December custom roundup: Three bikes, seven wheels, wild paint

The Cutrate H-D "FXRXR"

"What's done is done when I say it's done." With 15 years of custom motorcycle building under his belt, Oliver Jones, aka The Cutrate (Instagram), can attest to that statement. The self-taught builder has dedicated his life to his passion; literally working from his home seven days a week, 365 days a year. Despite the hard yards he puts in to maintain his business, it isn't without its benefits. Recognized both locally and internationally, his work has appeared in countless magazines and websites, and it has allowed him to travel the world to attend many shows as a competitor and special guest.

One bike that showcases Oliver's commitment to achieving a finish that meets his exacting standards is his 1982 FXR-based Harley-Davidson. This bike was first built to compete in a special FXR build-off event at the 2018 Born-Free show in California, where it was well received by the judges. "The bike won the show, but to be honest, I wasn't 100% happy with it," Oliver confesses. "It had a different paint set and a few other things that just didn't click for me. So after the show, the bike came home and went on the lift. It literally sat there in the same spot until this past summer. Seven years later!"

Despite not being entirely happy with his FXR, there was no shortage of impressive work that went into creating it. Oliver decided from the get-go that chrome would play a major role in this project. Starting with the FXR frame, he cleaned the welds and trimmed redundant brackets before chrome-plating. Oliver then adopted the same approach with the suspension, exhaust, and engine for a cohesive look.

As for what lies beneath the engine's shiny facade, Oliver concocted a complex high-performance formula of his own design. His explanation of the setup is enough to make any Harley lover's heart race and head spin.

"I started with four-inch-bore Ultima cases and had them polished. The four-inch S&S Cycles crank assembly originally had S&S cylinders, but I swapped them out for a shortened set of billet Patrick Racing round ones. The heads are STD XR castings that were made for a race Sportster. We re-machined them for use on the Big Twin. Custom four-inch pistons were machined to fit the chamber of the head, and the pushrods and tubes had to be modified, as well. The rocker box tops were made in the spiked 'meat tenderizer' pattern. The transmission is a Baker N1 OD six-speed in a Delkron case. And I sand-cast and made the transmission top and several other parts to match the meat tenderizer aesthetic."

In addition to all that, the engine has custom intake manifolds mated to a pair of Ultima carbs, and on the exhaust side is a custom-built system. A Morris Magneto ignition that does away with the need for a battery, and in keeping with the overall theme, everything was either chrome-plated or polished to a mirror finish.

In addition, Oliver's FXR rolls on a custom wheel and suspension package. The 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels were built from scratch. The rims, hubs, and spokes are all aluminum, and the final look is an adaptation of a classic three-spoke "Chicane," modified slightly for a more tapered spoke. In the rear is an Arlen Ness chromed swingarm hooked up to customized Works shocks, and Performance Machine supplied all of the stopping gear.

"The front end," Oliver says, "is probably the only semi-stock part on the bike. I modified H-D triple trees, chromed the 39 mm lower legs, and the tubes are plus four inches." The handlebar is modified to take a MOTO Gadget Motoscope Mini digital speedo in a vertical orientation and wears PM controls, Ness grips, custom throttle cables, and vintage risers.

During his FXR's seven-year hiatus, Oliver mulled over the final look he wanted. In the end, it was a set of 1990s survivor tins he acquired that settled it. "We went back and touched up a bunch of paint chips and repainted the flames and pinstripes to make it perfect," he says. A custom seat upholstered by Saddlemen completes the bodywork.

Looking back at the project, Oliver admits there was nothing easy about it. The sheer amount of unknown factors due to the combination of so many custom parts had him questioning whether the bike would actually ever work. Unsurprisingly, it all does, and the result is a testament to his unwavering commitment to custom motorcycle excellence.

Dennis Nhan's Honda CBX

In 1978, Honda stunned the motorcycling world by unveiling its first six-cylinder production model, the CBX. At the time, it was the fastest bike money could buy, but aside from its wild engine, the rest of the machine was a fairly standard affair. So when Dennis Nhan got his hands on a tired old CBX, he set his sights on something far more ambitious than a textbook restoration.

A crane operator by trade, Dennis spends his spare time building bikes under the Sooo Wet Customs (Instagram) banner. The CBX is his crowning achievement, and he found it through a classic "right place, right time" moment.

After admiring CBXs for years without ever seeing one in person, he spotted a neglected example while picking up a different project bike. The owner initially refused to sell, but Dennis persisted and eventually secured it for $1,000. "I wanted a CBX because I love cool motors, and in the world of motorcycles, this is one of the coolest ever made," he says. "I wanted to challenge myself to rebuild it and build my dream bike."

Influenced by builders like Purpose Built Moto and his favorite manga character, Boa Hancock, he envisioned something "sleek and sexy, with curves in all the right places." So, after tearing the CBX down, Dennis kicked things off with some chassis work. "I chopped the rear frame off and welded on my own subframe designed to wrap around the exhaust I had in mind," he says. "I also reinforced and adapted the original CBX frame to accept an Aprilia swingarm and converted it to a monoshock setup. It was my first time doing anything like that. I learned a lot — and cursed even more!"

