1. Arlen Ness: The King of Choppers

Greetings, Cruisers:

Doubtless each one of you, our Cruiser Customizing members, has heard the name of Arlen Ness. And if you’d like to know more about this Matisse of the Motorbike, Van Gogh of the V-twin and Chagall of the Chopper, we’ve got a great book for you. Right here at Cruiser Customizing you can order Arlen Ness: The King of Choppers by Arlen Ness and Michael Lichter. It is for good reason that Arlen is known throughout the industry of motorcycle customization as the “Godfather of Customizers.” Over the past four decades his radical designs, paint schemes, and over-the-edge artistry has pushed the envelope in the world of moto-modification. Over the past three years, TV has made the Arlen into a small screen superstar and a household name, but shows like “Biker Build Off” are merely repeating what the moto-press has known for dozens of years about this inside industry leader. Despite his tremendous talent and farsightedness, it is Arlen’s own love of motorcycling, personal warmth and magnetism and sterling character that has made him the darling of an industry known for outlaw choppers and tough guys.

Arlen sits in the empty room of his legendary digs on East 14th, resting after moving out nearly a hundred motorcycle masterpieces to his new Dublin location. As cool as they come: the Van Gogh of the V-twin. Young Arlen poses with his peanut-tanked, banana-seated, super-cool Knucklehead stretchbike, his first bike in its second form. I first heard of Arlen when I read about his Ferrari bike, a machine that became the precursor of the fat tire motorcycle by ten years. The Nesstalgia: Arlen was riding this bike during a Discovery Channel special, when I met him out riding in San Francisco. The Smooth-Ness: I was photographing this Bugatti-inspired bike when Arlen told the Biker Club President that he’d been rude to me. He apologized, while I protested, “Please, no apology necessary.” Later he gave me a great interview. Arlen with a pack of his Hamsters M/C, South Dakota, 1990. The super cool legend of Arlen Ness.

I first met Arlen in the year 1999, at his old shop in San Leandro. He later consented to an interview, and gave me several hours of his time. The subsequent article that the interview produced was published in Walneck’s Classic Cycle Trader. Entitled “Arlen’s Private Reserve”, it dealt with the moto-artist’s private collection of over a hundred classic and custom bikes. During our long talk, Arlen told me the history of nearly each classic in great detail. At one point he pointed to a sterling Vincent, a very fast Black Shadow model from the early fifties. Arlen recollected that the bike had been owned by a chicken farmer in Petaluma, California. It seems that for its day the Vincent was a very fast 1000cc British V-twin, far ahead of its time. Indeed the bike was even ahead of its own self; at least the mill was too substantial for the frame. At speeds above 110 or 120mph, the Vincent could develop serious speed wobbles. The farmer’s son had died while pushing the limits of a Vincent, so the farmer bought up every Vincent he could find, in order that no other father might ever feel the same loss as he.

When the farmer went on to meet his maker, he left no will behind, so his property went to the State of California and was auctioned off. The farmer had stored his extensive collection of HRD and Vincent motorcycles in his chicken coop, and they were encrusted with dung and feathers. Arlen went to the auction and had to bid against the members of the Bay Area Vincent club to win the bike. He told me that restoring it was easy compared to finding the perfect Vincent logo decal for the gas tank. Arlen reminisced with me about how he had become interested in motorcycle customization. In his teens and twenties he had seen legendary riders like Sonny Barger and Zorro on their home-built choppers zooming up and down East 14th Street, now International Avenue, a four-lane strip that runs between Oakland and San Leandro. Against the wishes of his family, this future legend of the customizing industry went out and bought a used Harley for around three hundred bucks. He told me, “I didn’t have the money to buy more bikes, so I just kept on re-customizing that same Harley over and over again.” Today, that bike is on display in the Oakland Museum where it belongs, for Oakland, California is the birthplace of the American chopper.

While talking with Arlen, I mentioned that I had tried to interview some of his old friends, members of a very tough, shall we say, “outlaw riding consortium”. I’m talking about bikers are known to display suspicion towards outsiders. After the interview, I went downstairs and was lying on the polished floor to get an upward-angle shot of the Bugatti-inspired Smooth-Ness when, by coincidence, the President of the rider’s club walked in wearing full colors. Arlen walked over and said to him casually, “Miles said that you wouldn’t give him an interview, and that you were rude to him.” This iron giant of a biker looked at me squarely and said, “In that case, I’m sorry. Come over for an interview at your convenience.” [I did and later published an article on a bike this master builder and founder of California Choppers designed for Nicholas Cage, but that’s another story.] After my article on Arlen was published, Arlen called me up to say that out of hundreds of hundreds of articles written about him, mine was among the ones that he liked best. Arlen has that way of making everyone feel special around him, he’s just that kind of guy who gets endeared to your soul.

