Freedom Machine Gets Special Needs Rider Back On The Road Story by Wendy Manning(wenmanning313@aim.com)Photos courtesy of Rick Strand Rick Strand, owner of Freebird Custom Motorcycles, specializes in motorcycles for people with special needs. He lives in “the wilds of South Dakota,” but his one-of-kind bikes, trikes, and trike conversion kits are in demand...

Hot Rod Hawg is the brainchild of Glenn Bartels, son of Bill and Merle Bartels of Bartels’ Harley-Davidson of Marina Del Rey, California. Working at the family dealership for years gave Glenn the knowledge and inspiration to build himself a hot rod powered by America’s favorite V-twin engine. “I always liked hot rods and at one point I thought, I’m going to build one,” said Glenn....

Click here for more photos V8 Choppers Trike Story by Mark Barnett, Photos by Frank Rangel Normally you have to go to rallies to find the most interesting bikes; they naturally seem to all congregate at the big shows. But sometimes, just sitting here in our little corner of Texas, the bikes just stop in for a rest, perhaps for a water break before the...

Click here for more photos Snake Alley Customs Builds a Trike I Like Story by Buck ManningPhotos by Joker Trikes are all the rage. Trikes are showing up everywhere. Trikes are in our future as aging motorcycle types says an article in the New York Times. Trikes this, trikes that. Trikes, trikes, trikes ― Yikes! Man, I’m just sick and tired of hearing...

Click here for more photos Cruising Interstate 10 on a John Deere Story and Photos byBuck Manning Driving through El Paso is something most people do on their East/West sojourns as Interstate 10 slices the town in half and few take the time to stop and check it out. It’s a city a lot of people know of, but know nothing about. Before I moved here, my only...

Click here for more photos… This bike feature originally appeared in Barnett’s Magazine issue #66, December 2008. SPECIFICATIONS Owner: Sandy Poglavec and Brigitte Serneels Year/Make: 2007 Q-TEC Fabrication/ Assembly: Q-TEC Build time: 6 months Engine: 1600cc S&S Evo-style Cases/Rods: S&S Pistons/ Cylinders:...

  With a wheelbase of 97.5” and a wide track of 78.5” there’s plenty of room for two to enjoy the thrills of racecar handling with throaty acceleration from the 1250cc V-Rod engine being snicked through its five speeds by a floor-mounted shifter that goes back and forth to select gears. The frame is made from 1.5” tubular steel with triangulated sidewalls and a front crash zone....

  One of the unwritten, but often spoken, tenets of Exile Cycles is that you buy into the total Exile style which means you’ll never get a dragon infested paintjob or repeated trips to the chrome shop as part of your Exile build. Russell has worked out a formula he stays true to and doesn’t suffer fools trying to dick with it. If you want an Exile bike, you’ll get it. If you don’t,...

    Okay, so you’re thinking it’s just an addition to a custom motorcycle so that more passengers, maybe even kids, could be carried, but there is a distinct lack of passenger foot peg(s). And, it’s probably not the wisest idea to carry kids so far away from the operator especially with their tiny feet dangling in a potentially dangerous area. Personally, in my 53-years of riding...

    Over the course of the last decade or so, there have been very few trikes that could qualify for custom status being not too much more than a bolt-on custom with a one-off paintjob. Like anything else trike, getting in the door with a conversion of a stock bike or even one of Harley’s new trikes was pretty damn expensive. Turning it into a true custom trike involved throwing...