Zach Saligoe, co-owner of Atlanta Monster Cycles with his dad, Mike, is no stranger to this flat-lined Buell phenomena and had recently finished a Buell-based ride for himself. An admiring customer known only as Ainars was so jazzed by the result he wanted one too. “I told him to get a Buell and we’d use everything we could according to the style he wanted. He got a 1996 S1 Lightning at a great deal and we started discussing the design,” said Zach. “He liked my bike, but also liked Exile and Marcus Walz. We decided to take the black and brushed Exile look and the low-slung look of Walz and combine them with our own look like the swoopy gas tank that comes down the backbone like we did for Hank Young.”
Speaking of Hank Young, Mike and Zach have built frames and tanks for him and Bryan Fuller for their Biker Build-Off shows, so fabbing a frame is no big deal. Giving it a deceptive Big Twin look is the extended neck and the stretch behind the engine. “The neck is out 2” forward just to make it look like it has more rake than it does,” said Mike. “There’s more gap between the front tire and the frame and it makes it appear like there’s a whole bunch more rake, yet it’s still right on the verge of handling real good.”
Stock Buell forks and six-pot brakes have a spoked Black Bike 21” wheel as the center of attention while an interesting choice of an All American wheel blank that they drilled out and made a hub for looks straight out of Exile. With a transplanted Buell 2-piston brake setup in place, they had a 240-tire roller.
The 1203cc engine “just needed a tune up and the carb tweaked” and it was a runner. Zach used a couple inches of the stock header and fabbed up the rest. The two pipes meld together just before they hit that huge hole of an opening. “It’s real loud with a deep throaty sound, it’s awesome,” said Zach. The Monster Cycles’ Alien air cleaner actually does clean air with filter foam sandwiched behind what looks like a velocity stack. Zach’s pride and joy is the ribbed for your pleasure aluminum oil tank that’s too cool for school. “People don’t realize that every single piece of that is hand fit and handmade. It takes at least three days to do,” he said. I like working with aluminum. You can move it around, anneal it, and shape it.”
That gas tank, for instance, is not steel, but aluminum that Zach worked and worked until he got the curves correct and the flat sides impossibly straight and smooth. “It was a real mother. I beat on that thing for a couple of weeks trying to get all the sides to come in and it was a challenge ‘cause the metal curves in several different directions and planes.” Fills up all the added space at the neck nicely though and adds a tight drama to the whole look. Zach also made those wicked cute speed-hole braces on the modified Kustomwerks’ fender. Matte- finish powdercoating by Miller Powdercoating covers the tin with paint by Jaguar Performance Karts.
On the left, a race car sheetmetal-covered oil cooler and pieced aluminum battery box fill the extended gap well with the side-mounted speedo adding a racecar touch. Underneath the engine is another racecar homage, a full-length, belly pan. “It’s two pieces and it’s got little holes so you can change the oil without removing it. If you look under the bike, it looks all finished,” said Zach. Once again, Chopper Shox suspends a seat with an old Indy car pleat cover by Outlaw Custom Seats who also made the leather side bag.
With all that aluminum and a ripping Buell mill Mike said, “ You betta be hangin’ on when you gas it.” Sounds just like a race car, doesn’t it?
Up Close: Metzeler ME 880
How can one company be so good at making their products work at the top level on almost every type of bike made? That’s like expecting a restaurant to have a New Jersey diner menu and making it to world-class standards. Can’t be done, although in the case of a German company you know by the name of Metzeler, they somehow do. Whether it’s a fat tire for a custom or a replacement for a factory issued tire, it’s always a step up in quality and right up there with the world’s best regardless of model of bike you’re running them on. And, they’ve been doing this since making their first set of two wheel tires back in 1892.
The 240mm Metzeler ME 880 Marathon XXL mounted on the back of Monster Cycles’ Black and Buell is way more than just a big rubber donut. According to Metzeler it’s a “high tech performance radial tire joining performance with outstanding appearance.” The steel belt makes it a good handling tire, obviously, but there’s something Metzeler’s tires are better known for in the custom motorcycle industry. They don’t grow at speed, unlike a lot of other brands and this allows the builder the freedom to really make the rear fender hug the tire tightly for a super cool look with no bad consequences at speed. Even the tread pattern accents any bike and works well in the real world at the same time.
Ask anybody who’s replaced their original Motor Company rubber with ME 880s. I guarantee you that you’ll only hear what you’d hoped for. Better handling, stopping, and confidence inspiring.
Check ‘em out at your local dealer or visit www.us.metzelermoto.com.
Builder: Mike Saligoe, Monster Cycles
Talent is not just something you are born with. Oh, your DNA might have some hints hidden away in its twisting polymers that has encoded information possibly leading you to have a penchant for being a superb craftsman, but there’s a lot more involved than molecular predestination. Interest, skill, and hard work play as much of a role as being “born with it.” Any motorcycle builder worth his salt will always tell you how much time and effort they had to put into their trade before they became proficient and recognized, although those two things can sometimes be mutually separate too. Mike Saligoe is one of those guys who hit the nail on the head on both counts. The owner of Monster Cycles in Atlanta, Georgia, along with his son Zach, paid his fabricating dues the hard and extremely interesting way fabricating race cars like quarter midgets, sprint cars, and reaching the zenith of being on a slew of winning Indy car teams. Oh little teams you might have heard of with drivers like Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Gordon Johncock, and Emerson Fittipaldi to name a few. Fabbing and building an Indy car from scratch definitely qualifies you to start with a pile of tubing and an American V-twin and make a cool custom that performs as well as it looks.
The old adage “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” seems true here with Zach Saligoe who couldn’t help but pick up a few things from a man as talented as his dad. “I kinda study the design side of things and my dad, there’s no one around that fabricates the way he does and he does it the old way from race car heritage. We both fab, but he taught me to do it all. It’s a joint collaboration and he’s the lead fabricator,” said Zach.
Visit www.atlantamonstercycles.com for more info.
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