Jon Shipley’s “Whiskey Bent,” which sports a copper oil tank fed by some hilland-holler country copper tubing, an antique brass headlight and a wooden bar stool for a seat, took the FreeStyle Class Ultimate Builder winner prize.

“Whiskey Bent,” created by Hoosier Daddy Customs out of Louisville, KY, moves down the road courtesy of a 1000cc 1977 Ironhead V-Twin engine. With a jockey shifter and a wooden handle topped by a shot glass, “Whiskey Bent” is built around a custom frame and the swingarm was stretched to match the lines of the frame, all details which cap off the vintage look.

Shipley put it all together and his stylish effort earned him the three-grand top prize.

Now it’s off to Minneapolis as The Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Shows move north this weekend.

Think your bike has what it takes to compete with the masters of motorcycle customs? You’ve got time to enter your bike in the next round of the show, and you can do it by signing on at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show website here…

Photos by Sam Kanish of Iron Works

Tips for Buying Custom Motorcycle Insurance

Custom motorcycles require the correct insurance coverage package to protect what is, after all, a significant investment on your part .

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance for your custom bike…

Tips for buying motorcycle insurance for your custom:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.
• Additional coverage to replace or repair accessories specific to your bike.

Related posts:

1. Progressive International Motorcycle Shows Are Heading Your Way And Bringing the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show
2. The Teutels Vs Jesse James – Bike Builder Cultures Clash
3. Celebrity Chopper Builder Shows Have Officially Jumped the Shark

Starting out life as a humble and decidedly unattractive Honda GL1000, this machine is a testament to what an ingenious custom motorcycle builder can do with the most humble of raw materials.

El Vaquero keeps racking up the accolades, and this time around it took both the Retro Mod Class and People’s Choice award at the Cleveland Progressive International Motorcycle Show.

Honda sold an entire battalion of the venerable Honda GL1000′s, mostly to old guys who appreciated the homely machine for it’s tame, predictable handling and a motor which ran all day with a quiet, buttery smoothness on long hauls.

The one thing the Gold Wing never had was, well, any semblance of sex appeal or danger.

It does now, thanks to a handful of builders who’ve taken the old boy out for a makeover.

This version, the Blacksmith Motoring ‘El Vaquero,’ started out looking like this:

…and ended up, after the application of style, BS&T and some beautiful paint and metal work, like this:

Seeing something this magnificent made from one of the ugliest bikes ever to run down the road should give hope to every mullion on God’s Grey Earth that beauty really does reside within. The guys at Blacksmith even managed to make the World’s Most Ungainly Motorcycle Tank look fine.

Though if I have any beefs with this machine, and truth be told I have only one, it would be with the seat. A ride this slick deserves a little more glory applied to the place one drops one’s ass – particularly given the comfy-as-a-sofa legacy of the original donor bike.

Other than that, I think El Vaquero sets the standard by which all Gold Wing customs ought to be judged going forward…

Blacksmith Motoring
Round Lake, IL
Phone: (888)740-2077 ext. 12
By Appointment Only
sales@blacksmithmotoring.com

Leatherwork Service
Phone: 888.740.2077 ext. 11
leatherwork@blacksmithmotoring.com

Blacksmith Motoring NV
Minden, NV
Phone: (888) 740.2077
Mon-Friday 8:30am to 5:30pm
info@blacksmithmotoring.com

Related posts:

1. Riding Ten Up On A Custom Harley To Sturgis
2. Two Wrenches Of Cool – The Wooler Flat Four
3. What Money And Carbon Fiber Can Do The Mansory Zapico Custom Motorcycle

Will that gut-moving experience be the same on a machine powered by an engine which runs – and sounds – as smooth as  modern sewing machine?

Probably not, but there’s no use pining for the old days; the inevitable future now looms large on the horizon and it’s coming like a nearly silent freight train down the tracks to a motorcycle dealer near you.

Electric motorcycle makers failed to wave the flag at the recent Progressive International Motorcycle Show in New York, but the count on the plug-in bikes to gain popularity by leaps and bounds in the next few years. One analyst who covers the market says it is so, so let it be written. At this point, few Americans ride electric motorcycles as only about 1,300 units were sold in this county last year. Dave Hurst, a clean technology expert with Pike Research, thinks sales of electric motorcycles will grow to something over 30,000 by 2017.

It’s pretty likely that anyone who currently owns an electric motorcycle also have a stable piston-powered bikes, but the lure of the new technology (and perhaps to a lesser degree, the eco-friendliness of electric bikes) will prove appealing to motorcyclists in the coming years as battery technology and performance improve, at least, according to Hurst.

So who’s leading the pack in the electric motorcycle manufacturing race right now?

Zero Motorcycles seems to be poised to push the field. One of the top electric motorcycle manufacturers selling in the United States, the company’s bikes made in Santa Cruz, Calif., are priced at between $7,695 and 11,495. The demographic for Zero’s customers skews a little on the elderly side at between 35 and 50 years old, and it’s the price of what is still essentially a toy that means only the affluent are the target market.

