If you are a reader of Barnett’s, maybe you remember seeing the previous articles Don’t You Dare Call This A Rat Bike and What Goes On After Hours Stays After Hours that caused quite a lively comment stir on Barnett Harley’s Facebook page. If not, do yourself a favor and click on those links and see what all the fuss was about for yourself. Anyway, all I can say is that there was no gray area when it came to opinions of Todd’s designs although I’m clearly on the side of those that felt this was an imaginative and extremely thoughtful exercise in thinking outside the box. Yeah, I’ve used that OTB phrase before in connection with these bikes, but of any bikes deserved to have that phrase applied to them not once, but twice, these are the bikes ─ period.

 

   The question that kept coming up was whether or not these After Hours Bikes are actually rideable, usable motorcycles and Todd says, “Definitely, definitely you can ride ‘em. I hear it all the time about how you can’t ride ‘em, but you can ride ‘m. You know, I get sick of answering that question to be honest. But, I’ve got guys that ride ‘em all the time and guys that don’t. There’s something for everybody so go ride your Ultra Classic or whatever makes you happy, but don’t say these aren’t rideable. These bikes aren’t for everybody, but at the end of the day, there are guys that want ‘em.”

 

 

 

 After he took a little breather from the nice, but corked-up way of explaining his feelings about whether they were “real” motorcycles or not, Todd continued, “It sounds cocky, but when a guy pulls into whatever event they’ve gone to on an After Hours bike, they take all the attention away whether it’s guys hating on it or guys loving it. I’ve pulled my bike into places with bad ass baggers and people walk right by them and come and look at my bike.”

 

  Probably the best thing that could be said about whether these are true customs and not some crap rat bikes was a story Todd told me about going to the Rat’s Hole Show in Daytona this year. “When I rolled them into the Rat’s Hole this year and they [Rat’s Hole officials] said the rat guys are all bitching about ‘em. I said, ‘Listen. Relax, I’m not even putting them in your [Rat Bike] class.’ I pointed to all the baggers and said, ‘What class are all those baggers in, Full Custom?’ They were like, ‘No, they have a bagger class this year.’ I said, ‘Where’s the Full Custom class ‘cause that’s where I want to be.’ They said, ‘But you ain’t got no paint!’ I laughed and told them, ‘I don’t care, that’s where I want to be, right there in Full Custom.’ A couple of judges looked at it and said they could look past the paintjob or lack of it and see what’s really been done. The funny part was that I didn’t care and I wound up winning Full Custom.”

 

   Oh by the way for all of you that say these are not rideable motorcycles, just be sure to tell that to the guy sitting on the coppery Sportster-powered bike in the lead picture. He owns not just one, but two of them including this one from the previous article. Big deal you say, who the hell is he other than some bimbo who had to buy two After Hours bikes to make sure they weren’t rideable. Well you would be extremely wrong sir, that man is an F1 and Champ car/CART driver, Tarso Marques, whom I suspect knows a hell of a lot more about driving and riding than any of us reading this article. But don’t let that stop you, keep your flame on and let us know what you think.

 

 In the meantime, be sure to check out Jack Cofano’s photo gallery for all the details, the After Hours Bikes website www.afterhoursbikes.com and also After Hours Bikes’ Facebook page for all their latest bikes which are totally different in every way but with the same spirit of what makes After Hours Bikes special.