How did you get started in this business?
I have been a hotrodder all my life, since i was a kid painting white walls in the backyard. i started in cars, it was always a hobby. After nine eleven, the place I was manager for lost a lot of government contracts and I was fat on the back of that steak that had to go. I went and got my welding certification because I already had my machinist, and started working at a shop. I though, why am I working for someone else when I could be ding this for myself, so I rolled the dice and started this.
I was always doing it on the side and it was a well kept secret because you know how it is. You have a friend that's a mechanic and everyone wants their work done for free. I kept my mouth shut, but when I came out and said I was doing this, everyone said, "You don't know how to do that!" Then everyone saw Jack, the Jack-O-Lantern.
What is your process from start to finish?
Most of it, when I do a design build, is already in my head or scratched out on paper. Once the build gets contracted, we work closely with the customer. This gentleman from Texas, I talk to every week to let him know where I'm at and what I can do to make him happy. After you pay, we order all the parts, start mocking it up, fabricating the different parts you need, put it together, send it out for paint and powder coat. When everything comes back, you put it together, hopefully you measure three times and cut once.
As long as parts are available it goes quickly. The Red Cross bike I started on January third and finished February fifteenth. Usually I give a two to three month lead time and the painter needs about a month. Especially if its a high gloss paint job and sheet metal is very porous and they have to be filled with a skim coat so you don't see them in the final process.
Who is the painter and how did you two hook up?
I can envision it but I can't draw worth shit! You'll get a stick figure out of me so I have to convey my ideas to the artist - how I want it painted. Him and I are on the same level. The jagged bike, he did the fenders with neon green paint and he also did the pin-up on the Red Cross bike. He has the ability to jump back and forth.
He's from Air Effects. He is relatively new, his name is Kevin and I met him at the East Aurora Car Show last year. he brought a bike in, a sportster, and it was really nice work. He said he wanted to work together on a project and the Red Cross Bike came up. Obviously I need the paint donated so I contacted a few painters but he said he wanted the opportunity. Him and I clicked and this will now be our fifth project together.
We have one going to Texas for an ATF agent who took full advantage of our discount. We do a military firemen's discount. They get a thousand dollars off on the bike or ten percent off on all parts ordered. So a nineteen five bobber, he got for eighteen five but he also upgraded the paint and the motor and a better transmission. Still, nobody can beat that price. Its going to be glass black with a skull and six smoking guns. On the back we're doing this whole gun smoke with the word Untouchables, that whole theme because he's law enforcement. It'll be real slick.
Do you see your wok as an art form or a cross breed between mechanics and metalsmithing?
All of a sudden people are recognizing bike building as an art form. You're sculpting metal. The best compliment that bike building could have got was when the Guttenburg Museum did the bike display. To me, it just looks cool, it's yours, you can make it stand out, make it reflect your personality, like hot rods, You can tell a lot about a person that way. They are a man's jewelry and women are starting to get into it a little more. Instead of a four thousand dollar ring, it's a ten thousand dollar bike. My biggest dream is to have someone come in with sixty thousand dollars and say, go crazy.
How do you sustain a business in Buffalo? Especially one that is reliant on warm weather for your product?
It's the year two thousand and eight and the internet helps. I do parts, after market parts, apparel, car wheels and air suspension. Eventually when I move out into a larger shop, I want to have hot rods on one side and bikes on another. It will be a total speed shop. We also started what we call chopper school for guys who bought the parts and think they can accomplish something on their own. They decide they got in over their heads, bring all of their stuff to me and I give them a rate for doing it. We work out the cost of the paint with either my painter or someone of their choice. The jagged chopper was a pile of shit parts that I made look that way. They got a fender that is too thin but they want me to make it work and I do my best with it. I make them happy and that's all that matters. The person gets a hands on experience, walks away with more knowledge and know what they need to do coming down the line.
Probably my biggest problem is that I'm too honest. I have lost maybe two, three jobs because customers call up and ant these big choppers with the wide tire and I ask if they have ever rode one. They say no so I tell them to go ride one first and if you decide you still want this kind fine. I'm not going to sell you a bike that you find out later rides like a tank. The little bobbers you can ride all day long an you can ride them hard but the big show bikes with three hundred series tires on them lose all practicality.
You do a lot of charity work, tell me about that.
This is the third year doing it. Right now we have the Red Cross Bike we will be giving away at the raffle on the twenty-ninth at Buckin' Buffalo. Those tickets are ten bucks a piece or three for twenty-five and all of the money goes to the Red Cross.
It's nice to give back to the community. I have been down and out and I believe that us as a community should do our part. If more businesses worked together, maybe Buffalo wouldn't be so screwed up.
How did you get involved with the Red Cross?
Someone at the Red Cross was a bike enthusiast and saw the other two. Dace from Cyber Spokes sent out an emailer saying the Red Cross is doing a Bike Run and they need someone to organize it. Last year they gave away a Sportster with Buffalo Sabres signatures on it and it did well so they said, "how about we do a bike?"
We tossed around a couple of ideas and one was the MASH theme that I did, they fell in love with it.. It went from there so it will be at the Mash Bash.
There is a themed bike sitting in front of your place, what is that for?
We are headed out to Missouri for a Biker Build Off this week. The bikes are supposed to be military themed, any service, and they will go on eBay for ten thousand a piece and once they hit that mark, the ten thousand goes to Fisher House or something. Anything above and beyond that goes to the winner of the build-off. Its nice because it is the people voting on it, not the judges, the people that come to the rally, so I'm pretty nervous.
I have 50 caliber bullets welded on the points cover, the wings or propeller that the pilots would have worn I put on the points cover, I put the flying tigers on the neck gusset, just little touches.
How would you classify your specific style?
I've gotten labeled 'The Bobber Guy'. I'm the only one in the area that is taking the old school bobbers and putting a new twist on them. Mostly, I just like sheet metal work. Bobbers are my passion; they are small and easy to ride. Like Jack, we carved the faces out and lit him up with neon green LED lights so he wasn't the typical flat black.
What has been your favorite project?
I would say the Biker Build Off bike. It was one hell of an honor to be invited. That bike inspired a base model that I will offer to the public called The Stinger. It will have the bullets, they can choose they pipes and their paint for sixteen to eighteen thousand out the door with a sweet pain job. It will be available shortly and we are working with Wells Fargo for people to get financed. I'm hoping it opens a lot of doors because it's a perfect little scoop.
What makes you happy other than bikes?
My kids. Thats why I push as hard as I do especially in Buffalo. So they will always have something. If college or the service doesn't work out, they can always have the business, something that's theirs.
Where do you like to go drink?
PBR! Brick Bar on Thursdays. Club W is becoming a new home because we'll be hosting bike night down there. There will be punk rock and rockabilly shows after the Square.
<
