Yeah, try juggling all that stuff and be as motorcycle prolific, tasteful, and aesthetic-defined as Mr. Randolph. His bikes aren’t cookie-cutters, but you can tell a KO bike from a block away. Just like it says on his website (www.knockoutcycles.com), “From the kicker pedal to the oil bag to the signature 2-into-1 exhaust, if Ralph’s name’s on it, you can bet that what you’re riding is as American as it gets. Each hand-built bike in Ralph Randolph’s collection is designed with two thoughts in mind . . . keeping it simple and riding it hard.”

And that exactly sums up Ralph’s aggressively-cool Gran Patron theme bike in a nutshell (or whatever little homily you’d rather choose) where the aspect of it being a theme bike is carefully lost in the design instead of commercially-slapping you in the face with doo-dads and gee-haws. This bike is clean and simple and looks like it would be fun to ride hard. Hey, wait a minute, that’s exactly what he said on his website.

From the one-off wheels (23”front and 20” rear) to the see-through oil tank to the trademark 2-into-1 exhaust to mention a just a few pieces, Knockout’s combined the best of Ralph’s individual designs into one kick-ass 100” S&S-powered custom. Things flow as they should with interesting, but not overwhelming design points to catch your eyes. In all the lovely and deliberate Knockout blackness, I gotta admit I’m a sucker for that gorgeous lather seat that looks like it was made a hundred years ago and never used, but carefully stored until it had just the right patina.

Overall, it’s got a sportbike-bobber look to it if there is such a thing. Well if there isn’t, there is now. Maybe it’s the black inverted forks with beefy machined triple clamps or the low bars with neat billet hand controls and master cylinders or maybe it’s just the startling sweep of the exhaust, but there’s an aggressive sportbike-style to this bobber/board tracker design. Whatever it is, it makes me want to ride it more than look at it and I really like looking at it. That bike’s got to be pretty damn light, pretty damn powerful, and pretty damn quick. Kinda nice that Ralph chose to put some serious brakes and tires on there to balance things out. In case you haven’t heard, Ralph does like to get on a bike and really ride the hell out of it. Gee, maybe that’s why it’s such a nicely balanced package.

Any way you look at it, Knockout’s Gran Patron is a fine ride, a good looker, and a theme bike that doesn’t know it’s a theme bike. Knockout’s bikes are multi-faceted designs that do many things well seemingly without trying hard. Hey, that’s just like the man himself.