Vote in MCUSA's Online Biker Build-Off

There are some talented craftsmen building customs. The 2007 Laughlin River Run brought out the work of many skillful builders and gave me some up-close-and-personal inspection time. Some names are recognizable. Others might not be so well known today, but they're an opportunity away from hitting it big.

At MCUSA, we're always interested to hear what you, our reader's, have to say. In fact, this time around we're giving you the chance to vote in the first MCUSA online Biker Build-Off. OK, we won't be pitting them head-to-head in a custom build-off with lights and cameras filming every time they bust a knuckle or curse at the crew. But we are giving you the opportunity to pick who you'd like to see in an upcoming feature article. Allow us to introduce five custom builders whose work grabbed our attention at the '07 River Run. Afterwards, follow the link to the MCUSA Forum and vote for your favorite custom builder. We'll announce the winner after the vote's have been tallied and follow it up with a full-length feature soon after. Read on.

Contender #1: Count's Kustoms Las Vegas, Nevada

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Count's Kustoms specialty is creating narrow, 'long bikes' that combine an old-school '70s-style chopper-look with modern drivetrains. For example, owner "The Count" Danny Koker's Coffin bike is stretched six inches at the down tubes, three inches in the backbone, and 50-degrees at the neck. The bike measures almost 11-feet long and rides on a 200-series rear because Koker isn't fond of the fat-backed tire trend. And despite its extreme dimensions, The Count says the bikes "Are some of the most rideable bikes on the planet. The geometry of them is done correctly, so although a bike is maybe raked out 50- to 55-degrees or further, even though the front end's maybe 30-inches over stock, you can still get on these bikes that are 10.5 to 11 feet long and still ride them around the parking lot at 2 mph with one hand."

Count's Kustoms is a one-stop shop. They do everything in-house, from bodywork to frame-up builds, from final paint fit and finish to upholstery and service. Count's Kustoms created the leather chopper from the Motley Crue/Aerosmith 'Root of all Evil' Tour. The bike features a leather-wrapped rear fender, tank, frame and fork. The front headlight has been ditched and replaced with a scowling silver skull. The Crue must have liked his work because Koker has built bikes for Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil as well. The crew also built a sick chopper for Ozzy Osbourne with a cross-shaped gas tank with Ozzy's name in the center and an electric guitar fabbed into the rear fender. With a long list of celeb-builds, Count's Kustoms is no stranger to the spotlight. If you'd like to see more of The Count's work, creatures of the night unite and place your vote for Count's Kustoms.

Contender #2: Big Bear Choppers Big Bear Lake, Calif.

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"Big Bear Choppers is a real custom bike builder that just so happens to offer their own in-house designed and manufactured production motorcycles," said BBC's founder and President, Kevin Alsop. Case in point. While working on the Athena ProStreet motorcycle for Discovery Channel's 'Biker Build-Off' series, Alsop was already thinking about how he could include the design as the latest BBC production bike. The original industrial-edged, hot rod-looking bike came with a Springer front end, an RSD driveline, a jockeyshift, and hot rod hole-drilled outer skins on the stretched, patented frame. In its conversion to a production bike, Alsop switched out the seat for a more rider-friendly version, he added directionals and did away with the jockeyshift. The rest of the bike - the frame, front end, sheet metal, engine and tranny are the same. One of its most distinctive features is its Devil's Tail swingarm and matching rear fender. Team it with an angular, artistically-created fuel tank, and you have a carbon copy of the Athena that won the Daytona BBO.

You can get a BBC bike ready-to-ride off the showroom floor. For the do-it-yourselfers, Big Bear also offers rolling chassis kits. BBC uses in-house state-of-the-art computer-controlled machinery with the capacity to manufacture thousands of parts to spec in addition to cutting the most intricate one-off pieces.

A Big Bear Choppers' production bike won 'Best of Show' at the River Run's 2007 Custom Bike Show. Winner Bruce Weibelt had the bike custom painted elsewhere, but the bike itself was all-BBC. It was a bittersweet victory for Alsop, because his production bike edged out BBC's custom bike that was also entered in the show. Regardless of the outcome, Big Bear is quickly carving out its niche in the custom market. For fans of Alsop's work, be sure to vote for Big Bear Choppers in the MCUSA Build-Off.

Contender #3: Sik-n-Twisted Psycles Las Vegas, Nevada

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The Bio Custom build was a real head-turner during the '07 River Run. Long and low, the chopped-out front end had 46-degrees of rake with another five inches in the backbone. The end of the grips on the custom Sik-n-Twisted Speedsters-style 'Barz' and the top of the Springer fork were spiked points. Its gas tank was one of the most original, on a par with Count's Kustoms cross-shaped tank on the Ozzy bike. Vertebra-like ridges ran down the top of the tank, styled like the hideous backbone of a vengeful demon. The paint conjured images of the lower decks of the Nostromo after the alien made it her den, porous and organic.