Zero doesn’t disclose exact sales figures but they do say their premium and longer-range models – those with a range of 114 miles per charge – are the most popular.

“Right now, the folks that are buying these are wealthy enough that the cost isn’t a major concern,” says Hurst. “I do think that the cost is definitely going to become a issue as you try to reach a broader audience.”

One company set on stepping into the marketplace in that lower-priced segment, a New York-based firm, Evolve Motorcycles, plans to fill the gap with a line of plug-in motorcycles and scooters to serve a less cash-heavy buying public. Benjamin Plum, Evolve’s founder, says Evolve are nearly ready to ship their version of electric scooters to nearly a dozen dealerships across the country and they plan to offer an electric motorcycle within the next couple of years.

“The motorcycle market is actually shrinking in some areas and expanding slower than the scooter market due to the worldwide economic climate,” says Plum.

Evolve scooters can be had for between $2,900 and $6,900, and while that isn’t exactly cheap, Plum says he’s hoping lower prices might draw first-time motorcycle buyers.

According to Hurst,  dealerships that sell electric motorcycles will get a boost from simply having them on the showroom floor. Zero currently numbers 43 dealerships on their list in North America and expects more to sign on by this spring.

“Traditional power sports dealers that would handle a Honda Goldwing or something like that have been sort of shying away from them, but we’re starting to see that turn,” Hurst said.

In the performance electric motorcycle market, another American company, Brammo, is making some waves.

“Brammo and Zero have really been focused on some specialized markets,” Hurst said.

Related posts:

1. Electric and Hydrogen Powered Motorcycles Getting Traction With Investors
2. Electric Motorcycles You Won’t Be Embarrassed to Ride
3. Has the Electric Motorcycle Gotten A Foothold in the Market?

What your motorcycle’s suspension is supposed to do is pretty simple stuff. It’s meant to absorb shock from bumps and potholes in the road or ruts out in the wild, keep the tires in contact with the road surface and maintain as close as is possible the overall geometry built into the chassis of your bike while all that’s happening.

So on to some basic terms which are used to explain how a motorcycle suspension does its business.

SPRING RATE is the amount of force (or weight) necessary to deflect (or compress) a spring a given distance. This value is generally expressed as lb/in (pounds per inch). If a force of 300lbs is applied to a spring and it compresses 3 inches, that spring can be said to have a 100lb/in “spring rate.”

TRAVEL is the distance the center of a wheel can move from full extension to full compression of the suspension components.

STATIC PRELOAD is the amount a spring is compressed while it supports the chassis when the machine is at rest.

SAG is the amount (distance in mm) the front or rear suspension moves when the bike is in an unweighted state.

LOADED SAG is the amount (distance in mm) the suspension can travel as a rider sits on a bike.

COMPRESSION DAMPING refers to the speed at which a spring can be compressed when a sudden shock is applied to the suspension components.

REBOUND DAMPING refers to the speed at which a spring extends following a shock to the suspension.

RIDE HEIGHT is the distance between the rear wheel axle and a fixed point on the chassis above, generally measured at the top of the seat position.

FORK HEIGHT refers to the amount the tops of the fork legs protrude through the top yoke or triple tree clamp.

STEERING HEAD ANGLE refers to the angle to which the steering head axis deviates from vertical. This number is larger for chopper style bikes, smaller for standard setups and is measured in degrees and often referred to as “rake.”

TIRE PRESSURE can either mask or exaggerate what could be mistaken for suspension problems. If a rear tire is under-inflated you will certainly feel that the back end of your motorcycle squirms when you lean the bike hard over and then again when you apply power on the exit of a corner.

This condition is also present with too soft a spring or not enough compression damping, but an under-inflated rear tire will often mimic some of the feel characteristics of a badly set-up suspension. Before you start tinkering with your suspension setup, make sure you use an accurate tire pressure gauge to inflate (or deflate) your tires to reach the manufacturer’s recommended pressure. It’s pretty easy to find, just read the recommendation on the side of the tires.

Via: MotocrossGear.com

Additional Reading:

• Motorcycle Mechanics Institute,The Complete Guide to Motorcycle Mechanics, 1984 Prentice-Hall, Inc., ISBN 0-13-160549-6
• Motorcycle Mechanics Institute,The Complete Guide to Motorcycle Mechanics, 1984, Prentice-Hall, Inc., ISBN 0-13-160549-6
• Wilson, H. The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle Dorling-Kindersley Limited, 1995 ISBN 0 7513 0206 6
• Wilson, H. The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle Dorling-Kindersley Limited, 1995 ISBN 0 7513 0206 6
• Wilson, H. The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle Dorling-Kindersley Limited, 1995 ISBN 0 7513 0206 6
• Motorcycle Mechanics Institute,The Complete Guide to Motorcycle Mechanics, 1984,Prentice-Hall, Inc., ISBN 0-13-160549-6
• Motorcycle Mechanics Institute,The Complete Guide to Motorcycle Mechanics, 1984, Prentice-Hall, Inc., ISBN 0-13-160549-6

Whether you ride a sport bike or an American cruiser, you need to make sure your insurance coverage fits your style of riding and the bike you do your riding on.

