Scott’s been featured in every bike mag under the sun. So he decided to give us freaks at Bikernet a shot. Whatta ya tink? Can we do the job of Easyriders or even the Horse. Can we hold our own against the Robb Report Motorcycle magazine, American Iron or Hot Bike. Fuck no, we can’t. We don’t have a prayer against a multi-billion dollar a year publicly traded publishing giant. How could we? So we won’t try. Pass me a Corona. Let’s relax.

I mean, what’s the big deal. I don’t have a publisher breathing down my neck threatening me with a Christmas bonus, if we don’t land a multi-thousand-dollar-a-year advertising contract, if we don’t do it right. Bandit barks, but not about that bullshit. We’re poor and we like it. It’s sorta in keeping with the biker credo. Life ain’t about checkbooks, it’s about having a good time, plenty of adventures, treating people right and enjoying the creative side of life, building bikes, cars, or any cool shit.

That’s what we like about Scott Long of Central Coast Cycles. He’s been through the big business routine. Now he shaped his life to be an upstanding biker. He builds out of his 2,500 square foot shop, which once housed the Santa Cruz H-D dealership until the factory demanded motorcycle destinations over plain old shops. “When you come to our place,” Scott said. “You won’t be greeted with fancy sitting rooms or showrooms. You’ll be showered with sparks, lathe shavings and the noise welders make.”

He’s in midtown Sana Cruz just off Highway 1 on the Soquel exit. It’s a full service shop. He’s not just a glitzy builder, they service bikes, have a full parts department from tires to clutch cables and rebuild motors from old flatheads to twin cams. “We set up a dyno room when I moved in, with two monitors,” Scott said, “so we can tune, time and remap fuel injection systems with performance upgrades.”

They have a machine shop, boring bars, honing tables and manufacture some of their own components. “We’re finishing the details on our new sprung seat system using fox racing shocks,” Scott told me, and we’ll try to bring you a tech on this product as soon as he’s finished. CCC also manufacturers risers, gas caps, handlebars oil caps, tanks, some sheet metal, heat shield and his famous piston risers.

Bandit spotted this heavy blue flaked beauty at the recent Las Vegas show while being a judge. At the Judge’s meeting famous classic builder, Denny Berg, said, “That paint job is amazing.” There’s something about blue or light purples and chrome that works.

Bandit was hooked and wanted to feature the bike ever since. “He builds bikes with class,” Bandit said and told me to go get a feature and not to return until I did. How am I doing?

“So far so good,” Scott Long said. “I do like to build retro styled bikes with modern amenities, so they start, stop, don’t leak and will get you where you want to go in style and home.” He’s into reliability with a deep attention to detail. “I like ‘em to be pleasing to look at, rideable and the more you gaze the more cool details you’ll see.”

Bandit asked me to get a quote from Gard Hollinger, a longtime friend and peer. "For some reason Scott really likes big flakes, maybe that's why we're friends".

That didn’t help much, but if you look around for Scott’s bikes in various mags you’ll quickly pick up on the details and his ability to make a bike look tight, and his fit and finish is excellent.

“Gard’s right,” Scott said. “I like lowrider colors and paint styles with drop shadows flips and flops and flakes.”

There’s more to that story. Seems this bike began as relationship with a customer, Nathan Bradley, who is a plumbing contractor and stopped by the shop from time to time. Nathan and his wife rode. His bike was a modern style, stretched-out chopper, hers a rockabilly styled Sportster. Scott's crew service their bikes. "They rode their choppers in the Mexican El Diablo run last year," Scott said. His buddies were into bikes, then he bought a bagger. Scott started servicing his bagger, but Nathan kept swinging by and watching as Scott built his customs.

“He brought an engine a frame by, but the engine wouldn’t fit in the frame,” Scott said. “He was going to build a low buck bike.” Finally he showed up with an old horn taillight combo by Fab Kevin, a bottle opener, a set of PM wheels from Ebay and an ornament chunk from a swapmeet. “He told me to go for it,” Scott said.

That wasn’t the end of the story. Scott and his CCC crew, Darin, at the beginning before he left, Harry his General Manager (who has work on bikes since he was 18, he's 55), Ken and Rockabilly Roddy, began to build the bike with the cast ornamental chunk as a jockey shift knob and mounted the bottle opener on the oil bag. “We asked Nathan about the color every week,” Scott said, “and he couldn’t decide. I gave him bike mags to study, but that didn’t help.”

While hanging out at Nathan’s home shop his wife appeared with their daughter's Lava lamp. Mom was about to toss it, when Nathan spotted it. “She plugged it in for him and he freaked,” Scott said. “That was the color.” So he hauled the lamp to Scott’s shop and plugged it in, after a couple of beers. Scott snapped and hauled the lamp to his painter, Emilio, who plugged it in and then went in search of the biggest flake in the world… That’s the story and we’re stickin’ with it.

So it was at Central Coast Cycles in Santa Cruz. Can’t wait for their next bike. Scott always blow us away.

--Wrench

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