]]> http://bikerpros.com/2011/11/26/video-san-mateo-ultimate-builder/feed/ 1 bikerpros http://bikerpros.com/2011/11/25/part-2-chopper-voodoo-a-roller/ http://bikerpros.com/2011/11/25/part-2-chopper-voodoo-a-roller/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:46:22 +0000 bikerpros http://bikerpros.com/?p=4235 Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show . The chopper is making progress. It is now a roller. After the frame was fabricated it went off to be nickel plated. Thee custom 69 Chopper-style frame is 36 degrees, 3" up, 1" out and 2" back. At the frame head, the Darwin Motorcycles logo is welded in. ]]> Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show

The Brass Balls’ Chopper will debut at the Dallas round of the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show . The chopper is making progress, It’s now a roller.

After the frame was fabricated it went off to be nickel plated. Thie custom 69 Chopper-style frame is 36 degrees, 3″ up, 1″ out and 2″ back. At the frame head, the Darwin Motorcycles logo is welded in.

Raw Steel

Nickel Plated

It’s Now a Roller

Building has progressed to a roller stage. Wheels, frame, tranny have been mocked up.

Ultimate Builder Chopper

The bike sports a softail design with Metzeler rubber, 5 speed tranny, Crime Scene Choppers’ headlight and custom springer front end.

Stainless Steel Rotor / Sprocket.

The high performance 2-Piston brake caliper is clamped to a billet aluminum bracket made from 6061-T6 aluminum. The show polished stainless steel rotor does double duty as a sprocket. The sprotor keeps the bike very clean.

Custom Hub Mated to Black Rim with Stainless Spokes

Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show (UBCBS)

The chopper will be entered into the Progressive® International Motorcycle Shows® Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show to be pitched against the best builders in the country. The UBCBS is an affiliate competition to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building. Professional and amateur custom builders of choppers, cruisers bobbers, pro street, trikes and sportbikes are invited to enter their bikes into the competition and judge each other’s work. There are 11 individual rounds of the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show nationwide.

United States Championship

The United States Championship of custom bike building is held at the Daytona Progressive International Motorcycle Show held during Daytona Bike Week, March 14-16, 2012. This elite competition is for the ultimate builders of custom bikes in the United States and will crown the definitive national champions in their respective classes. The United States Championship is an affiliate competition to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building.

The United States Championship will also include an individual photo shoot by a professional photographer of each bike entered into the competition. Each builder/bike owner will receive a CD of photos taken during the event of themselves and their bikes.

Judged Custom Bike Classes

The following are the 4 classes of the UBCBS.

Free Style: Any motorcycle frame configuration or drivetrain combination. Your imagination is the only restriction. Must run and stop.

Hot Bike Modified Harley: Must have Harley manufactured frame and engine cases. Frame must maintain stock configuration so modifications are limited to smoothing ie; molding welds and joints, welding in filler panels or cutting excess tabs. Swingarm kits and fat tire conversions are acceptable .

Super Streetbike Performance Custom: Race inspired styling with performance enhancing engine modifications. Any motorcycle frame configuration and drivetrain combination. Judging will be focused around drag racing ie; strtched out ‘Busa, Bonneville racers and highly modified sportbikes.

Retro Mod: Any modified bike, with any drive train on any chassis configuration that is 25 years or older. Great class for older Harley’s where the frame was cut to rake or stretch as well as a class for Café Racers from the Ton-Up era.

Get in the game by entering your motorcycle in the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show .

The Ultimate Dealer Bike Show to showcase the building talent of motorcycle dealers will take place at the inaugural American V-Twin Dealer Show, co-located with the 2012 Dealer Expo at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis February 17-19, 2012.

Interested dealers are encouraged to enter to have their prized custom bike displayed prominently at the entrance of the American V-Twin Dealer Show. Thousands of industry professionals will attend the show throughout the weekend and get an up-close look at the custom creations.

Sponsored by American Iron Magazine the show will have a 4-Class format with motorcycles categorized as freestyle (unlimited anything goes), modified bagger (must include fairing and saddlebags), modified bobber (no front fender and solo seat preferred) and showcase (a special non-judged class for exhibitors.) Judging will be conducted by leading industry experts including high-profile builders and industry luminaries with the top bikes in each class receiving awards. Participants will enjoy added exposure in American Iron Magazine and Dealernews. An awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 19, at the show. Space is limited, so interested dealers should call Biker Pros at 919-886-5075 for more details.