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance, whatever you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.

Related posts:

1. Quick Tips and Facts for the Motorcyclist – Our Motorcycle Safety and Gear Infographic
2. Motorcycle Camping – The Guide To Traveling Light and Rough on Your Bike
3. No Snow Yet, But I’m Prepared To Maintain My Motorcycle Jones All Winter

While I don’t have a problem with folks riding a stock machine, there’s just something about seeing a bike someone has lovingly mangled and managed with their own two hands that pulls me in to the story line.

It’s one thing to see that kind of stuff happening in the home of the custom motorcycle culture – the Good Ole US of A – it’s another entirely to read about someone who’s done the custom deed to their bike in a society where such “antisocial” activity is a little more rare.

Case in point, this machine, The Firestarter from “Mountain Ram” in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

When Ram sent me the photos of what was once a bone-stock Harley XL883 Sporty, I was digging it, but when I looked at the background of the photos, I saw something I found more interesting – some native plants and architecture that didn’t look California, Texas or Florida to me.

And I was right on that score, so I asked a few questions to get to the heart of the matter.

First, I wanted to know if there were more in “production,” and the answer was “there are no more like it on the lift, because there was never a lift to begin with. This is a humble ‘garden garage’ build just at the entrance of our building.”

And Ram offered some other details about his build as well.
“‘Firestarter’ is my first custom project, based on a brand new 2008 HD Sportster XL883R,” he wrote. “I – along with my brother – make up a visionary joint more than a full-fledged garage and workshop. The way it all started was through an article featured in another custom-enthusiast magazine (Hot Bike) on a $1,000 budget built custom. Visions in my mind toggled back and forth between bobber, chopper, or cafe racer. This ‘virtual’ designing and scheming in my mind took quite a while, before it finally reached the vision of the finished bike. That vision kept flashing back in my mind, until it was anchored there; unchanged, unaltered. That’s when I knew that this is the design I was set on, and that I had to start implementing it.”

So there you have it. Why build a custom bike? Because if you have the Jones, there’s no other option.

What got Ram going on the idea of a custom bike build? The same set of parameters that got most of us hooked.

“I was infatuated with the hot rod and rat rod cultures, and wanted (this bike) to be the opposite of everything the Nightster was,” he said. “If the latter had dragbars and was slammed down low front and rear, I wanted the R to have a taller front end with high apes. The Nightster was clean and refined, and I wanted the Firestarter to be ratty, raw, and unfinished. Rock’n'Roll played an important part in influencing – let’s say – the attitude of the bike. To me, nothing spelled in-your-face rebel recklessness more than The Prodigy’s Firestarter song. Frontman Keith Flint’s punky attitude in that video was what I wanted my ride to be.”

So there you have it, the classic formula. Outlaw feel, rock and roll attitude; something bordering on pure anarchy in the UAR.

So how did Ram select the details which went into creating his vision of a Sporty where the factory look was left far, far behind?

“I refused the fairing made specifically for the Sportster and some Dyna models offered by Harley Davidson, and I was obstinate in wanting a Nightrod fairing, due to its slimmer, more streamlined profile,” Ram says. “For the paint scheme, I wanted a scheme that came from Black Label Society guitarist and vocalist Zakk Wylde’s infamous guitar with the swirl, so that’s where I went with the colors.”

Some of the other selections, like customizing a dropdown bracket to lower the ChopperShox mini shocks and seatpan about 1″, fabricating a bracket to hold the Nightrod’s headlight fairing; chopping, modifying, reshaping and louvering the rear fender and cranking out a custom made sissy bar which completes the chunky look, were pure Ram. Some bits, like a No School Choppers 40X taillight, required custom modification to fit properly without hitting the Biltwell 10″ rigid struts, ignition hop-ups, one-off custom modified mufflers and a custom Chopper Dave x66 air cleaner and SE neck assembly put the icing on the cake.

The shifting is handled jockey-style using a pistol grip Hurst and a LaBriola foot clutch. Does it get any hot rodder than that?

So what’s up next to take a slot on the lawn in front of Ram’s house in Jeddah?

“A cafe racer project is simmering in my mind; the final installment to my Sportster trilogy, and then maybe I move to what will probably be my first ground-up build, hopefully to be entered in the AMD custom bike world championship of…. 2015, to be realistic,” he said.

Related posts:

1. Riding Ten Up On A Custom Harley To Sturgis
2. Winners of the 2011 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building
3. What Money And Carbon Fiber Can Do The Mansory Zapico Custom Motorcycle

Though now highly prized for their potential as re-imagined cafe racer machines, the venerable Honda CB 750 was – back in its infancy – the bike that changed the game.

So how did it happen that the Japanese took over the worldwide motorcycle manufacturing industry? To a large extent, it came down to the creation of a single model.

