Here's the Deal: To publicize its line of cruisers and illustrate how to individualize them, Honda thought it'd be fun to have a little biker-rag build-off. Nothing serious, you understand, just a little friendly competition between scribblers to see what kind of customs the mags could come up with using a typical Honda cruiser as a starting point. The finished bikes would be unveiled at the 2006 Honda Hoot and then hit the road to be displayed at various Honda events throughout the country
To ensure a level playing field, Honda would supply everyone with one brand-new VT750CA Aero and an OEM accessory catalog, from which it politely requested that a minimum of five accessories be selected and used in the build. Other than that, it was open season. The magazines didn't even have to get their hands dirty. Hired guns were perfectly acceptable, and if said gun wanted to build his creation around a rigid frame constructed out of surplus titanium sourced from the Russian Navy, then so be it.
The finished product could be mild, wild or completely over the top-as long as it was based on the supplied Aero 750 and made it to Knoxville in time for the Metric Cruiser Custom Show (sponsored by Cobra Engineering) on June 24, it was all good.
No prizes were offered, and the bikes weren't going to be judged, but things being what they are, the bragging rights alone would be worth the price of the entry. Three magazines responded. The first never made it to the show. Presumably, its bike, like the majority of its issues, is still gathering dust somewhere. The second made a credible effort, and the third? Well, that would be us, and in all immodesty our bike was a showstopper. Here's the story.
We-Well, Maybe Not We-Get StartedSince our talents, collectively and otherwise, lie in arenas other than custom-bike building, we wisely turned to a shop with a proven history of building kick-ass rides, particularly those based on the VT750 Honda: AFT Customs, located in Martell, California.
For those of you who don't follow the metric show circuit, here's the 411. AFT Customs is a small California shop run by a fellow named Jim Giuffra. In 2005, Jim and his partner/coconspirator Ron Abel won the metric class at the World Championship of Custom Bike Building with a VT750-based bobber. That means that until somebody wrests the championship from them, a feat that's going to take some doing, the boys from AFT can lay claim to being the best metric bike builders on the planet, end of story.
Game OnWith all parties in agreement, the bike was ordered, and the guys started thinking about how best to transform it into something special. They wanted to keep this build fairly simple. In the first place there were circumstance-imposed time constraints, and in the second, they wanted to create a bike that looked like something Honda might produce on its own if it were bold enough.
Working with those premises in mind meant the frame geometry and the majority of the factory-supplied components had to remain largely intact, or at least recognizable, so wholesale slicing and dicing was for the most part out. Instead, pieces would be massaged and subtly reshaped to give the desired effect: a very high-end factory custom.
Since Jim wanted this bike to look like it might have rolled off the showroom floor, he also decided to leave as many of the DOT-required factory stickers in place as possible, including the VIN sticker on the lower framerail. Obviously, this precluded stripping and powdercoating the frame, a decision that would have greater implications as the build progressed.
The next problem was deciding what type of bike to build. A bobber was discounted out of hand; they'd already demonstrated rather conclusively that they knew how to build those. A chopper was briefly considered, but choppers, at least really good ones, are just a little too radical for the factory custom concept they had in mind.
Ultimately, they decided a bagger was the way the way to go, in part because the Honda's natural lines lend themselves to that type of bike, as did many of the factory accessories, and also because Jim and Ron both like baggers. Once they'd finalized the plan, Jim contacted his outside suppliers and cleared the decks for action. At that point, he and Ron figured they had at least 10 to 12 weeks to build the bike. They'd have to stay on top of things, but there would be more than enough time to finish it without killing themselves.
Waiting RoomWithin a week or two the needed parts started arriving; unfortunately, there was no bike. Due to the usual FUBAR-type circumstances that always seem to surround these deals, the Aero, which was supposed to show up in early March or at the latest by April 1, wasn't dropped off until the middle of May. In fact, when it finally arrived at the shop, barely five weeks remained before it was due to be shown at the Hoot.
Both Jim and Ron work day jobs. Jim has his motorcycle shop, Amador Fine Tune, to run, and Ron owns a heavy-equipment repair/welding and fabrication business. The custom thing is somewhat of a sideline, something both guys do at the end of their regular workday. What this means is that given their need to make a living, eat and occasionally sleep, their five weeks are in reality more like two and half.
The options at this point were limited to three. First, the boys could bail on the project, and if they did, who could blame them? It's not like the delay was their fault, and they both had plenty of other irons in the fire. Forget their day jobs, at the time they were also smack in the middle of building the bike they hoped would take them to their second World Championship. Setting that little project aside for five weeks might have devastating repercussions down the line. Second, they could phone it in, meaning splash on a little paint, dab on some chrome and bolt on a few accessories and-badda-bing, badda-boom-instant custom.
The first two options just weren't in the cards, which left Option No. 3: simply buckling down and doing it. This entailed a certain amount of self-sacrifice, like forgoing eating, sleeping and having any sort of personal life over the next few weeks, but it was the only option Jim and Ron considered viable.
Week OneSince the need to make a living outweighed the need to fiddle with Motorcycle Cruiser's custom bike, Jim had to wait until his regular workday was through before he could even uncrate the Aero and begin stripping it down to its component parts.
Working on the custom from 6 or so until midnight, he spent a week doing little more than tearing the bike down and preparing it for surgery. By the end of the first week what had formerly been a brand-new VT750 lay in semi-organized piles scattered around the shop. The biggest pile contained the engine and frame.