road in France for a clear day of riding ahead of them… Or so they thought:

“From the moment we hit french soil on day one it rained, and rained and rained. We were tired, wet and hungry but the ride was awesome!!! even the wet couldn’t dampen our spirits. Day two and it rained and rained and rained… this continued until around Clairment-Ferrand where there was literally a line in the road that went from cold, dark wet to hot, bright and clear blue! From that moment on the weather was glorious, the roads were incredible and the views were breathtaking!”

On day three after some frantic text messages between Rafe and Matt’s girlfriend to organise the surprise delivery, the OEM team finally did what they set out to do and delivered the motorcycle.

“The Trip was an adventure in the broadest sense of the word, we had a tiny window of opportunity to get the bike finished, delivered and film as much of it as we could. This we did successfully, and it was completely worth it for the look on Matt’s face when we got there. Many people say they would do anything for a friend, 2000 miles is not too far to go for our friends, and we proved it.”

Visit the OEM website to see more of their amazing Custom Motorcycles.