With five consecutive championship titles under their belts, Honda decided to withdraw from the World GP circuit in 1967 with a plan to develop high-performance consumer motorcycles at the forefront of their vision.

While Honda exported more than half of their output back in the mid-60′s, they didn’t make a large-displacement sport bike model which would appeal to the hardcore rider in the U.S.

And it’s not like the honchos at Honda failed to notice that glaring deficiency. Sales of Honda motorcycles in America were flagging in 1966, and the company knew a brand-new worldview was in order. While the company had created the The Dream CB450 in 1965, they were still being outgunned by big bikes from other makers. The CB450 sold well, but for the vast majority of American riders, it just didn’t have the requisite zing and bottom-end torque they craved.

What really drove Yoshiro Harada, the head of Honda product development at the time, was hearing the news that Britain’s Triumph were deep in the development process of a high-performance, 3-cylinder 750 cc engine. With the ante thus upped, Honda laid out plans to compete by creating their own 750 cc engine which would lay down 67 horsepower to overtake the juice you could get from the 66-horsepower Harley-Davidson’s 1300 and the proposed Triumph Triple.

Though Honda was already the industry’s leading maker of motorcycles (due in no small part to the success of the most popular motorcycle in history, the Super Cub) the introduction of the CB750 sought to become the world’s top manufacturer of quality motorcycles as well. They were up against some formidable competition as comparable models from Triumph, BMW, and Harley were already on the road.

So what were the targets? Honda wanted to make a long-range, high-speed touring machine, so they turned to science for answers in the form of a newly-minted paradigm dubbed “ergonomics.”

Those targets included:

• Stability at highway cruising speeds
• A braking system which was reliable and would handle frequent rapid decelerations from high speeds
• Minimal  vibration and noise to fight rider fatigue on long hauls with a rider position which complimented the smoother powerplant
• Lights and instruments which were large, reliable and gauges which were easy to read
• Easy maintenance and servicing for all the various modules of the bike
• Use of top-quality materials and production techniques.

Perhaps the biggest innovation for Honda’s showpiece bike? The adoption of disc brakes. While that design decision proved costly and time-consuming, it was also a stroke of brilliance and one which made the CB 750 a favorite of the serious riding set.

Released to the U.S. public in January 1969, the announcement of the new bike’s retail price, $1,495, was met with stunned silence at a dealer meeting in Nevada. The other shoe had officially dropped. Large-displacement bikes were selling at that time for between $2,800 and $4,000, and the 2,000 dealers on hand for the announcement exploded into applause when recovered their wits.

And they had good cause for their optimism. The CB 750 immediately commanded a premium sales price in dealer showrooms of between $1,800 and $2,000 to get one out the door.

Featuring an integrated crankshaft and metal bearing to replace the spilt-type, press-fit crankshaft with a needle bearing used in previous Honda motors, the CB 750 was a great leap forward in design as well as price.

As great as this new machine was, the company initially had a serious problem. They could only manage to make something like five bikes a day, and that was clearly not enough to meet demand for what had become a major hit with the market. Production was pushed to 25 units per day, and then to 100 units, but that still left an enormous pile of back orders building up under and entirely expected sales landslide.

It became clear that the production of the original sand-molded crankcases would never meet the rate requirements of mass production, so the factory switched over to producing crankcases of a metal, die-cast construction. The bikes were such a hit with the riding public that the production of engines and chassis was moved to a Suzuki factory in mid-1971. The “sandcast” CB 750 models are now fetching prices from collectors of some three to four times higher than their new-off-the-line price back in the day.

But what really made the bikes a smash hit with the public?

Performance.

The factory racing team at Honda R&D took the new machines to compete at a 10-Hour Endurance Race in August 1969 to coincide with the commercial launch of the big bike, and Honda dominated, notching one-two finishes with the teams of Morio Sumiya and Tetsuya Hishiki taking first place and Yoichi Oguma and Minoru Sato pulling in a close second.

The deal was done when rider Dick Mann blew away the field on his CB750 during the AMA Daytona 200-Mile Race run during March 1970. The field was now wide open for large-displacement Japanese bikes, and in 1972, Kawasaki launched the 900 cc ZI to compete on the big-bike stage…and the rest is, as they say, history.

Related posts:

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2. While Some Departments Phase Them Out Motorcycle Cops Are Back in the Game in Toledo
3. The S&S Bailout Keeps A Half Century of Motorcycle Manufacturing Tradition Alive

Steve ‘Doc’ Hopkins on the smaller version of his Communal Rider Harley

When Steve “Doc” Hopkins takes his bike out for a spin, he can count on moving nine of his best friend with him. How? He takes his custom-made, 10-seat amalgam of Harley Davidson history. The bike is 24-feet-long and features seven different engines, a few of them which date back 100 years into the past.

“It’s like a rolling history of Harley Davidson’s engines — since 1909 to present,” said Hopkins. “In 1909, Harley Davidson came out with the first v-twin. And that’s what this bike reflects, is the first v-twin on up to through brand new twin cam.”