Dalton Walker wins FreeStyle

FreeStyle Class

Winner: Dalton Walker, 2011 Split Image Kustoms (SIK)
2nd Place: Jim Giuffra, Sentoh
3rd Place: Rickey Bedford, The Interchangable

Free Style – One-off, ground-up built custom bike on any chassis or drive train configuration. All style bikes ie; baggers, choppers, bobbers etc. compete against each other in this unlimited, anything goes class.

To see photographs from the event, please jump to our AMD World Championship Flickr.com page.

Roger Vaughn wins Mod Harley

Hot Bike Mod Harley Class

Winner: Roger Vaughn, King of Kings
2nd Place: Mike Mileham, The Loot
3rd Place: Dan Stern, Touring Thunder

Modified Harley - Stock OEM frame and engine cases manufactured by Harley Davidson. The stock frame/Harley geometry must be maintained, cutting the frame at the neck for purposes of stretching or raking is NOT allowed. The use of raked trees are allowed. Frame modifications that are allowed include molding, sheet metal attachments, tab/bracket removal and relocation to create a smoother appearance. Modifications allowed to the rear of the frame (generally past the transmission) include swing arm changes, rigid tail sections, fat or skinny tire conversions, lowering kits and sheet metal as long as the basic stock configuration is unchanged. Case internals can be replaced, along with cylinders, heads and valve train components. Turbos, super chargers, NOS kits etc are acceptable.

SSB Performance Custom

Jim Giuffra Wins Perf. Customs

Performance Custom – A class designed to showcase customs where the primary intention of the builder is to improve performance and /or showcase their performance engineering and techniques. Open to all or any kind of motorcycle, of any platform or drivetrain, air-cooled or liquid cooled. This class is designed to feature drag race styled, circuit racers, off road racers and/or Bonneville style race projects. Performance modifications ie; turbos, super chargers, NOS etc. are encouraged. We have seen stretched out Hayabusa’s , Short track styled bikes, motars, board trackers and café racers in past competitions

Retro Mod Class

Kirk Taylor wins Retro Mod

Retro Mod – The Retro Mod class is new for 2011 and we had a strong turn out. Any modified bike, with any drive train on any chassis configuration that is 25 years or older. A great class for older Harley’s where the frame was cut to rake or stretch it as well as café racers from all over the world.

2011 - San Mateo, CA @ Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show

Arlen Ness is our showcase builder for the San Mateo, Ca round of the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show. At each show we bring in a builder to highlight.

Ness is a legend and has been building custom motorcycles for more than four decades. Arlen’s name is synonymous with “chopper” and he, as well as his family, has been a key player in the chopper scene since the 70′s. Biker Pros is pleased to have Arlen Ness at the Ultimate Builder and look forward to working with the Ness family.

The San Mateo Eye Candy Show

The 12 city Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show has kicked off in San Mateo, CA. The quality of the bikes are just outstanding. The bikes look good and you can see the pride of ownership in the owners eyes. Pictures from the first day are listed below:

Biker Pros ( www.bikerpros.com ) produces the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show and brought Arlen Ness to the Ultimate Builder Show. Each show has a 3 bike showcase promoting builders from across the country. To get involved, log on to www.ultimatebuilderbikeshow.com.

Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show

Builder Update

The team at Biker Pros are on the phones and securing entries in the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show in San Mateo, Dallas, Long Beach and Seattle. Kirk Taylor and Jim from AFT Customs will be showing bikes in San Mateo this weekend. Satya Krause may join in as well.

Cole Foster wanted to come, but his bikes are in Japan, Europe and at Jeff Decker’s place. Foster had just returned from Austin working with Jesse James on the buildoff with the Teutuls. He said the best part was shooting a machine gun and using Paul Jr’s face as the target.

AFT Models Build Custom Bikes

The lead designer on the build is Jim Giuffra, owner of AFT Customs. AFT Customs is 3 business in one… a motorcycle shop, a modeling agency and a custom metric bike shoppe. Jim designs the bike, oversees the build and works with the models to fabricate it.

The AFT Models do about 70% of the work. These are ladies that weld, lace wheels, fabricate and race. And, look good doing it. All of the agency’s models are experienced in motorcycle tuning, repair, and custom bike fabrication. Cyndi & Kristin are TIG certified in welding & Nalani (18 years old ) is good with sheet metal. She made the side covers on Asumati.

AFT Models Build Custom Bikes

“One reason I like working with them is that they take direction,” said Giuffra. “They don’t come with preconceived ideas, they don’t have egos, I don’t have to retrain them and they are good listeners. They do come from a different point of view so as issues come up, the build can be advanced in ways that I never foresaw. As this unique point of view covers everything from design to tool naming. For example, they renamed the ball hone cylinder tool as the pine cone.”