A skeletal scowl stares sinisterly from the front panel of the multi-faced, angular fuel tank. Bio Custom's got sick custom footpegs and a chrome-handled jockeyshift connected to a Baker 5-speed. A 113 cubic-inch Patrick Racing Motor with diamond-cut heads provides the power to a fat 300mm rear.

Most of the bikes coming out of Sik-n-Twisted's shop are bobbers and choppers. If you have an idea of what makes a perfect scoot, visit the guys at Sik-n-Twisted and they will build it to your personal specs. Sik-n-Twisted Psycles features ground up builds. They pride themselves on providing quality fabrication and workmanship. Sik-N-Twisted Psycles also specializes in custom handlebars (Barz) and sheet metal work, fabricating fenders, seat pans, gas tanks and exhaust systems.

"If you want it, we can build it," Sik-n-Twisted owner Jason McReynolds said.

We are aware that many of our readers have a twisted side. Sik-n-Twisted Psycles might be right up your alley. If so, take advantage of your downtime in the asylum and vote for contender #3.

Contender #4: Copr Choppers Denver, Colorado

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Copr Choppers brought its Ground Pounder to Laughlin for the 2007 Custom Bike Show and if they would have scored a half point more, Tony Martinez would have been walking home with the Best of Show title. Ground Pounder might have had to settle for second-place, but it is definitely a first-rate build. 0ne of the first things we noticed was the flow of the bike. Your attention is focused on the chrome, wide-bodied Engenuity 147 cubic-inch, twin cam engine in relation to the smooth, rounded metalwork of the gas tank and fenders and the sensuously-posed nude adorning the tank. Up front, the Ground Pounder has 49-degrees of rake on a short, American Suspension B-17 fork that made it easy for Martinez to hide both the brake and air ride lines. The handlebars are Copr Chopper originals with an internal throttle and clutch. Underneath, he has concealed the sparkplug wires and coil and accentuated the chrome of the engine and primary with stainless steel gas and oil lines. On the back end, Martinez has concealed the rear brakes by hiding the rotor and caliper under the low-slung saddle. Even the Cutting Edge Cycles foot controls have hidden shift linkage.

Copr Choppers opened up shop in 2005. Martinez machines his own parts and makes gas tanks, fenders, handlebars, and forward controls in-house. Martinez likes to keep everything on a Copr Chopper original.

"When you start mass producing bikes as a company, you jeopardize customization and quality," Martinez said.

Maybe Martinez can get some of the boys at the office to go online and vote for Copr Choppers. See, when Martinez isn't building custom bikes, he serves as a Sergeant with the Denver Police Dept. So come on all you men and women in blue, log on and click in a vote for Copr Choppers if you would like to see them in an upcoming feature article.

Contender #5: Thunder Mountain Motorsports Mt. Shasta, Calif.

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Thunder Mountain Motorsports has been specializing in customizing Harleys and building hot rods since 1992. This isn't to say that they don't make one mean custom. It's just that founder Kevin Brooks enjoys restoring classic cars and fabricates handmade hot rods when he's not making award-winning motorcycles. On occasion, he's even been known to blend a little of both in one build.

Thunder Mountain Motorsports caught our attention at the 2007 Laughlin River Run with its root beer brown and vanilla-colored customized 1997 Sportster called Timeless. Don't jump to conclusions because it's a Sportster-mod. There's little that's Sportster-like about this bike. It might run a 1200cc Evolution V-Twin with Screamin' Eagle pushrods and cams, but even that's hard to recognize beneath the old-school dual Holley 94 carbs mounted off the top of the right side of the motor. TMMS salvaged them off a Bonneville flathead car and their use on Timeless gives it resto-mod flavor. Beyond that, all similarities to a Sportster end. What started out as an H-D frame now has been stretched out and the stock downtube has been replaced by a TMMS hand-twisted chrome bar. The DNA Springer fork on the front has received similar hand-twisted chrome fork legs. The fender, fender struts, gas tank and handlebars are original TMMS-design. Brooks furthers the resto-mod look with twisted spoke wheels on the front and back and by using a 1959 Cadillac taillight on the rear.

For fans that enjoy the combination of modern, high-performance components on classically-styled bikes, the designs coming out of Thunder Mountain Motorsports are right up your alley. Log on and click, click, click your vote for TMMS if you'd like to see more on the crew coming at you from the shadows of California's Mt. Shasta.

So there you have it, the inaugural MCUSA online Biker Build-Off. How many other publications are giving their readers a chance to pick the content they want to see? Without you, we're nothing, so here's your chance to have a say in what we write. The link at the bottom of the page will connect you to the MCUSA Forum where you will have a chance to vote for your favorite of the Fab 5. We'll post the results soon after the contest concludes in 20 days.

(*In all fairness, I encourage you to click on the provided links and check out each builder's homesite for a full photo gallery of their work. For Sik-n-Twisted Psycles and Count's Kustoms, I only had a couple of photographs of their work.)

Here's your chance. Vote in MCUSA's Online Biker Build-Off Here. Click Here