Creating wild Harleys is nothing new to Hopkins, he’s also built a five-seat (in the photo above), four-engine HD he rode in Harley Davidson’s 105th anniversary parade in Milwaukee.

Featuring a total of seven air-cooled Harley-Davidson Big-Twin engines manufactured from 1909 to the present, Doc’s bike seats 10 people and totals a whopping 538 cubic inches running along on two front wheels, two rear wheels and driven by an enormous 40 feet of chain.

I’m guessing that if that chain breaks, it might be hard to find one at the local dealer…

Custom Motorcycle Insurance

Custom motorcycles require the correct insurance coverage package to protect what is, after all, a significant investment on your part .

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance for your custom bike…

Tips for buying motorcycle insurance for your custom:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.
• Additional coverage to replace or repair accessories specific to your bike.

Related posts:

1. Twin Jet Engine Board Tracker Harley – Bike Find of the Day
2. The Silent Grey Fellow – Bike Find of the Day – 1912 Harley-Davidson Model B Silent Grey Fellow
3. Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show Heads North to Minneapolis

I think this bike fits the ‘I have money and I’m going to do something crazy with it’ paradigm rather well.

Mansory is a German outfit which turns very expensive cars like, say, an Aston Martin, into what I like to think are four-wheeled, designer handbags for the uber-wealthy.

So what happens when a concern known for applying real gold to every surface of a car takes on a motorcycle design? Well, you get the work of motorcycle customizer Thomas M. George and the Mansory touch…

The Mansory Zapico is positively dipped in carbon fiber to give it a look that says to you, clearly but not without some touch of mannered German condescension at your economic inadequacy, ‘I’m sorry, Herr Buyer, but if you have to ask how many Deutschmarks it costs, well…’

The company says all the carbon-fiber pieces and the wheels of the bike were hand built in what is certainly a well-ordered and immaculate factory in Bavaria.

What would you get for your outlay of currency? Start with a 124 c.i. V-twin from American engine builder S&S which cranks out 160 horsepower – enough juice to move you from 0-60 in 3.3 seconds.

Maestro Kourosh Mansory would like you to notice that his machine is wrought from only the finest carbon, and additionally, that all the exquisite work is accomplished at the Mansory factory in Brand well inside the borders of the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria. Mansory and his shock troops have been customizing exclusive and renowned car brands like Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche and Rolls Royce since 1989, and the results, while they speak for themselves, are rather pricey to acquire.

Specifications:

Tires:
Front: 130/60/18″
Rear: 280/35/18″

Rims:
Front: 3.5 x 18″ carbon disc
Rear: 10 x 18″ carbon disc by Mansory

Engine:
S&S T 124 V2 (spring-loaded vibration), the only one of its kind found in this suspension worldwide
Capacity: 124 cubic inches (ca. 2,080 cubic cm)
Power: 160 hp at 5,200 revs per minute
Gears: 5-speed

Bodywork:
CFRP by MANSORY:
Design by Thomas M. George
Front mask, bug spoiler, seat module, primary shield, silencer applications, fuel tank, frame, fork, wheel rims, airbox all carbon-fibery lucious

Aluminum applied on the fuel tank, spoiler and rear fender

Leather:
By Mansory, of course

Weight:
Around 750lbs

Related posts:

1. Riding Ten Up On A Custom Harley To Sturgis
2. A Quarter Million Plus Seems Like A Lot Of Money For A Bike to Haul Firewood
3. El Vaquero Custom Motorcycle Makes Cool From So Not Cool

The US Department of Justice says that, at least back  in 2006, there were over 7.2 million people  in prison in America. While that number includes people on probation or parole, it’s a staggering figure and means that roughly 1 in every 32 Americans are guests of the state in one way or another.

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College London, 2.3 million of that number are  in prison right now, and the only country that even comes close, the People’s Republic of China, has only 1.6 million inmates – out of a population more than four as large as that of the United States.

One Colorado prison plans to set some of those inmates to work building custom motorcycles.

They’re hoping inmates can complete one custom bike every month. The authorities plan to sell the bikes made by the men in the program a state website at coloradoci. They’re hoping inmates can complete one custom bike every month.

“We’ve got the machine shop, the graphics and the skills, so there is so much stuff we can do,” said one official. “When we’re not manufacturing license plates we can take on something like this.”

What do the inmates think about the idea? Dave Johnson, the inmate who came up with the idea for his fellow inmates to build the bikes, was a custom bike builder himself before he went up for his stretch.

“I help with the design and fabrication,” Johnson said. “It’s great and it’s an opportunity.”

Some of the other inmates can hear opportunity knocking and they signed on to follow Johnson’s lead.

“This is our first prototype and we are all learning from Dave,” said Brett Major. Major’s dad has built some custom motorcycles over the last 15 years.

Prison staffer Rick Fitzpatrick, the supervising machinist at the prison, has built motorcycles for years and he’s riding shotgun on the project.

“The frame was built by a professional frame builder and we will use those to start with, but we may be able to build our own later,” Fitzpatrick said.

