Bandit asked me to write this article. When it comes to stories involving relationships with the opposite sex he’s like a pussy-allergic kid tossed into a cat box. After five marriages he breaks out in hives. When Terry, the boss of Envy Cycle and Street Walker exhaust told Bandit about a show, his wife and 330 tire, it gave him chills. “It wasn’t that bad,” Terry explained. “I was at this industry show in Cincy and spotted the first 330 Avon. I kept going over to the Avon booth to check it out and abandoned my display. My wife, Dana, got fed up and bought the tire.

“Here, goddamnit,” she said rolling the tire into our Street Walker booth. “Build a bike around it.”

“That was during the height of the wide tire craze,” Terry said. “I was caught up in the fever, but not for long.” The tire sat around his shop for almost three years. “It wasn’t my style.”

He opened the cash register to his shop in 2002 and started fabricating and building bikes. He ordered a set of pipes for $1,200 and waited nine months for them to arrive. By the time the UPS delivery arrived, Terry started building his own exhaust systems, hence the name Street Walker Exhaust was founded. “I stock 500-600 sets of pipes, carry seven models and they’re on shelves ready for shipment.”

Dana surprised Terry one day with a set of wheel blanks. “It’s about time you started that 330 project,” she said.

“I didn’t like bikes that were overwhelmed by rear tires,” Terry said. He set up his frame jig and went to work building a bike that was long and narrow to offset the beach ball at the back. “Most fat tire bikes are thick and heavy. I started with a 2-inch chrome moly, single downtube then switched it out for inch and a half.” His frame fixture was challenged with 52 degrees in the neck and 11.5 feet over all stature.

“I always go back to ‘20s and ‘30s bikes for inspiration,” Terry said. “This time I added the look of long, stretched ‘70s scooters.” He studied Denver’s springers and Sugar Bear’s rocker philosophy. “I bought some old Denver’s springers and took them apart.” He built this front end with their construction techniques in mind. “It’s super narrow and I fastened the Envy bars to the back legs like clip-ons to keep the stature of the bike in line with the back bone of the gas tank. Since the rake was severe, I used Sugar Bear’s design criteria to alter the trail with the rockers.” He studied the availability of shocks. “I found Marvin Shaw, Nitrogen High Pressure shocks that can be goosed to 1500 pounds of pressure, although I’m currently running 25 pounds for the perfect ride.”

Again Dana pulled up to the shop with a load of sheet metal, and Terry was challenged to build the tanks. “They’re almost 46 inches long,” Terry said. With every part he fabs or modifies he is alert to product designs. “We worked with Duane Ballard on the Seat. He did a terrific job of making the skirt to fill the seat area, since it was so low.” But Terry was motivated to make a line of production seats for guys who don’t have the big bucks for a handtooled seats. Envy seats are a flat $499 for a classic solo in a couple of 1/8-inch thick seat-pan styles and seven leather patterns are available.

He worked with an Arizona saddle maker, Mike, to develop the stamps and learn the craft. Terry started working with bikes as a custom painter and kept learning the various aspects to building motorcycles. Lately he started building wild air cleaners using old Stromber 97 air scoops. “I like to scrounge for parts and make something work with what I find,” Terry said. He made this bike’s instrument cluster from a mud flap girl belt buckle. They’re expanding their line of products to include a single, pony express, saddlebag. Terry fabricates all his own oil and gas tanks. “This oil tank started off super small because of the lowered seat height,” Terry said, but it kept expanding until it held almost three quarts.”

Both brakes run through a proportioning valve under the oil bag. He likes to ride this bikes, but since he’s trying to keep this one pristine for the World Championship in Sturgis, he’s waiting patiently for his opportunity to test his metal against the desert roads surrounding Phoenix. Between his wife’s motivational purchases and his desire to form a line of products through his builds we hope to bring you a series of techs as the Street Walker by Envy line expands. Watch for more from Terry in the near future.

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