To really step things up in the handling department, Dennis took the rather elaborate approach of purchasing an entire bike just to scavenge its suspension. The bike in question was a 2005 Aprilia RSV1000R chosen because of its Brembo and Öhlins components. Fitting the fork required the fabrication of a custom triple tree stem by Big Ben Designs, who also assisted with several other parts to help bring this project's varied components together.

As you would expect of a motorcycle that sat in the elements since 1982, the CBX inline-six needed some attention. "The oil had literally corroded parts of the engine!" Denis exclaims. "I tore it all down, replaced everything using parts from Tim’s CBX, threw in a Wiseco big-bore kit, installed FCR carbs, and added an oil cooler from Bito Japan." To avoid any electrical concerns, the CBX has also undergone a complete rewire and the fitment of a Motogadget MUnit Blue. The original gauges have been swapped out with a Custom Speedhut GPS unit, and the lighting is a mix of Kellermann and JW Speaker components.

Rounding out the engine mods is the impressive custom exhaust, which Dennis wanted to build himself. When conceptualizing his "wicked" exhaust system, Dennis thought it would be a fun bit of fab work. Using a TIG welder for the first time, he began the painstaking task of welding all 224 individual pieces of the six-into-two headers together. He's quick to admit it wasn't fun at all, and that you can actually see his welding improve as you gaze rearward along the pipes, but it was well worth the effort. Hindle slip-on mufflers finish things off.

Believe it or not, the slick new paint job was done using rattle cans. "Lots of YouTube hours went into this build," Dennis says. "It made me realize that anyone can produce something at any level with enough commitment and dedication." To complement his hard work with the paint, he tasked Blue Collar Textiles with upholstering a matching seat.

Customizing a CBX this way may make some purists' skin crawl, but not the bike's previous owners. Dennis stayed in touch with the sellers throughout the build process, and they even attended the Ill-Fated Kustoms Kickstart Show in Calgary to vote for the bike in the people's choice awards, which it deservingly won.

Hillside Classics Three Sum Panhead Trike resurrection

It's unlikely you'll ever hear a motorcyclist say, "Three wheels are better than two," but for French builder Arnaud Mary, a Harley-Davidson trike is the epitome of everything he loves about American custom culture. The accomplished builder has bagged multiple trophies throughout Europe and in the United States with his own creations. But as the front man of the workshop Hillside Classics, he's become a dab hand at importing vehicles. So, along with importing bikes for his customers, he occasionally procures something special for his own collection, like this 1949 Harley-Davidson Panhead trike.

"The bike is a tribute to all the famous late '60s and '70s trikes made by Ed Roth and Barris. Outrageous body shaping, shiny painting, and eccentricity," Arnaud says. "Initially built by Jeff Bloedorn from Sweatshop Industries of California and painted by John 'The harpoon,' the trike was shown during the 11th Born-Free in 2019, then sold to a customer in 2020. I later imported it to France in 2023."

Sweatshop Industries created the "Three Sum" by pairing a 1949 Panhead drivetrain and frame with the rear half of a Servi-Car chassis, a three-wheeled Harley-Davidson utility vehicle produced between 1938 and 1973. In the front, they mounted a long springer fork from Freddy Hernandez and added a 21-inch spool hub wheel. At the rear, the Servi-Car axle was fitted with 15-inch Cragar wheels wrapped in wide rubber.

Three Sum's rear bodywork is all fiberglass, cast from original 1970s molds but modified to suit this build. Jeff extended the body further back and converted it from a two-seater to three to match the bike's tongue-in-cheek name. Jeff also used heart shapes to add to the amusement factor with a trio of LED heart brake lights fitted to the back of the bike, heart pedals, tire valve caps, and a custom fuel tank with heart-shaped indents hand-beaten into its sidewalls.

Jeff's engine configuration used a 74-cubic-inch Panhead equipped with a shorty S&S carb, fully polished, and the original transmission was the period-correct hand-shifted four-speed.

Unfortunately, when Arnaud took delivery of the Three Sum, it was in rough condition. The bike had been badly cared for, leaving the paintwork faded, and to make matters worse, the engine was not running, the transmission was broken, and the brakes were inoperable.

"When I acquired the trike after its importation in France, I was already in the process of buying back old, iconic show bikes to restore or preserve them," Arnaud says. "After all, the history of custom bike building is now old enough to consider restorations to preserve this counterculture! Before this, I had already saved an original Arlen Ness digger, and I really enjoyed the process."

Arnaud's top priority during the rebuild was to save the paintwork, so he began by lightly sanding the clearcoat on the bodywork and frame, then applying a few coats of fresh epoxy clear. Next, he rebuilt the Panhead, converting it to a Shovelhead-style transmission with a jockey shift and foot clutch to make riding it a bit easier. Fresh Cooper Cobra radials went onto the rear, and the bike received a new 12-volt wiring harness, starter, and headlight. Following Jeff's heart theme, Arnaud then modified the primary cover and added his own heart-shaped clutch cover.

Along with getting it looking fresh and running smoothly, Arnaud's goal with Three Sum was to make it rideable, a challenge he doesn't downplay. "It's a risky endeavor! In fact, after the first few miles, I decided to rename the trike 'The Prancing Donkey' because riding it is so wild!"