A sewing machine at the prison’s sign shop will be put to work stitching motorcycle seats, and the prison’s powder coating operation (prisoners also make office furniture) did the frame and wheel rims of the first bike.

“It’s a blessing. My whole family is into bikes and I’ve always wanted to go to MMI and now I’m getting the experience and knowledge to put one together,” said inmate Shaun Resendez about taking part in the program.

When he makes parole in eight months, Resendez said he plans to keep up the momentum he’s generating through the program and go to the school with the goal of ultimately working as a motorcycle mechanic.

Custom Motorcycle Insurance

Custom motorcycles require the correct insurance coverage package to protect what is, after all, a significant investment on your part .

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance for your custom bike…

Tips for buying motorcycle insurance for your custom:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.
• Additional coverage to replace or repair accessories specific to your bike.

Related posts:

1. Online Classes in Chopper Building? Will the Wonders of the Internet Never Cease
2. Custom Motorcycles Need Custom Motorcycle Insurance
3. Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show Heads North to Minneapolis

Sutter’s gritty biker drama, Sons of Anarchy,  is some of the best stuff on television, and his plans for Season 5 should keep pipes hot and grind the chicken strips off the rubber.

“The club is potentially facing a very dangerous foe because of their actions,” Sutter said. “I don’t know the level of threat yet. I’d love to be able to bring in the character of Damon Pope … that has a lot of swag and is just a few steps above the club in terms of influence and connections. I haven’t really given specific thought yet to what that conflict looks like and whether or not it will take precedent over internal conflicts. The internal conflicts will be on a slower boil, it won’t quite be as fast and kinetic as this season was with the cartel and Jax wanting to get out.

Sons of Anarchy will be back September 2012 on FX.

Kurt Sutter

Victory Motorcycles unveiled their latest motorcycle for 2013 and two new custom bikes created by Zach Ness and Klock Werks Kustom Cycles.

“This new model features signature Victory style and is inspired by the muscle car era,” according to the company. “Featuring outstanding power and handling, it promises to bring a new level of riding enjoyment to the class and will be comfortable for riders of all sizes.”

Victory handed over the first 2013 pre-production bike off the line and handed it over to Ness to apply his signature touches.

What Ness came up with is based around a new, high-quality chassis and the handling which is a Victory hallmark.

“I had to spend a weekend riding the new bike around the hills outside of Dublin to get a real feel for this bike,” said Ness, the grandson of custom builder and motorcycle legend, Arlen Ness. “We actually delayed starting to build the bike because there was so much inspiration gained after riding the stock machine — it changed completely what I first thought I was going to build.”

Related posts:

1. SOA Back In the Saddle
2. Progressive International Motorcycle Shows Are Heading Your Way And Bringing the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show
3. Flying Tiger Motorcycles A Fallback – And A Success – for Missouri Couple

This gallery includes some of the finest examples of the breed, and if you’re a well-heeled sort who can afford the upwards of $35,000 to $100,000 it costs to buy one, we’ve thoughtfully provided links to some of the best custom motorcycle builders in the business next to each photo.

From Jesse Rook to Jim Nasi and many, many others, you’re going to see some of the most magnificent motorcycle art to be found right here, so take your time and examine all the incredible craftsmanship on display by these monsters of the art of motorcycle building…

And though you didn’t ask, I’m sort of partial to the look that Russell Mitchell at Exile puts together. Beefy, brawny and packed with American horsepower with a British sensibility. What’s not to like with that, pard?