I had first heard of Arlen Ness years before, around the time he built his red “Ferrari Bike” a beast of a dragster with an unknown top end. Many of Arlen’s such one-off designs have gone on to set new standards for the industry; original ideas that went mainstream. He is not a mere cosmetic designer or a theme bike assembler...he is a self-taught engineer, a master craftsman and designer in his own right. Some of his creations appear to defy the laws of nature: bikes that Arlen designed and built simply because no one had done these things before, and now someone had to do it. I pointed to a bike he had built in the seventies with two V-twin motors and mentioned that recently a “W3” three-cylinder bike had been gaining notoriety. Yet here was a “W4”. “Oh, I know it was ahead of its day,” he confided. So I pushed on, “I can spot several ideas from amongst your customs that are now being duplicated in the factories, reproduced in Japan and Europe. “Well, that happens all the time,” came his matter-of-fact response. If you’ve got a modern factory cruiser, chances are there are influences of Arlen Ness somewhere on your bike.

Arlen had just begun dealing in Victory motorcycles at the time of my first interview with him. Walking past one of those Minnesota cruisers that Arlen had decked out with streaming purple flames, he asked me, “You trust what I say, right?” I nodded, and he declared, “Well, Victory is the best American bike made.” Since then, Arlen and his son Cory, a talented heir to both his father’s fine human qualities and artistic talent, went on to literally save the Victory Motorcycle Company of Polaris Industries through their gorgeous factory customs like the Vegas, Kingpin and Eight Ball. Later, when Arlen moved from San Leandro to Dublin, California, about ten miles from Cruiser Customizing’s new Interactive Showroom, I had an opportunity to talk with the Mayor of Dublin. Her Honor was floored to learn from me that Arlen had single-handedly saved Victory motorcycles, and thousands of American jobs in Minnesota, through his re-interpretations of the new American cruiser. And when Victory flew Arlen and Cory to Minnesota to save their entire company, he flew second class, with “the people.”

When my interview with Arlen came to an end, Arlen took my camera from my hand and told me to stand beside his Mediterranean blue Curvaciousness while I beamed and posed with his rolling art. “It’s not just a work of art,” he told me, “You can hop on and ride all the way to Sturgis.” As I respectfully bade The Artist good-bye that day in 1999, he told me of his intentions to customize metric cruisers and also to build a jet-powered bike with a motor from a jet helicopter. Arlen was quietly letting on his plans of taking customizing from the realm of American iron to global, and then into the future. That would not be my last meeting with The Godfather. A few years later I had a chance to take a short ride with Arlen and Cory while they were in San Francisco filming a show for the Discovery Channel. Arlen was riding his ’57 Chevy-styled yellow Ness-talgia valued at around $250,000, while Cory was aboard the Smooth-ness. I was riding an old Honda, but that mattered little to the Godfather. He’s a personal friend to all of us riders.

In 2002 Big Uwe and I rode over to Haight-Ashbury to talk with Sonny Barger about his new autobiography. I asked Sonny the questions while Big Uwe snapped the Nikon’s shutter. During that conversation, Sonny recounted how, in the fifties, American custom longbikes—with highbars, banana seats and peanut tanks—came into existence, evolving from Harley bobbers in his Oakland backyard. But America’s favorite Bad Boy credited Arlen Ness as the pioneer of the modern American chromed custom. And Arlen credits Sonny for inspiring him to get into choppers in the first place. [To see that article along with Big Uwe’s photo of me and Sonny, goto www.sonnybarger.com, click on Media, scroll down to Biker Press, and then click on Walneck’s.] Indeed, Sonny Barger, who has ridden over a million miles on two wheels, wrote the Foreword to Arlen Ness: The King of Choppers.

Much later, in a brief e-interview that I had with Jesse James of West Coast Choppers for Friction Zone Magazine I asked Jesse about Arlen’s impact and influence on his own career. Jesse was blunt and characteristically to-the-point with his response. He told me: “If it were not for Arlen Ness I wouldn’t exist.”

I’ve spoken to other industry leaders like Roger Bourget and Cyril Huze about the impact and influence that Arlen Ness has exerted upon the industry, and each has a respect for The Godfather that runs very deep. Arlen is one of those rare souls who is loved across all lines for his work, his depth of character and his honesty. It’s this sense of trust in the man that is the reason why Big Uwe bought his awesome American Ironhorse “Green Dragon” Texas Chopper (see last month’s Cruiser Customizing News) directly from Arlen Ness.

