Deano explained that his little Italian Momma likes the look of gigante rear tires, so even though he prefers to put about a 180-200 series on his bikes, he decided to indulge her with the 310. “That’s the kinda’ kooky background behind the big tire. I wish it was a more macho story but it’s not,” said Deano.
Family man Deano is a humble guy, and fond of saying, “I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I just want the wheel to be a little cooler.” He readily credits the Don of bobbers, Indian Larry, as una grande influenza and said, “He was the best ever. Visually, you saw the stuff you wanted to see. You didn’t see wires and all that stuff but you saw the cool stuff. You could stare at his bikes for hours.”
Deano wasn’t even aware of it at the time, but now he recognizes the lowrider bicycles that he grew up with in SoCal as subconsciously influencing some of the Grasso build’s styling as well. Created in six weeks, there’s a satisfying visual tension between the enorme tire and engine, and the delicato bicycle-like elements of the frame, bars, seat, and the fenderless, brakeless 60-spoke front wheel.
Built for show when there’s not far to go, Grasso is a hardcore hardtail. According to Deano, “Sometimes it’s better to look good than feel good. I never run a front fender or front brake, always put apes on. I started out with 20” apes but couldn’t really reach them all that well and had to go with 18” instead. The seat, I put a piece of 1” foam. It’s not that bad. You’re not gonna wanna ride it to Sturgis though.”
Starting with a MidWest frame, Deano chopped out the downtube and backbone. “I can’t seem to take anything out of a box and just put it on a bike. I weld all my fenders to the frame. I don’t bolt anything on,” he said. Next, he grabbed a Big Dog gas tank that was lying around the shop, split it in two, and then added a metal Mohawk, one of the most eccellente features of the bike.
The Mikuni aspirated, 120” El Bruto was the biggest engine that Deano had ever put in anything. He’s not a fan of the Evo motor at all and in the name of being thorough in his retro homage, Deano notes that, “Everything I do either has a Knucklehead or a Panhead. This bike has both.” The grande mill transmits power through a BAKER six-speed right-side-drive tranny and makes its contribution to global warming via Deano’s handmade pipes ending in Martin Bros. tips.
Born after his time, young Deano was a vintage hot-rod enthusiast growing up. “Growing up in the ‘80s… the ‘80s sucked! The music was bad, the fashion was bad, and the cars were bad. That’s when I discovered the ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60s, whether it be cars, bikes, music, all that stuff. The old stuff, those were cool times,” said Deano.
Deano has no qualms about borrowing from classico 4-wheelers to use on his 2-wheeled creations. Grasso’s air cleaner and oil tank both were sourced from famed hot-rod parts retailer, So-Cal Speed Shop. A resource he was very familiar with from his youth chopping and lowering cars. The air cleaner is designed for flathead Ford engines but Deano modified it to fit the bike. He likes the look of space between the top of the tranny and the bottom of the seat, so while the Grasso’s oil tank was born as a reservoir for hot rods, it wound up fitted to the front of a motocicletta instead.
Deano farmed out the Brandi Wine and Ferrari Black paintwork to Lafayette & Trevor Cordaro, but the leather seat was crafted by his own self-taught hands. Compositionally, I’ve always felt as though the seat is like a jewel in the setting of the bike’s frame. If it captivates the eye, it ties the whole theme together. When rapping with Deano, we both agreed that too many builders spend countless-hours fabing and painting the bike and then shortchange the seat. “They do, and that irritates me man,” said Deano. “You put so much time and effort and sweat and blood into the fabrication and they slap a catalog seat on there. To put a plain seat on a bitchin’ bike is just silly.”
A DIY kind of guy if ever there was one, four-years ago Deano bought $30 worth of leather-working tools off the Internet and began his self-apprenticeship. Today he turns out superiore work worthy of any admiring eye’s attention. First, high-density foam (and sometimes gel) gets shaped by hand and then genuine exotic leathers are hand tooled and laced with kangaroo for durability. No machines or stamps ever touch the seat, and everything is done speciale to the individual customer’s specs.