Aardvark Cycle

Allen, TX

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After Hours Bikes

Cooper City, FL

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All American Cycle

Portland, OR

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Amen Chassis Works

Rogarsville, TN

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American Motorcycle Service

Framingham, MA

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Boondock Customs

Crystal Lake, IL

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Broadway Choppers

Schenectady, NY

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Caribbean Custom Cycles

San Juan, PR

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Central Coast Cycles

Santa Cruz, CA

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Chica Custom Cycles

Huntington Beach, CA

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Chopper City Customs

Jacksonville, FL

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Choppers Inc

Melbourne, FL

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Chopper Works

Derry, NH

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Cochise County Choppers

Naco, AZ

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Covingtons Cycle City

Woodward, OK

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County Line Choppers

Phoenix ,NY

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County Line Cycles

Simi Valley, CA

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Count’s Kustoms

Las Vegas, NV

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Coyote Customs

Oklahoma City, OK

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Creative Cycles Inc

Wall , NJ

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Cyril Huze

Boca Raton, FL

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Donnie Smith Custom Cycles

Blaine, MN

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Exile Cycles

Valley Glen, CA

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Fred Kodlin Motorcycles

Borken, Germany

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Flyrite Choppers

Austin, TX

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Gangster Choppers

Midlothian, VA

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Greg’s Custom Cycles

Clearwater, FL

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Gypsy Choppers

Clearwater, FL

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Heavy Duty Cycles Limites

Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

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Hotshoe Customs

Elizabeth, NJ

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Insight Customs

Hebron, IN

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Iron Hawg Custom Cycles

Hazleton, PA

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Jesse Rooke Customs

Phoenix, AZ

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Jim Nasi Customs

Scottsdale, AZ

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Klock Werks Kustom Cycles

Mitchell, SD

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Kotic Kustoms

Woodstock, GA

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L.A. County Choprods

Marina Del Ray, CA

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Martin Bros Bikes

Duncanville, TX

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MGS Custom Bikes

Lancaster,CA

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Orange County Choppers

Newburgh, NY

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Paul Cox Industries

New York, NY

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Paul Yaffe Originals

Phoenix, AZ

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Poole’s Pro Built

Brea, CA

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RB Customs

Houston, TX

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Riff Rat Customs

Livermore, Ca

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Ron Simms Custom Cycles

Hayward, CA

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Santiago Chopper

Gibsonton, FL

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Scooter Shooterz

Cedar Lake, IN

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Smoky Mountain Customs

Asheville, NC

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Speed City Cycle

Indianapolis, IN

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Suicide Cycles

Manchester, MD

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Thunderbike

Germany

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Thunder Cycle Designs

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

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Toxic Choppers

Colorado Springs, CO

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Twisted Choppers

Sioux Falls, SD

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Unique Custom Cycles

Sweden

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Von Dutch Kustom Cycles

Ranco Cucamonga, Ca

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West Coast Choppers

Long Beach,CA

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Wicked Custom Cycles

Hialeah,FL

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Young Choppers

Marietta,GA

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Custom Motorcycle Insurance

Custom motorcycles require the correct insurance coverage package to protect what is, after all, a significant investment on your part .

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance for your custom bike…

Tips for buying motorcycle insurance for your custom:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.
• Additional coverage to replace or repair accessories specific to your bike.

Related posts:

1. Want to Build Your Own Custom Motorcycle? Some Things To Consider
2. Riding Ten Up On A Custom Harley To Sturgis
3. AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building Photo Gallery

If you’re into auctions, and strange but excellent motorcycles, then this might just be the ticket.

Mid America Auctions is offered a 1948 Lincoln Zephyr-driven V12 custom motorcycle, one of two made by Olson’s V8 in Illinois.

Featuring a flathead motor derived from the classic Ford Flathead V8 – only with the addition of four extra cylinders – Dale Olson created this monster bike.

Probably a little problematic in a lot of ways and surely boasting the turning radius of a cruise ship, it’s still cool as an exercise in what a man can do if he has a dream and a lot of time on his hands.

It may not be the most practical motorcycle in the world, but man, that engine would make all the issues seem trivial once you got it out on the road and heard the sound.

Buying Your First Bike? The Guide to Motorcycle Insurance

Whether you ride a sport bike or an American cruiser, your insurance needs can get complicated.
We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance, whatever you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.

Related posts:

1. Win Your Dream Motorcycle Fabrication Shop From Lincoln
2. Ladies Doin It For Themselves – Standing Up A Heavy Motorcycle
3. A Quarter Million Plus Seems Like A Lot Of Money For A Bike to Haul Firewood

For years, designers have dreamed of creating a vehicle with the driving appeal of a motorcycle and the enclosed safety of a car, and one of the earliest attempts,  the Ford Gyron, was a two-wheeled gyrocar first unveiled way back  in 1961 as a concept car.

Though the configuration was something like a motorcycle, the vehicle was stabilized by gyroscopes.

Two occupants were seated side by side and when the vehicle was stationary, two small outriggers appeared from the sides to support it. Though there was never any intention to produce the Gyron, designer Alex Tremulis used gyroscopic systems based on Louis Brennan’s theories.

Ford Motor Company gave credit for the Gyron to Brennan.

Tremulis began his career working for the US Air Force and numbered among his projects a plan to build a “military flying saucer.”  Tremulis was also the chief designer for the far-ahead of its time Tucker automobile before he joined Ford.

Tremulis went on to design concepts for Ford which included the  “Tuscan Gyroscopic Motorcycle” and the Gyronaught XU1 gyroscopic car.

Now Lit Motors  of San Francisco,  lead by designer and engineer Daniel Kim, says they have the first production 2-seat vehicle combining the efficiency and freedom of a motorcycle with the safety of a car.

“We’re trying to open up safety to a huge market of 200 million motorcyclists daily in the world. We have a huge market, and I think we could have a lot of impact” says Kim.

The C1 features an electronically-controlled gyroscopic stabilizing system to keep it upright when stopped or at low speeds, and company says it will remain upright even in a side-impact collision.

A variety of battery packs provide a full-charge range of from 150 to 200 miles after a 4 to 6 hour juice-up.

According to Lit, the C1 depends on electric hub high-performance Remy HVH motors to drive both wheels.

The company also says the C1 uses KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), a technology which transfers energy normally lost during braking to deliver power back to the drivetrain when the vehicle is accelerating.

Lit says the top speed of the C1 should be around 120 mph…

Related posts:

1. Electric and Hydrogen Powered Motorcycles Getting Traction With Investors
2. The Future of Motorcycles Is A Unicycle? The Ryno Monowheel Motorcycle
3. Electric-Powered Cafe Racer Harkens Back to the History of Speed

I refer, of course, to the trike.

