Barnett’s Magazine Online featured Rick’s previous AIR winner called Pala Duro a year ago and it’s hard to believe that he had the time to come up with another AIR winner that takes his work to another level altogether. In between all of that, Rick somehow found the time to build another bike on Discovery Channel’s BikerLive that won the Nor-Cal builders’ episode against extremely stiff competition. Busy, busy lad and building custom motorcycles is not even his main gig ─ yet.

 

    Obviously we’re big fans of Rick’s work here at Barnett’s, but have you really looked at Jack Cofano’s photos? I doubt you could without becoming a silly fanboy yourself. I mean, look at the details and then look at the details in the details and think about all the hard work and talent it took to make something so lovely to behold even if it’s in pictures. I just kept blowing ‘em up and blowing ‘em up more. It was just about as amazing as looking at Hubble photos of outer space. There’s a hell of a lot going on in every shot of Rick’s bike and the same goes for Hubble too.

 

   From the jewel of a Shovelhead to the tiny taillight sitting proudly on its fender mount to the delicate chain adjusters, Rick put a bit of himself in every single piece and it only makes me wonder about what goes through his head on every build. I’m sure he’s having a great time building, but it’s got to be a bit draining trying to think each and every little piece and part through the evolution from raw material to a finished product worthy of being displayed in Tiffany’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

   What? You think I’m being silly? Take a look at the gas cap. That bit of frivolity has a life of its own and could exist outside this bike just by itself. Or how about the Hilborn fuel injection on a split-rocker box Shovelhead no less? Serious, serious work went into making this throttle body unobtrusively do its thing including the myriad ancillary pieces that go along with making it start and run. I’d give you a better explanation of what’s up with that, but it’s way beyond my pay grade. Suffice to say just even attempting something like this gets a thumbs up from me and hopefully you too.

 

   And, that’s not even getting into stuff like the rear hub or the frame with a neck that looks like it shouldn’t work, but it does. The best part of all this work, though, is how something so thought through and fiendishly complicated can look so skinny and simple. That takes talent and the young lad from Hanford, California, has it in spades along with an appreciation of vintage choppers that totally belies his age. Somewhere in his background there’s gotta be a father or a grandfather (or both) who passed along the skills and heritage to give such a young builder the connection to a time long before he was even thought of. I’m just guessing on that one, but I bet . . .

    It wouldn’t be a Rick Bray bike unless there was a killer of killer’s paintjob by Rick’s good friend, the somewhat reclusive, but über-talented Kool Hand Luke of Fresno, California. With a resume that includes artist, tattoo artist, vehicle painter, airbrush artist, pinstriper and more, Rick always turns to Kool Hand Luke when he needs the final story to be told on his builds. Once more, KHL has outdone himself again with a paintjob that never stops, but never intrudes.

 

   There’s a back story to the name of the bike, Solomon Special, that involves the unfortunate passing of a dear friend of Rick’s, Colby Solomon, that Rick has taken totally to heart with each and every build he does. But, this bike is something special. According to Rick, everything he builds has to be Colby-worthy and on this bike he took it to a new level. Besides the name, there are little things like the Colby’s racing number 9 painted on the magneto. Tough, tough thing to deal with, but Rick brings a bit of Coby into every build and I’m sure Colby would be proud to see the heights Rick’s scaled over the past couple of years since tragedy struck. Good friends are forever and Rick proves that by honoring his buddy with every unbelievable build and plenty more to come.

 

   For more info on Rick Bray’s RKB Kustom Speed, click on over to his Facebook page.