Deano’s called Vegas home for 15 years, and the “anything goes, no judgments” attitude of the city also nicely sums up his philosophy on building bikes. “Any day you can get up and love what you do, that’s the best thing ever!” said Deano. “I guess some other builders get caught up in all that I got a trophy, your stuff sucks, my stuff’s better nonsense. Hey, if I want a trophy there’s a trophy shop a few blocks down, I’ll go buy all the trophies I want. You know what? Your stuff is what you want to do, and I‘ll go do what I want to do, and if you don’t like it, you can walk in my shop and the first thing you’ll see is a 5”x7” picture of Johnny Cash givin’ you the bird!”
Bravissimo Deano! Bravissimo!
Builder: Deano Motorcycle Company
As a kid growing up in SoCal, lil’ Deano dabbled with graffiti, airbrushed jackets, built his own skateboards in woodshop class, and even whipped up tattoo flash for local ink slingers. Despite earning prestigious grants to attend both Disney Animation, and Marvel Comic Book schools, he dropped out of both, chaffing at the constraints put upon his self-expression. Self-taught in drawing, painting, welding, fabricating, and tooling leather, to this day, when Deano works, he works alone. “I’m the only guy in here. I do it all myself. I could hire three guys but then I’d just have to supervise them,” he said.
Asked when he first fell in love with motorcycles, Deano pauses, thinks carefully, and then replies in a dreamy tone of voice, “Now that I think about it, I remember back when I was a 13-year-old kid hangin’ out in Venice Beach skateboarding, and a bike club came through. It was the most bitchin’ thing! I get goosebumps talking about it right now! They rode up like cowboys with their leathers and patches. They dismounted and all the gals came running up to them and I can still remember thinkin’, ‘Whoa, these are some cool dudes.’ It was almost like they had superpowers or something! I remember I went up to those guys to talk to them and one of them actually gave me his hat with their patch on it. I still have it in a box somewhere. It was like that old Coke commercial with Mean Joe Greene where he tosses the kid his sweaty jersey. That memory was always embedded in my mind I guess, like one of those subconscious things that just sticks with ya’. Tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought about that story in about 15 years. This is like therapy!”
For more info on Deano’s work, visit www.deanomotorcyclecompany.com or call 702-558-7779.
This bike feature originally appeared in Barnett’s Magazine issue #63, August 2008.
SPECIFICATIONS | |
---|---|
Owner: | Valentino & Paulette |
Year/Make: | 2007 Deano Motorcycle Company (DMC) |
Fabrication: | Deano P. Zappia |
Assembly: | Deano & Gil Verdugo |
Build time: | 6 weeks |
Engine: | 120″ El Bruto w/Panhead and Knucklehead rockers |
Cases/ Flywheels: | Ultima |
Rods: | Crane |
Pistons: | Ultima forged 4.25″ bore |
Cylinders/ Heads: | Ultima |
Cam: | Ultima .640″ lift |
Ignition: | Crane HI-4 Dual Fire |
Carb: | Mikuni HSR45 |
Pipes: | Deano |
Air Cleaner: | Deano/So-Cal Speed Shop |
Transmission: | BAKER 6-speed RSD |
Primary: | BDL 3″ Open Belt modified by Deano |
Clutch: | BDL |
Frame: | MidWest/Deano |
Rake: | 38-degrees |
Stretch: | 2″ down tubes/1″ backbone |
Forks: | 6-degree rake with -2″ tubes |
Front Wheel: | 21×2.15 60-spoke |
Rear Wheel: | 18×10.5 60-spoke |
Front Tire: | Metzeler 90/90H21 |
Rear Tire: | Vee Rubber 310 |
Rear Brakes: | Performance Machine 4-piston |
Fuel Tank: | Deano & Gil |
Oil Tank: | Deano/So-Cal Speed Shop |
Fenders: | Deano |
Handlebars: | 18″ Apes |
Risers: | 2″ with skirted clamp |
Taillight: | Deano |
Hand/ Foot Controls: | PM Contour |
Painter: | Lafayette & Trevor Cordaro |
Color: | Brandi Wine with HOK Gold & Micro Sequin Mini Flake Ferrari Black Flames with HOK Pale Gold Stripping |
Graphics: | Wink |
Seat: | Deano |
Special thanks to: | My Mom & Pop, my wife Nichol, Ary, Frankie and Deano Jr. |