It’s not that I don’t understand the appeal and appreciate the engineering involved, and there may well come a day when it’s time for me to sell off all the two-wheelers and mount up on one myself, but I hope that day is far, far off in the unforeseeable and ineluctable future.

There’s a guy in my neighborhood who drinks at the local watering hole and made this marvel of engineering and audacity, and I see him riding it around all the time. I must admit that I think it’s sweet as pecan pie, but I just can’t see myself riding around on one myself.

It’s kind of a moped joke issue for me. And they don’t lean.

I’d be proud as hell to be the guy who built this RatWheeler, it’s a thing of beauty and a joy to behold, but riding one?

I’ve also yet to hear anyone make a convincing argument as to why they want one over say, the latest and greatest Ducati or a fine old Indian, but maybe that’s because I usually don’t pay much attention to what people are saying.

Okay, I get it, the suspension makes the ride softer and allows for a more comfortable seating position, but what else is different about riding a trike?

Those in the know say the biggest difference riders have to adjust to when riding their first trike is the lack of countersteering.

When riding a motorcycle, countersteering is the name given to the counter-intuitive technique used by motorcyclists to turn corners. Countersteering is a method of initiating a turn by a small, momentary turn of the front wheel, via the handlebars, in the opposite (counter) direction of the intended path of travel. It usually doesn’t take much physical effort, and that’s because the geometry of a motorcycle’s steering system brings with it  a tendency for the front wheel to steer in the direction of a lean.

With a trike, you steer it like you do a car, and since there’s no way to lean, you pull back the right handlebar with your right hand and you turn right and vice versa.

Unless, of course, you’re riding a “reverse trike,” or one where the paired wheels are in the front of the bike.

Then you have to deal with a little principal called Ackerman geometry, and the gist of the explanation of that is the need for tires to slip sideways when following a common path around a curve. Ackerman is the geometrical solution and does it with all the wheels having their axles arranged as radii of a circle with a common center point. As the rear wheel is fixed, the center point must be on a line extended from the rear axle.

It’s basically a principal that says the steering geometry is designed so that the inside wheel in a turn will turn more than the outside wheel. Without Ackerman? One tire will tend to ‘scrub’ in a turn, and that’s hard on linkages and tires, real hard on them.

Now that I have all that covered and I have a rough understanding of how trikes steer and work…I still don’t want one.

At least not yet.

Collector

Insuring your collectible or vintage motorcycle

As for insurance for your collectible motorcycle? You should be able to get Agreed Value coverage on a classic 1959 BSA Gold Star Catalina valued at $15,000 for somewhere around $25 a month, and that gives you the whole shooting match of coverage.

You can spend a lot less, but if you plan to ride the bikes in your collection, the above pricing is a reasonable approximation of what you can expect to pay.

Related posts:

1. This Is What A Motorcycle Should Be – Ian Barry’s Falcon Black
2. Two Wrenches Of Cool – The Wooler Flat Four
3. Jeremy Clarkson Is the Judas Iscariot of Motorcycling

It seems “American Choppers” star Paul Teutul Sr. will be appearing on yet another television reality show as he joins the cast of the upcoming season of “Celebrity Apprentice.“

Teutul, of Orange County Chopper‘s fame, will be competing in the 12th season of Donald Trump‘s horrible reality show. This will be the fifth incarnation to feature a cast of celebrities (or B-listers, depending on how you judge the threshold for that), and each of them will compete for their chosen charity.

Following the tired and true formula for the show, contestants will work in teams on a different business-related challenges on each episode, followed by the amazingly hirsute Trump “firing” a member of the team that does the worst job on a particular challenge.

Teutul will hand over any winnings to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The roster of “celebrities” this time around? American Idol contestant Clay Aiken, IndyCar driver Michael Andretti, radio and TV show host Adam Carolla, actress Tia Carrere, Lou Ferrigno from Incredible Hulk, 80s pop star Debbie Gibson, Teresa Giudice of  Real Housewives of New Jersey, and Victoria Gotti, the former mobster’s daughter.

Other contestants include former talk show host Arsenio Hall, magician Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller fame, insult comic Lisa Lampanelli, 2008 Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, singer Aubrey O’Day, Dee Snyder of the band Twisted Sister, George Takei from “Star Trek”, and models Cheryl Tiegs and Patricia Velásquez.

The new season of “Celebrity Apprentice” premieres Feb. 12 on NBC.

Custom motorcycles require the correct insurance coverage package to protect what is, after all, a significant investment on your part .

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance for your custom bike…

Tips for buying motorcycle insurance for your custom:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.
• Additional coverage to replace or repair accessories specific to your bike.

Related posts:

1. A Different Kind of Wining For American Chopper Star Paul Teutul Jr
2. The Teutels Vs Jesse James – Bike Builder Cultures Clash
3. Progressive International Motorcycle Shows Are Heading Your Way And Bringing the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show