Cruiser Customizing is proud to offer not only a great variety of Arlen Ness parts, but also the book Arlen Ness: The King of Choppers. Here’s why I strongly recommend that you buy it and read it. Arlen Ness: King of Choppers is not a dry text but rather it focuses upon fifty of Arlen’s chromed creations in a double-paged calendar-quality print layout. In the text Arlen tells all, nothing is held back about the private life and phenomenal rise of this blue collar genius. Since each bike pictured is so radically different from the next custom, this book contains a treasure trove of ideas when it comes to building up your own custom cruiser. This must-read volume would make a great Christmas gift, and belongs on the coffee table of every custom bike lover. And the last bike featured in Arlen Ness: The King of Choppers? You guessed it: Arlen’s recent jet bike which can’t be described…you’ve just got to see the book to believe it. Exquisitely produced by MBI, the world’s largest publisher of automotive and motorcycle literature, Arlen Ness: The King of Choppers has 189 awesome pages and is available for $23.95 at CruiserCustomizing.com.

Miles Davis (Pavandas)
Editor Cruiser Customizing News

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2. At Cruiser Customizing Your Safety is Priority One

At Cruiser Customizing we care for the safety of each member…and for all riders. We want you to ride well, be informed and ride smart. Ride safely today, and you’ll enjoy the thrill of motorcycling tomorrow. Motorcycling can be dangerous, and that’s why safety gear, which includes a snug DOT approved helmet, leathers, gloves and boots, are so important. Remember our motto: shared passion, individual style. There’s also plenty of individual style in dressing the rider as well as the bike for the highest level of personal safety.

You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: ride within your own level of skill. And take that motorcyclist training course you’ve been putting off.

A motorcycle crashing at 150 mph into a car.

Making the internet rounds are photos of a graphic display at a motorcycle show in Sweden, a Honda sportbike crushed inside a Volkswagen. The crash scene was placed at the show by the Swedish police to underscore a point. The 400 pound+ Honda was recently purchased by a newly-licensed rider, and this inexperienced would-be road racer wanted to see what his new motor could do. In a false thrill of certain suicide, the speed demon collided with the Volkswagen at 150 miles per hour, killing himself and both of the car’s occupants as his out-of-control missile entered within the car. As Honda Motor Company continues to remind you and me through their ad campaign, “Stupid hurts.” Sometimes stupidity goes beyond hurting.

True, most unwanted encounters involving a motorcycle are caused by careless drivers. Blake’s Story, the member feature article from June ’05 (Newsletter # 61), relates the tragic results of a drunken driver’s hit and run, and the determination to ride again. Cruiser Customizing Customer Service Director, Kyle Bradshaw, was likewise T-boned by a careless cager, resulting in serious injuries and months on crutches. Learning the causes of crashes, and how to avoid them, is the responsibility of all riders.

Sometimes, however, it is the rider’s childish temptation to wring the accelerator, often spiked with a deadly mix of drugs or alcohol, that creates cause for regret. A knowledgeable rider is far safer than a recently-unleashed throttle cowboy who thinks the highway is his own private rodeo. In Proficient Motorcycling, life long rider David L. Hough shares decades of experience that puts into straight English those intuitive feelings that come to mind in the saddle. Cruiser Customizing likewise recommends The Motorcycling Safety Foundation’s Guide to Motorcycling Excellence, which imparts “skills, knowledge and strategies for riding right.” These are the people to call (1-800447-4700) for a Rider Safety Course.

Knowledgeable riding means dressing for the spill, not the ride. It also means knowing your bike’s limitations. And your own. Riders must adjust continually to changing conditions, and learn to watch themselves closely for road fatigue that can cause errors in judgment. Unlike driving a car, wherein the person at the wheel is often riding on auto-pilot, piloting a motorcycle is a constant test of mind-sharpening alertness, intelligence and skill.

And with days growing shorter now, colder weather and frequent mists and fog, bikers can be harder to spot. We hope that each of you are making adjustments in your riding habits by giving the cagers more space, and adjusting to damp roadways. Is your helmet in good condition? What about your other protective gear: your jacket, chaps or riding pants, gloves, eye protection or face shield. If you are one of those staunch members of our community who rides in the rain, you should have a rain suit.

