I implore you to look past the tie-dye. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no mistaking one of Rick Fairless’ bikes for another builder, but underneath the rainbow is a down and dirty bike — you just gotta know where to look. Note the aggressively styled custom frame; a pair of large diameter back bone tubes that house the oil and gas, and the downtubes curve towards each other for a...

Owned by Jay Burnham, Freakshow Choppers pride themselves on their unique sheet metal fabrication abilities. In order to show off their extensive skills, Jay thought it best to start with a frame that would force them to think up new twists on the essential parts of a bike that are noticeably different from conventional shapes and placement of those motorcycle vital pieces. The...

With the ever increasing rear tire sizes, NBC built frames to accommodate them and supplied many master builders with the basis to begin their creations. The advent of the 360 tire caused John to modify his 300 frame and the result was Big Red, the meanest, baddest bike NBC had ever constructed. Long and low, Big Red looks like a drag strip refugee ready to smoke the quarter mile....

  As you look at the bike more and more closely, the special parts list really starts adding up.  The motor is a 145” S & S unit powdercoated yellow and black by Sumax.  I guess he needed the horsepower to keep up with that bad pick up.  To keep the smooth lines of the hand-bent sheet metal flowing, a Goldammer fork was selected and a Eurocomponents headlight.  These two parts...

“A 900 lb. block of T6 aircraft grade aluminum.  That’s right.  I’m building a motorcycle.” “A motorcycle?” “Yeah, a motorcycle… out of a 900 lb. block of T6 aircraft grade aluminum.” “A motorcycle, sir? … out of a 900 lb block of aluminum?” (long, awkward, uncomfortable pause) “How’s your credit, sir?” “Excellent.” “We’ll send one right over.” This is just one snippet of the...

The basis of any metal music begins with a strong bottom line that carries the rest of the song while additional musical elements are added to give it a unique sound. Ballistics’ ode to heavy metal laid down the groundwork with a strong and flowing Hardlife frame from Jesse Jurrens of Independent Cycle Inc. This aptly named frame continues to be the basis of many a custom builder...

When Romuald Guarino rolled in on his Fishbone custom, the crowd gathered around the machine so quickly one would have thought that he was passing out hundred dollar bills. The main attraction on this bike is the fish tank, which is part-time home for a few real live goldfish.  The fish tank is constructed of hard, red-yellowish plexiglass and is positioned on the bike where the...

Rodent and I traveled to the Big Twin West Show in Las Vegas last November under the guise of covering the second annual AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building for Barnett’s. In reality though, we were giddy with excitement for the unveiling of the  revolutionary ‘SoftRigid’ framed bike made by Aaron Greene of Paramount Custom Cycles in Reno, Nevada. Having pored over the...

Stunning visual attributes aside, the most exotic design element of the Lowlife Trader is its front and rear air ride suspension.  Building upon the Legend Air Ride System, Dave chose to mount the 13″ rear fender to the swingarm, carefully calculating the optimal fender radius to achieve a snug wrapping effect, while still allowing for tire growth at speed.  Replete with its...