Hold on a second there, now that I think about it the good old days of outrageous bikes like this pro street custom called Hushabye owned by Ronny Diesel (what a cool name) of Fort Mill, South Carolina, was like a decade ago. Like everything else outrageously custom (other than TV show theme bikes it seems), the times they were a changing. All of a sudden yesterday’s choppers and pro streeters were relegated to also-rans after being unceremoniously knocked out of the way by a stampede of custom baggers and bobbers. But not everybody who loved them could have stopped wanting one as dreams are often way more important than reality. Hopefully we’ll get to see some sort of pro street revision that will make them lustful to maybe not the masses, but a special group of hard core people.

 

   What slowed a custom tsunami of like pro streeters could have been the cost (outrageous), the over-the-top power (big-inch big horsepower), and handling and ride characteristics that needed an experienced hand on board. They were not impossible bikes to ride, just somewhat limited for all the money tied up. Yeah, it probably always comes back to money as I don’t ever remember seeing an inexpensive pro street custom. Maybe they were out there somewhere, but I never saw one. All I know is that any pro street owners I spoke with or wrote about were die-hard pro street fans. They weren’t chopper freaks and bobbers were just a bit too jalopy-ish for their tastes. Baggers? They weren’t on anybody’s radar yet. So, needless to say, I’m glad Barnett’s Magazine Online’s point-and-shoot guy, Jack Cofano, caught this rad pro streeter in his lens at the Charlotte Easyriders Show where it took third place in the Radical Custom class. Not bad Mr. Diesel, not bad.

 

  Pro street bikes have their own style which in turn demands certain things like rear suspension that today’s radical customs have forsaken like front brakes. Even though it looks like Hushabye doesn’t have one, if you look very closely you can see some sort of braking contraption enclosed inside the vented hub like the infamous 360 Brake that seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye. No surprise on this choice as pro street people were never afraid of trying the newest thing and cost be damned if it got show points and admiring stares. I can’t say I ever meet a pro street owner who was in any way afraid to take in the stares by the boatload, that’s what it was about.

 

   So this bike has got all the pro street boxes checked from the long, low frame with a fairly radical rake, but short, stout forks that look too one-piece billet stylish to do fork stuff, but do. The billet wheels are big, but not too big in height or width. There’s just plenty of rubber to handle things from the jewel-like engine bathed in show chrome with a Magna Charger Supercharger hanging off the right side of the engine and totally dominating the view. That is one hunka burning love supercharger that gives this bike enormous street cred without even starting it. You just know some supercharged shit’s gonna go down when you twist this throttle even just a little bit never mind WFO.

 

   Sheet metal was as important as paint, believe it or not with every piece of the seemingly one-piece steel bodywork fabricated by hand. On Hushabye, the pro street extrovert comes out with a fuel tank that’s as complicatedly shaped as a Stradivarius violin. It goes in, out, around and back with curves, points, and hard edges everywhere all done to sheet metal perfection. I can only wonder how many individual pieces were cut, shaped, welded, and finished off before they became one. One thing I always dug about pro street was that builders incorporated fenders front and rear as part of the established design parameters and didn’t just chuck the front one. Same goes for chin spoilers that were part of the package and seemed to have a practical use as a covering for and oil cooler or oil tank. It’s just a pro street thing and that’s okay by me.

 

    Last, but not least is a paintjob that didn’t give a damn about anything other than shocking the hell out of admirers with layer after layer of color and a scheme that never quit. IN this case there’s a bunch of angry demonic clowns in an unusual black and white hue under a pointy red and orange tribal design. Yes, tribal design ─ something you don’t see too much anymore, but here it looks almost vintagely cool. I guess you give anything some rest and it looks fresh again. Hey, I’m not advocating doing everything tribal again, just that I like this one as the pattern is so random, but precise. The paint here does exactly what it’s supposed to and that’s grab your attention whether you like it or not. It’s almost like the owner’s calling you out mentally.

 

   From what little information I’ve been able to gather, Mr. Diesel’s bike was built at New York City Choppers in Southampton, New York. When? I don’t have the slightest idea, but this bike looks fresh as a daisy so maybe I can kid myself that this is a recent build. Actually I wish that all you pro street freaks who seem to have retreated into the shadows or just dove head first into baggers could find some way of rejuvenating and refreshing this “old” breed of bikes from just ten years ago or so. It’s a style that no one’s taken to heart lately, but there’s got to be a bit of nostalgia still trapped in pro street freaks’ brains that only a new build could satisfy. Get to it and make yesterday’s performance custom a piece of the mainstream today. In the meantime, it’s nice to see a pro street stand proud in a bagger and bobber world.