Ride safe

Your CruiserCustomizing Team

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3. Scott's Dad

Cruiser Customizing member Scott Gilley sent us a touching story about his adventures in motorcycling. Scott recalls that his Dad was a rider, and Scott naturally wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. When Scott was fifteen, his dad surprised him with a new Honda XL100 for Christmas. However, a 40mph encounter with a cage backing out of a driveway sent the lad to the hospital with cuts and bruises. Sore, the young rider refused to mount his bike again. Scott’s dad was firm: “You will get back on your bike and ride this one time. If you do not, you’ll remain scared of bikes for your whole life. After you ride it once, you can keep it, let it sit, or trade it for a car. But you will ride it once!”

Scott and his wife Patty at the Deals Gap

Now three decades later, Scott admits, “I did and Dad was right. But the one thing I learned is that you must respect a motorcycle—because if you do not—it will show you who is boss.” Today Scott, who has been riding off and on for thirty years now, is a dad himself. Both his nineteen-year-old son and wife want bikes. His daughters enjoy riding pillion with their dad. Scott foresees that soon his family will own a stable of Suzuki Boulevards like his own M50 which he has individualized with parts from Cruiser Customizing.

In April of this year Scott’s Dad passed away leaving behind a legacy of love and respect for motorcycling. And Scott’s first long motorcycle road trip will be a pilgrimage to the burial site of the man who made him overcome his fear of riding.
Read the full story.

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4. Backfire: Biker Songs That Didn't Make It

Since hooking up with venerable Cruiser Customizing member Mark Pringle and his rapper buddy Josiah Davis to produce the world’s first iteration of moto-rap (see the last issue of the Cruiser Customizing News), the results have been dramatic and overwhelming. During one of my extensive autograph signing tours, I concluded that we might be in future Grammy Territory here (“Best Moto-rap”). You know, a great writer named William Shakespeare once told me (in a trance), “Miles, you won’t publish one word until you’ve written one million words.” Bill was right, you see, because I’ve also written hundreds of Country and Western biker ballads over the years and somehow none of them went anywhere. To make a long story short, let me share with you just a few titles of my…

BIKER SONGS THAT DIDN’T MAKE IT

“I’m A Fuel Injected Lover,
Not a Two Stroke Kind of Guy.”

“I Wear My Helmet ‘Round the House
When the Dishes Start to Fly.”

“My Bike Sounds like Hell but Feels like Heaven,
Darlin’, It’s the Opposite of You”

“I Support My Local Biker Thugs,
I Just Wish They’d Support Me!”

“I Didn’t Walk Out on You, Honey,
I Wheelied”

“I’m Gonna Take My Muffler Off,
And Clamp It to Your Mouth”

“I Never Knew Love Till I Saw You,
And You’re Only a Motorcycle”

“Hope You Like My New Chrome Gizmos, Darlin’,
Maybe Next Month We Can Try to Pay the Rent”

“This Wouldn’t be a Home Without You, Darlin’
And that Is Why I Dearly Love the Road.”

“Hot Pipes or Hot Lips, Sweetheart,
Life’s Choices Drive Me Crazier Each Day.”

“I Bought a Headset Microphone for My Motorcycle Mamma,
And that’s the Worst Mistake I Ever Made.”

“Thanks for the Birthday Surprise, Baby,
But Did You Have to Paint My Bike Hot Pink?”

“Don’t Even Talk About Those Chains of Love,
Li’l Darlin’, I’m a Shaft-drive Kinda Guy”

“I Cannot Customize That Sneer That’s Written on Your Lips,
So I’ll Just Go Out and Customize My Bike”

“A Mo-ped Can’t Be Turned Into A Gold Wing,
But, Darlin’, That’s the Way You Make Me Feel.”

“If You Like the Horsepower of my Bike,
Just Wait Till We Get Home”

“I Got Mean Mugged Enough at the Biker Bar,
How ‘Bout a Smile from You?”

“Riding On My Chrome Cruiser, Baby
Is the Only Thing Better Than Riding You”

“Don’t Call Me a Male Chauvinistic Pig, Oh Sweetie,
I’m Really a Lot More Like a Hog”

If there are any country singers who’d like to sing a full song, just contact me and we’ll put your sound on a future www.CruiserCustomizing.com Newsletter. Make sure you’ve got a tux for a future Grammy night (“Worst Country Biker Ballad”.) Yo, Cruisers! What are your ideas for BIKER SONGS THAT DIDN’T MAKE IT? Send 'em along pronto and we’ll publish your contributions in next month’s BACKFIRE. Lady riders, we’d especially like to hear your point of view. C’mon now, your opinion counts! You know what to do…

Ride on, but ride safe.
-Miles Davis
Editor Cruiser Customizing Newsletter

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