Rumble's Rigid - The Glove Has Been Tossed
Build It and Build It For Under $15,000.00

At Laughlin this year, late on Friday night, after many rounds, the topic of bike discussion turned to the amount of money spent on building custom bikes and how the average rider just couldn't afford building his own custom. The conversation went a little like this:

Da Devil - "Hell you spend a fortune on your bikes, anybody could build a show bike if they could spend the kind of stupid money you spend on bikes" "

Me - "Bullshit, a guy can maybe spend as little as $15,000.00 on a brand new ground up custom, and have something that'll turn a lot of heads"

Da Devil - "Maybe some guy can, but you can't, you couldn't get a custom on the ground for less than $25,000.00"

Me - "Your ass, when I was a kid I built dozens of customs and never had $10,000.00 in any of them"

Da Devil - "That was 30 years ago dickweed, dream on"

Me - "I'll tell you what, I'll build a beautiful one off bike and if I go over $15,000.00, I'll give you the fu__in bike"

Da Devil - "Your on"

That's how this bike got it's start.

My buddy Gabe Larkins, from Hot Rod City Customs, came up to me the next morning and said, " You know, you kinda spread yourself too thin last night, and I don't think they're going to let you outa the deal unless you eat a lotta shit. . .but if we team up we can build an incredible custom for under $15,000.00. You got a lot of shit going on, so let's do this one together"

So we are! I am beginning this series of photos with the some of the sheetmetal and seat fabrication, working here on the rear fender and gas tank. These photos show the process of adding extra structural touches that enhance the bike's looks and strength to the rear fender.

"Support bar for rear fender"	"Centering rear fender"	"Welding on rear fender support"	"Rear support completed"	"Welded bead on rear fender"
"Trimmed rear fender addition"	"Old School ridge on gas tank to match rear fender"	"Welding in tank ridge"

Here, I am taping off for the seat fabrication and then applying the fiberglass to create the pan for the seat.

"Taping & Drawing outline of seat"	"Applying fiberglass for seat pan"	"Fiberglass seat pan"	"Form-fitting seat pan"

The sheet metal and seat fabrication work are all completed to this point, we get ready to proceed to the next phase of the project.

Put on some handlebars.

"Gabe & Freddy changing out the handlebars"	"Gabe likes the baby-apes"	"Gabe, these baby-apes feel pretty good"	"Freddy "Ok's" the baby-apes"	"We have to put this bike together for how much?"
"Finished Chasis"