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  These days Harley-Davidson dealers do all kinds of things to try and pull in customers and that’s all well and good, but I’m a sucker for small independent shops and the lack of a corporate identity. I like a little more nitty with my gritty and finding that perfect blend is not easy. But, next time I’m in the L.A. area, I’ve absolutely got to check out South Bay Customs in El Segundo. Owners Michael Schreiber and Robbin Holden have put together possibly one of the ultimate custom motorcycle experiences (at least for me) combining their love for custom motorcycles, art, and music all in one unexpectedly gorgeous venue. According to SBC’s website, “SBC is an American motorcycle shop, art gallery, and live music venue all rolled into one. Motors/Art/Music ─ It’s not only our motto, it’s what we do.” And, the best part is that there’s no “Obviously I’m so cooler than you” bullshit attitude you can run into at “hip” places.
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  In case any of this sounds familiar, you might have seen Barnett’s Magazine Online’s previous article about South Bay Customs’ Evo-powered rider/bobber. That was a nice piece built for an owner who intended to ride it like a motorcycle and totally different than the latest chunk of American iron featured here. Although Jack Cofano took these lovely pics at the Artistry in Iron Show in Las Vegas this year, this is not some would-be drag bike/Bonneville racer showbike, but the real damn thing. Michael didn’t name it Death or Glory for nothing. Matter of fact, before it ever hit the show circuit, last summer Michael spent time making runs on the Bonneville Salt Flats but ran into tuning problems before ever getting WFO. But he’ll be back next year with hopes of having it all dialed in and ready to make the record books. That it happened to win an Artistry in Iron Editor’s Choice award is a testament to the clean work and design that just reeks of race fuel even with an empty tank.
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  Pure race bikes are about as custom as you can get and a Bonneville racer is about as pure as a race bike can get. There is not one thing on there that doesn’t need to be there and what there is has to be extremely well done to pass Bonneville’s tough tech inspection. Bad design, bad construction, and bad assembly are not overlooked by the understandably picky officials. Sometimes I wish those same criteria were part of every show bike’s qualifications too and might eliminate some of the (some non-running) abominations I’ve seen.
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  The construction of Death or Glory started with a twin downtube rigid frame specially built just for its intended use, Michael added a Buell X1 Lightning inverted fork and disc brake to the front mag wheel while out back a Wavy disc brake setup does additional slowing of the Bonneville horizon. The bolt-on twin cylindrical tank setup looks the biz without trying to look the biz. Anything else just wouldn’t look race-right to me anyway. Obviously it has an as prone a wind-cheating seating position as possible and that mandates a set of clip-ons and rearsets which might not turn on the typical Harley rider, but there’s nothing here that gives any semblance of lazy cruisability that most road riders are always searching for. This is a hang on tight and go like hell on a surface of ancient salt motorcycle.
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 Powering this gem is a 1974 Harley Shovelhead that’s been appropriately jacked for its class. It’s also impeccably finished with short high-rpm headers and a Joe Hunt Magneto giving a hot spark to the fuel mixture and a bit of fast guy cred at the same time. A BAKER Drivetrain 6-into-4 transmission with a lovely kicker hanging off the right side brings reliability and an almost unlimited choice of gear ratios to the race mix.  There’s an open, really open, belt drive connecting these two, but this is one open belt drive that will not grab a pant’s leg as the rear peg is just a few inches ahead of the rear axle. If you catch a cuff in this, you really did something stupid, really stupid, and careless.
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  The only “luxuries” on this bike are the sprung solo saddle and rear fender. The saddle I’m totally okay with as it doesn’t look like it would impede anything and the rear fender is far from a luxury. Besides keeping any salt or water or both off Michael, it also is a bit of a safety item as who wants to slide into a spinning rear tire at speed? I think I’d be a little jittery at speed on the often rough salt on a rigid with a tire just rotating away like the damsel in distress saw mill blade of old cartons. The nice part is that neither are just shoved on, but built and finished like part of establishing a Bonneville record involved winning a show competition right after a record run.
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  A few builders have built show bikes and taken them to Bonneville, but Michael’s approach of building a race bike for Bonneville and then taking it to a show and winning an award is just one example of how South Bay Customs operates. Michael and Robbin have their own idea of what a motorcycle shop can be and they’ve done a spectacular job of creating more than just a garage. It’s not only a way of life, but it’s all about having fun and running a successful business while doing it. I couldn’t begin to guess what, even though I know it will be extra good, but I can’t wait to see what pops out of that multi-cultural entity next.
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 For more info on South Bay Customs, click on http://www.southbaycustoms.net/. Or, you could just take a ride over and  maybe catch a couple of live sets while checking out the shop.