Modified Stockers
Beginning with the 2008 Softail originally commissioned by the late Bruce Rossmeyer, Jesse set out to build a bike where performance and rideability are first and foremost. “There’s no fab really on it. Everything’s kinda bolted onto it,” he said. Taylor is named after the ultra-hip artist who painted it, Taylor Reeve. “She’s a really cool artist,” said Jesse. “I think she’s done four bikes for me now.”
Jesse said one of his favorite aspects of the bike is having used “All the cool pieces available within the industry. My idea was to bring to this project what Roush or Shelby would do to a Mustang, I’m just doing it to a Harley.” Jesse said he worked with a lot of industry heavyweights to collect the components for Taylor. “For instance I took the Works Connection clutch lever from a dirt bike, and they fit all kinds of dirt bikes and have every color,” he said. “It’s a bitchin’ part so I just had Barnett make a clutch cable that works with a Harley. It was as simple as making the phone calls and the people at Barnett Tool & Engineering are supercool to work with. The tank is a bolt-on fuel tank by Custom Chrome designed by Cole Foster. I’ve had it around for a long time. A few years back he did a Harley and that was the tank, and I just happened to have two of them I bought and saved.”
To get the high-horsepower rush he was looking for, Jesse did his one-stop shopping with Nick Trask of Trask Turbo. “They’re in my hometown in Arizona,” he said. “Their shop’s around the corner from Bourget and Jim Nasi and our old go-kart shop. I just happened to drive by all the time and see the bitchin bikes so I stopped in one day. Nick’s real cool and we hit it off.” Jesse said adding a turbo to the bike took it to a “whole different world.” Because turbos are designed to work with stock bikes, “you can just bolt it right onto the stock application,” he said. “Actually, the turbos work better with less compression, so the more detuned your motor is the better the turbo can work almost, to an extent. But my engine has a lot of work done to it; they split cases, they welded cranks, they did head work, they did a bunch of cam stuff. Mine’s a completely new monster but that’s because we go overboard with everything. It rides like — it’s stupid to compare it to — but it rides like a Hayabusa. It accelerates like a really fast metric bike. We probably took at least 150lbs off the bike, now it has a tremendous amount of acceleration so it’s really fun.”
A bike this cool has got to sound cool, and Jesse tried to explain. “It has like a whistle to it, you know? But it has a weird gurgle kind of noise,” he said, laughing. “When you start it, it’s goin’ so fast it sounds like the little Harley is gonna beat itself to death. Then as soon as you lift off the throttle it has the waste gate that pops off so it has that big air pressure release. It sounds like a lot coming at you and going away from you.”
Taylor has a Marzocchi superbike front-end. Marzocchi may seem like an unusual choice to some people, but Jesse doesn’t see it that way. “I chose Marzocchi because of the colors more than anything,” he explained. “From my racing background I know they have a great product, so I linked up with them a couple years ago and I’ve been trying to establish their suspension into the V-twin industry. Todd Silicato developed some triple trees to work with them. We put big brakes on it, it has a big Brembo radial-mount caliper, which, you know, has a tremendous amount of brake.”
“The seat is made by Bitchin Rich, and the seat puts you in a really good position. I’m short, I’m 5’9”, and for me the forward controls and the bars…everything fits good. It’s a comfortable ride,” said Jesse. “It’s become kinda my favorite rider right now, which is funny because it’s a stock Harley.”
Up Close: Artist Taylor Reeve
Blending the edginess of graphic novel with tattoo art and rock n’ roll style, artist Taylor Reeve is everywhere these days. Taylor can, and does, paint everything on anything from sneakers for Ellen DeGeneres and Pink, to boards for surf champ Sunny Garcia. And of course, there are the bikes.
“As far as the bikes go,” said Taylor, “painting on them is a dream come true. I never thought I would have the chance to paint on one — especially since I don’t airbrush — so when Jesse [Rooke] let me have at it on one of his bikes, I felt honored.”
As the painter and inspiration behind the title of Jesse Rooke’s latest bike, Taylor, this highly talented California girl is seen by Jesse as the artist to watch. “She’s a really cool artist,” he said.
Each bike presents its own challenges. “The last bike I painted was all put together, I was all over the place on that thing,” Taylor said. “Sometimes I was sitting on it, laying next to it, or even underneath it. I put in over 20 hours on that bike. Painting on a bike is way different that just painting on something flat. You have to work with the lines, grooves, and flow of the bike. I think my style of work transforms well this way and that’s why it works.”
Taylor isn’t just cool, she’s busy as hell. “Currently I have a collection with Dragon Optical that’s in stores now,” Taylor said. “I’m working on a snowboard goggle design right now, and I also have a collection of men’s snowboard outerwear coming out with Quiksilver in 2011. There are some other fun projects up my sleeve, but you’ll just have to stay tuned!”
Keep up with Taylor at her official website www.taylorsays.com.
Builder: Jesse Rooke of Rooke Customs
Ever since he hit the custom scene like a bat out of hell with Dinah in 2002, Jesse Rooke has been making a name for himself as a builder who relies on performance-driven creativity to ride right out of the proverbial box. Based in Las Vegas for the past year, Rooke Customs has formed a partnership with famed motocrosser, freestyler, tattoo and nightclub entrepreneur Carey “Hart Attack” Hart. With his own history in racing motocross, shifter karts, and AMA roadracing, it only makes sense that Jesse would be a part of Carey’s Supermoto/Cross team. From the start Jesse has continued to grab the attention of the custom motorcycle industry with bikes such as his Kali Kruiser, the V-single Slotard, to his beautiful KTM powered Darla, each featuring his trademark innovations while staying true to Old School awesomeness to get that customized rideability. His lifelong relationship to motorsports has undoubtedly been a player in his devotion to simplistic style while combining performance, form, and function. For Taylor, Jesse had no doubt the Harley Softail would fit his concept. “Harley has a great geometry in the front-end,” he said. “Over the years that frame’s been developed and it rides really well. Harley sells it for the average guy, and we sell it for the guy who wants a little bit extra.” True Rooke fans can catch up with him in Slide, the first hardcover collection of photographs by Rob Mathis, famous for shooting snowboarding’s top riders. Rob and Jesse have been friends since they both raced karts back in the 1990s, and Rob included Jesse in with his favorite photos representing a decade’s worth of work. To check out Rob’s work or to order a copy of Slide, visit Rob’s website at www.robmathis.com. For more information on Rooke Customs, visit www.rookecustoms.com.
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