Got a bike you'd like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com.

Yorba Linda, CA - Once again, Cobra Engineering will undertake a multi-bike custom project. Back in 1996 Cobra did a similar project with American Honda around the 750 Ace, building what would come to be known as the Four Aces. Now with the new RS750, Cobra will build two customs based around two of the five concepts presented here.

Got a bike you'd like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com.

The biker-friendly History Channel has another hit show, American Pickers, which just happens to star two avid motorcyclists on a mission to recycle junk: no matter how far afield, how well it's hidden, or how rust- and rat poop-encrusted it is.

Got a bike you'd like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com.

Say you've become disabled, but don't want to give up your lifelong love of motorcycling. A trike is probably a good compromise for getting out on the road again without sacrificing comfort or stability, but most aren't rigged for performance, or frankly, much style. Until now: we recently came across a news release from Mobility Conquest, which apparently addresses that very specific niche. The company has released a so-called "wheelchair motorcycle" said to combine a powerful engine and an innovative design. In their words, "the Conquest wheelchair motorcycle is made especially for those who can no longer ride a standard motorcycle, but who aren't ready to give up the exhilaration of riding a big motorbike."

Win it!

Got a bike you'd like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048 or cruiser@sorc.com.

Owner Will Sheppard :: Occupation Desktop Technician :: Motorcycle 2008 H-D Dyna Wide Glide

Old school is a term people like to toss around, but few are old enough to recall its meaning. Sometimes we all need to be schooled in our biker roots; sometimes it takes a guitar-slinging cook from a small Arizona town to remind us just what is cool.

Got a bike you'd like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048 or cruiser@sorc.com.

Custom

How much custom do we need? According to the official motorcycle guide, The Biker Codebook: Rules, Style and Ethics, which have I kept tucked neatly somewhere in my head, "Stock is merely a blank canvas for which to splatter chrome, paint and parts to one's personal satisfaction, or until you run completely out of money." The book doesn't mention, however, how much aggravation you should put up with before considering homicide. Let me explain. That would take too long, let me sum up:

Custom
I punched my alarm clock in its Mickey Mouse face, sure that would silence its rude ringing. Then I realized it was not my now-dead clock, but the phone.

Got a bike you'd like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048 or cruiser@sorc.com.

Some of the best handbuilt customs in the world not based on a UAM (Universal American Motorcycle ) come out of Europe. The creativity and energy the average European builder puts into their creations is simply mind-boggling. New Motorcycle Cruiser contributor Sabine Welte is based in Germany and on the prowl for the hottest custom iron for the pages of our magazine. As always your feedback on anything in MC is always welcome at cruiser@sorc.com. -BB

You may have caught spy photos of it on the internet forums last year, read about it online, perhaps even dismissed it as some Eurocentric anomaly. But now it's here in the States and it is for sale.

The cameras are rolling inside the vast, underlit workshop of Orange County Choppers in upstate New York. A visitor to this, perhaps the world's best-known custom-motorcycle shop, can't help but get caught up in the lights, cameras and slow-paced action that is American Chopper. Wandering around in search of a restroom I stumble on-camera. To their credit neither Paul Teutul, Sr.-the beefy one with the walrus mustache-nor his son, Paul Jr.-the thoughtful, oft-abused one-cares whether visitors are in on the long-running cable-TV series that's made them the public face of motorcycling in the U.S. and 160 other countries.

Garrison Leykam & Betty-Lynn White
Westport, CT
'03 Yamaha V-Star 1100 Custom
One of the nicest bobbers you'll see, and the engine wasn't even made in the U.S. This bike was created as part of a promotion for a television pilot called Diners. Connecticut Custom Cycles did the work, including the suicide shifter (complete with bloody-eyeball shift knob), Buchanan polished stainless spokes, custom exhaust and modified Burly Bikini Beach bars. Sean Lezotte applied the colorful hues: The airbrushed tanktop, in keeping with the diner theme, depicts a checkerboard floor with a flawless rendition of a classic Wurlitzer jukebox.

In the hinterlands of northern Minnesota winters can be long and unflinching. Days are short, and the choice of outdoor activities on your to-do list dwindles considerably when three feet of the white stuff is piled up for months on end. But after the ice-fishing and snowmobiling options have been exhausted, folks up there still find ways to entertain themselves-especially if they're motorcycle engineers. Case in point: The Axe.

We spied some real horsepower on display at Indy, too, in the form of Sabertooth's new WildCat. Initially dismissed as a wannabe to the monster motorcycle segment, Sabertooth has upped the ante in that class with this performance-oriented bad boy.

We look forward to it every year, but sometimes we're disappointed. The Indianapolis Dealer Show may be the industry's annual showcase for all the latest trick hardware, but this time around the offerings felt underwhelming. Luckily a couple of bikes saved the day for us.

You know your company's slogan is perfect when people not only start repeating it, but living it. So when Star Motorcycles coined the term, "We build it, you make it your own," we figured that many riders would step up and personalize their own Road Star, Roadliner or Raider cruiser to suit their own tastes. And they have. But the message has hit even a more powerful chord as some historically important custom bikes have already been created around Star Motorcycles, taking Best in Show at some of the world's top custom shows. Still others have elevated the Star mission to even greater heights, and you're looking at one of them here.

In today's cruising world, the streets and TV channels are full of custom choppers costing $60K and $80K, with some even topping $100K. The die-hard backyard builder is left with quite a dilemma if his intention is to create a unique metric cruiser that'll command even a smidgeon of attention in this crowded field. Even in rural areas far from biker meccas like Daytona Beach or Hollywood, the streets are literally crawling with tricked-out custom bikes. When I looked into the garage at my bone-stock Honda VTX1800F, I wondered if it would ever look as cool as some of the bikes I had seen on the street (and in the pages of Motorcycle Cruiser). I loved riding the VTX, and it was dead reliable, so I didn't want to do anything to affect that aspect, but I did want to make modifications that'd set it apart from the others.

Got a bike you'd like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of you and/or your cruiser to Motorcycle Cruiser, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048 or evan.kay@sorc.com.

The British Biker Build-Off is a televised competition among top U.K. bike builders that challenges entrants to complete a custom motorcycle from scratch to up, running, ready and rideable, in three months.