Bike Features

One of my earliest memories is my pop shouting “Hold on, Jes” over the potato-potato-potato of his chopped ’57 Pan as he gave my first H-D ride. Much older I remembered pictures of this classic bike. It was bright orange with at least a 16-over front end (sixteen feet that is). One of the old […]

What’s in a name? Even a vivid description of the mythological half-horse, half-man, the Centaur leaves something to the imagination. You might have a Centaur picture in your mind, recalling a panting or drawing published in a old high school textbook. But, no one has really witnessed the mechanical version, in the metallic-flesh, until now.

Each month we try to bring you an example of the finest custom choppers we can find. Granted December isn’t exactly the best time of year to find sweet street machines roaming free in the snowy Northeast, but a deadline is a deadline. I ran into Dave, Mouse and all the boys from EAST SIDE

Jake and Jerrod Walter are 21 and 22 year old brothers who worked side by side to build this bike, and what a bike it is. Their main business is farming but dreams of cultivating mechanical masterpieces co-exist with corn. They’re from New Berlin, Il., which is approx. 15 miles from Jacksonville, Il. This is

The Steed 200 Pegasus isn’t your dad’s land yacht bike. The Pegasus 200-TM is the performance Touring Steed. PERFORMANCE, it’s just a word to many gear heads. At Steeds we view motorcycles as the ultimate freedom machine. To us, performance means that you can get on your bike, ride it anywhere, and have the confidence

Sometimes you have to head west when the crowd is heading east to find something truly unique. This was the case during Biketoberfest. Rather than joining the bustling throng in Daytona Beach yet again, I headed west to Santa Fe, New Mexico to hook up with Carlos Calles and his Irish Rich/Shamrock Fabrications built Santa

It was hard to imagine, when we stood in front of the garage doors, starring at a pile of boxes, that somewhere in there, somehow, a custom bike lurked. As it developed, except for a non-existent nut or bolt, the CCI Goliath kit was complete. The chromed quandary, could a novice builder, an average American

“Here’s some new shots of Bree, the naughty schoolgirl. If you can get pastdrooling over Bree, there’s one of our bikes with a cool devil chick in redpainted on the tank,” Said John Covington, president of Steed Muscle Bikes. She’s straddling one of John’s Steed 300-VM AppaloosaChoppers. Bree has straddled plenty of Motorsports modeling and

Hang on for this feature. This poker hand will take you from the bare shotgun frame to big-titted babes posing on the finished monster at the Smoke Out. Plus the owner of the shop and the builder, fabricator from Bitter End Old School Choppers wrote the story. Bitter End Old School Choppers is a chopper/machine

I usually shoot features on hard chopped Harleys. They’re my main course meat and potatoes. Long front ends and chopped frames with tons of chrome flashing in the sunlight. Every once in a while I run across a tasty morsel to temp my palette. I call ’em dessert, all fancy, done-up with a cherry on

I got the call on a cloudy Monday morning as I was drinking my morning coffee and trying to figure out which hand to jerk off with that morning. Just as I had made up my mind, I think it was the left hand; the phone began ringing with the resonance off my morning alarm

Here’s a bike feature that tells itself, which is often the best kind. The owner actually spelled out his lurid story from a school teacher and chopper enthusiast to ultimately, in his future, a bike builder. His bike recently won best of show at the second annual Choppers Only Show on the island of Oahu

Not long ago an issue of American Rider was devoted to lowered models contrived for shorter more compact riders. It was natural to feature a custom devoted to the tight-is-right crowd. In a custom world gone nuts with bigger, stretched, wider, fatter and pumped up motorcycles it was a lengthy chore for Buzz Buzzelli to

It all started when the Horse Magazine issued a challenge to four talented builders for their annual Smoke Out this year. The challenge, to build a cool rideable bike, for under 10 grand, and have it at the Rowan County N.C. fairgrounds for judging on June 25th. The builders accepting the challenge were Josh Mills,

</centerThe new issue of Cycle World features this bike on the cover and a rather bizarre article that’s not really a lot about the bike. This piece does a little better job telling the real story and is told by a secret agent imbedded within the Performance Machine compound… Strangely enough, bike building has become

I’ve been intending to send a few shots of the FLHS, the “S” believe it or not means Sports. It is a 1990 Sports bike and for those familiar with this model will verify, it is far from a Sports bike. But it must be because my insurance premium is about $300 more than my

Alex is a techno/engineering guy who builds stuff to blow up terrorists by profession, so naturally he went hunting for his dream bike on the Internet. He was searching for a fat tire bike, and wanted a performance bike that he could ride. He actually narrowed the field down to 3 builders, and intended to

No, it’s not a trick of the camera. We’re not squishing down this bike through some chicanery of digital lens/Photo Shop machinations. It is muy limbo low to the ground.The guys at the Garage Co. in L.A. got their inspiration from vintage Bonneville racers…big fat tires, skinny profile, kicked out springer, high pipe, we don’t-need-no

There are many unique things about being an American. Being able to begin your life in humble circumstances and rise to greatness is the pilot light in the furnace that makes up the American soul. You can do anything here. Another part of American culture is that the people who often fully appreciate the American

Roger, Chris and Darren. Everyone has their dream bike in mind but very few people have the vision, let alone the money to make it all happen. But once in a while, a customer comes along that gives builders the chance of a lifetime. My friend Chris was one of these customers. Returning from a

This super-clean, sleek, stylish, one-off custom from Pyrotec Customs, Alton, Illinois, won second place in it’s category at the Louisville, Kentucky show in August, 2005. The Horse Power Promotions show was sponsored by Bikernet.com and HOT BIKE. This bike wasn’t picked up to be featured in the mag, but the Bikernet Staff loved John Beck’s

”Something wicked this way comes,” Snake, the Bikernet shop drunk said and ran for the bar.” I didn’t know what to think, staring at my computer. I attempted code and edit all the new Buell models for 2006, but my computer sparked and whined like a bad wire on my ’48 Panhead. A messaged jumped

Trying alot of odd ball shit here .Motor is assembled but has stroker jugs that are 3 5/8-inch punched .010 over. They had real thick bases for the studs in the cases but I had to trade them for the correct length jugs. Take a look at those stock forward controls. Here is a fine

Creativity is an interesting condition… The masses see it as some sort of divine endowment. Many of the afflicted believe it to be a cruel burden. Most are convinced, you either have it or you don’t. I couldn’t say for sure if any of it’s true or not, but I can certainly tell you it