Growing up in Connecticut where he worked on his first chopper in the early ‘60s, a ’47 Knucklehead belonging to his brother, that laid the spiritual design foundation for his future builds with a radical rake of 53-degrres with a 20”-over springer. Later he enrolled at Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music where he studied piano with hopes of becoming a rock star, but a...

            If you want to see all the winners in every class go to: http://capitalcitybikefest.com/bike-show/2016-winners.  Their web site coverage is awesome and is one of the few events that post all the winners as well as their bikes. Take note everyone else.             I was very happy to see that one of my favorite builders, Kenny Williams of KW Customs, took best of show...

  So it’s not the bike or the builder in particular, so it must be about the back story and it obviously is. If you’ve seen the 2011 movie, Machine Gun Preacher, starring Gerard Butler as our story’s real life person, Sam Childers, you already know the story behind the story. But if you haven’t, check out the movie trailer here. Or, you could read Sam’s book that led to the movie,...

     El Fuego’s owner, Chris Garrison of CG Customs in Buford, Georgia, had a couple of things in mind for his 2003 Night Train and none of them involved a 100-point restoration as you can easily tell by checking out Jack Cofano’s photo gallery (If you don’t, you’re missing out!). First off, a custom motorcycle painter like Chris needs a showcase for his work and one of the best...

  So it does seem after I used them that Harley-Davidson riders can grab more attention in traffic with the new LED Bullet Turn Signal Insert Kit (P/N 67800639 Amber, P/N 67800640 Red; $139.95) from Harley-Davidson Genuine Motor Parts & Accessories. Designed as an easy, drop-in replacement for the Original Equipment bulb and reflector in a bullet turn signal housing,...

     I don’t know if Robert Snipes, owner of Snipes Machine in Kershaw, South Carolina, and builder of this bagger is a purple freak or not, but I do know he’s a big wheel bagger freak. But, he uses his skills as a machinist and fabricator to always try to take a custom bagger to a different level. Snipes Machine has contributed to a number of Barnett’s articles like his Street...

   Then it dawned on me, that’s not a 30-inch wheel, but a 32-incher and all the proportions are just slightly larger to accommodate it. Maybe you don’t feel the same way, but it looks slightly larger scale than what I’m used to seeing. Apparently Dennis is a firm believer like all good Americans that big is good, but bigger is better. Just like the American automakers of old that...

Joe’s first bike was a dead stock 1995 Wide Glide that he rode for a very short time before the Harley customizing bug bit him hard. “At first I started to add little things, but then I wanted more, something different” said Joe. “Ever since I was 12 or 13 I was working on cars, never went to any school for it or anything, it just came pretty natural for me to work on Harleys...

That’s not always the case as you can easily see in the Dyna makeover called The Beach Cruiser by Ric Greene, owner of Southeast Custom Cycles in Concord, North Carolina. One look and it’s obvious this is no Heidi Montag surgical aberration of a perfectly good, but often unappreciated Harley Big Twin. Ric’s taken a Plain Jane Super Glide and turned it into a sexy supermodel without...

       Go ahead and take a good look at Jack Cofano’s always lovely photo gallery and see what you think about this nice looking ride built by Robert Snipes and crew at Snipes Machine in Kershaw, South Carolina. Maybe I’m just getting a bit jaded after seeing so many 30-inchers along with the occasional 32-incher dominating the front end of so many custom baggers. Or, maybe the 26...