Nope, Todd’s had quite a busy motorcycle background and history that might just actually turn you a bit green with envy and also explain why he builds what he builds. And, that’s all known without lie detectors, truth serums, torture, private eyes, or jealous friends involved. Todd admits to a prolonged stint as R&D guy at Answer Products, held the position of chief mechanic for Performance Machine’s GP race team under Roland Sands, and later became P&M’s in-house custom bike builder and head of R&D with little stints of things like speedway racing in between. In other words, Before he started his own shop with his wife Lisa, Todd was a very busy boy dealing with a racing oriented background. Things like that tend to influence you when you build custom motorcycles and in Todd’s case, it’s painfully obvious it did.
It should come as no surprise then that the Monster Energy Drink inspired bike Todd showed at the recent Artistry in Iron show in Vegas had more than a touch of practical race inspiration behind the design. The 1980 FXWG frame is basically stock dimensionally to be neat to ride on the street while the now 93” Shovelhead engine connected to a modern 6-speed tranny makes sure none of the horses get lost in translation. With the rest of the outside ancillaries breathed upon from intake to exhaust, performance and looks take a huge, but simple step over the once Wide Glide.
Lightweight billet hoops and hubs with a classy 40-spokes holding their interest, Todd had a lightweight set of wheels to spin giving up some free HP and taking a little work load of the Works Performance piggyback shocks and reworked front end. Massive brakes front and rear are not there for looks as one tug on a lever will tell you, but they do look mechanically good if you appreciate that type of thing and I do. Low bars and a small wind screen add a bit ‘o café to the mix, or should I just say performance instead of trying to categorize it?
Bodywork is made from aluminum and owes its style chops to no one except Todd. Blocky and racy are two words you usually don’t see in the same sentence, but in this case you do. Surprisingly it works and the raw finish gives it a finished/unfinished look that stands out against the Monster Energy green and black paint. There’s just enough of that nails-on-a-blackboard green to highlight numerous features on the bike without going over the top and yet it still gets its point across that this is a theme bike of sorts.
Yeah, that’s the point I wanted to make, but forgot about. Apparently this is some sort of theme bike for Monster Energy, but it doesn’t slap you in the face with corporate crap. Todd did a nice job building a fast, fun bike that just happens to have a light theme of capitalism behind it that doesn’t shout out what it obviously is all about. For a theme bike, well done young man.
For more info on Todd’s Cycle, please visit http://www.toddscycle.com/.