Builders Battle for Bucks at Laconia Roadhouse

Six bikes sit in various stages of repair under the tent adjacent to the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound, from little more to an engine mounted in a rolling chassis to an almost-completed, ready-to-ride motorcycle. Larry Fredella of Old School Choppers gives the internally wired throttle of the custom he is working on a twist to ensure that he's hooked it up right while another member of his crew is busy wrenching on the other side of the bike. Sisco of Green Mountain Performance works alone as he runs wiring through the frame of the ‘72XLCH ‘Reconstruction’ he’s working on. The local boys of ACME Choppers kick back in the small area behind the bobbed ’72 Triumph 650 that is the closest bike to being road-ready. 

It’s day four of the second annual Biker Build-Off at the Laconia Roadhouse and it’s getting to be crunch time. Six custom bike builders from throughout the Northeast are pushing hard to complete a ground-up build in eight days, with $5000 cash and bragging rights amongst your peers on the line. Competitors include ACME Choppers of Laconia and Old School Choppers out of nearby Manchester, N.H., Green Mountain Performance who made the trek over from Mendon, Vt., SDS Cycles from Hill, N.H., Satan Cycles of Selkirk, N.Y. and Vintage Custom Cycles from Sandown, N.H. The winner is selected by ‘People’s Choice’ and results will be announced this Saturday during a special ceremony scheduled for 4 p.m.

It’s easy to get a sense of the builder’s character and style preferences as the motorcycles begin to take shape. Take the guys from Vintage Custom Cycles, who are building a 1972 Iron Head Sportster with a right-hand shift and a kick-start. The bike features big apes on the front and a hard tail bobber look on the backside, complete with a custom-leather strip on the fender with big metal spikes punched through it. It has big, upswept fish-tail exhausts that are angled toward the sky to go along with an old-school whitewall tire on the rear.

The crew from ACME Choppers opted to source the engine from a 1968 Triumph 650 with twin carburetors as their custom’s power source. The front half is a factory Triumph frame while the rear is a bolt-on hardtail of their own design. A custom tank rests high on the backbone while the solo seat is slung low behind it. It has crazy drag-style bars with turned-down grips that paradoxically sit up mini-ape high thanks to long stem tubes. The front end is bobber-clean with no front fender and no front brake to clutter it up. The motorcycle currently features only raw metal patinas.

ACME Choppers' Wayne Ahlquist, a Laconia resident, says that he has been building bikes for almost eight years but this is the first time he’s competed in the Laconia Biker Build-Off. Will home-field advantage translate to a victory and $5000 cash in hand? We’ll find out Saturday.