And interesting it is, especially the work he did with the bike’s Redneck Enginuity frame. It’s a rigid, single-downtube chassis raked to 42 degrees with plenty of stretch (4” out, 6” up) that sets up a long, tough profile in keeping with what was big at the time of the build. But if you take a gander at the dentiformed downtube, that’s where the bike comes into its own. CT Customs remade the tube with an unexpected pair of sharp fang-like curves that have a kind of boomerang effect on your eyes. You give the whole bike a once over, but it’s that tube your eyes keep returning to. You can’t have a long custom without long forks and for that, Carlos turned to Mean Street for a set of their Stiletto forks that are extended out 10” to the horizon. Stop signs must seem a long way off from the saddle of this bike. Motivation is by the highly regarded Canadian-built Merch 100” engine drawing air through a CT velocity stack sticking out from a Mikuni carb. The unfettered air-fuel mixture is sucked into the Merch heads, blown up, and unceremoniously shoved out of the short L.A. Choppers pipes the same unrestricted way it came in. BDL’s 3” belt drive connects to a Baker 5-speed with a (somewhat unusual for today) left-side chain drive to the Exile Sprotor which neatly handles both the stop and go of the meaty 250mm Avon while also cleaning up the look of the non-drive side.

Like a lot of creative talents, Carlos says that when he is designing a bike he likes to sit down and draw the whole thing out on paper, and then make it happen. But when it came to Project Hardass, he had several ideas when it came to the wheels. So he drew up four distinct wheel designs which he then took to Rick Ball at RC Components. Rick liked his ideas and combined them for the finished product. The stylish tri-spoke design combines simplicity and elegance and the skinny 21” front wheel incorporates an RC brake system. The flowing sheetmetal began with a West Coast Choppers fuel tank mounted high on the frame while Redneck’s cylindrical oil tank fell naturally into place. So far, simple lines befitting a long bike. The final major hook to this provocative bike came when Carlos got down to business on the rear fender. It’s a strutless piece that sits underneath the frame instead of over it. That way it seems to float atop the bike’s Avon 250 tire. The overall effect is a very clean look with a bit of illusion.

As with many experienced bike building pros, Carlos’ design philosophy incorporates whatever it takes to get a neat and adroit machine. Internal Billet Concepts handlebar controls, mounted on CT bars, do that job nicely here, keeping the look as clean as possible while CT came up with a tasty set of foot controls. Every builder has a favorite item that he adds to a bike, something that may seem minor to somebody else but is, to the builder, a vital part of the overall look he’s going for. For Carlos, it’s the headlight on Project Hardass. “I’m very partial to our handmade headlight,” he says. “Because it’s small, it seems to uncomplicate the front end of the bike.”

Once the mock-up was complete, the bike came apart for pigment. Carlos did the painting himself, using Tangerine Kandy by House of Kolor for a wicked gloss and a nice burnished effect. The build took 45 days total and since the chopper was completed back in `03, the long bike craze has lost its edge in favor of bobber style bikes. But no matter what’s “in” at any given time, clean motorcycles with their own brand of funk like this one will always be cool. And in any case, he’ll be way ahead of the curve when long rigids heat up the scene again.

Carlos admits that Project Hardass went together very quickly, but the bike he is currently working on has sprawled into a year and a half. “But it’s probably the craziest thing anybody’ll ever see,” he says. “It’s my frame and front end, no triple trees, no downtube, no front or rear brakes, no fenders, no cables or wires to see. I call it the New Old School because at first glance it has a kind of Old School look with a Pan seat from the 40s or very early 50s. It has a 40-year-old Triumph engine that we spent over 50 hours grinding down and polishing to a mirror finish. Outside of that it’s very, very up to date.”