“As they have matured as builders their knowledge has deepened. At first they may be looking at paint, now they are deep into fabrication and what it takes to make the modifications that they see. To a woman, they are interesting in working on the engine and want to know how things work. “

AFT Models Build Custom Bikes

ASUMATI, translated from Miwuk means grizzly bear, the monarch of the forest. The bike began life as a Honda VT750ST. It evolved into a 750cc Honda Street Tracker-style custom bike with race inspired suspension, supermoto handle bars and HIPO engine upgrades. A Street Tracker is a considered a bobber on steroids.

www.ultimatebuilderbikeshow.com

Giuffra’s tribe of friends helped pull the build together with custom-made tail lights by TPJ Customs, hand-fabricated raisers by Kraus Motor Co and digital switches by Grip Ace. Duane Ballard built the custom under-the-seat radiator unit.

The front forks belong to an R1 and the rear shocks were custom built by Race Tech. Asumati rolls on custom wheels with Avon Cobra front 120/70R19 and rear 180/55R18 tires. The license plate can be rotated vertical or horizontal.

An old-school touch is the stunning engraving on the cylinder heads and engine cover. It adds nostalgic touch to this long and low street tracker. If you look closely, you will see Indian themed art that includes a dream catcher, bear claw, arrow head and feathers.

A hammer and chisel were used to create these designs. And the investment for this craftsmanship is $50 a square inch, or about $5k.

Asumati was unveiled at the Los Angeles Calendar Show in June, then competed in the American Motorcycle Dealer World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Sturgis, South Dakota and the Rat’s Hole Custom Bike Show. It can be seen at the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike show in San Mateo on November 18-20,2011 (www.ultimatebuilderbikeshow.com)

About The Ideal Intro Custom Bike Platform
The 750 A.C.E. is an ideal platform for a custom build. The bikes were built from 1998 up until 2003. The VT750 chassis is compact and lightweight, with geometry that creates easy, natural handling. It is based around a strong double-cradle steel frame with a square pipe backbone and forged steel pivot plates.

Giuffra will pick up clean ones on craigslist.org for $3,000 and sell off the unused parts on eBay and recoup from $500 – $1,000 depending on the build.

AFT Customs has developed an engine kit that includes pistons, cams and gaskets that pump the power from 37HP to as much as 48HP. In addition, the custom bike shop designed an under-the-seat radiator relocation kit to clean up the lines. So with a modest budget, intro custom bike builders can have something special for around the $10K mark.

Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show

About AFT Models
The AFT Models specialize in show promotion and print modeling. They are available to promote and advertise products, services, or businesses. They are available for commercial print, editorial, fashion, casual, swimwear, artistic, lingerie, glamour, lifestyle, and beauty.

AFT Models Build Custom Bikes

Specifications

Builder	Jim Giuffra / AFT Customs Girls
Owner	Jackson Rancheria Casino
Location	Jackson, CA
Country	USA
Website	www.aftcustoms.com
Bike Name	Asumati
Year/Model	2011
Engine Make/Size	Honda VT750ST
Drivetrain	Honda
Frame Make/Type	Honda
Front End	Yamaha R1
Rake	Stock
Stretch	Stock
Swingarm	Modified
Wheels Front	Custom 19″
Wheels Rear	Custom 18″
Tires Front	Avon Cobra 120/70 x 19
Tires Rear	Avon Cobra 180/55 x 18
Brakes Front	Beringer/Moto Master/Honda
Brakes Rear	Honda
Painter	Todd Evans
Chroming/Plating	Meclec

Holdsworth finishes the frame before plating

The Ultimate Builder Chopper is Coming Together

This Chopper is being built for the FreeStyle class of the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show. Dar Holdsworth, President of Brass Balls, is creating a high-end 69 Chopper-style for the show. Dar has the eye in creating designs that are cutting-edge and familiar at the same time. He has the ability to add his special touch of voodoo that makes his company’s bikes satisfying to look at and desirable to put in your garage.

Sam Wills, Master Fabricator for Brass Balls Bobbers, constructed the custom 69 Chopper frame for Darwin Motorcycles. The frame is 36 degrees, 3″ up, 1″ out and 2″ back. At the frame head, the Darwin Motorcycles logo is welded in.

Dar decided upon nickel as the frame finish. The combination of the blue tins with a nickel frame creates a striking combination.

69 Chopper Frame - Nickel Plated

Wills makes his Bobber frames the same way he makes his 200MPH dragster frames. It’s all about the welding and the metal.

Nickel Plated Frame & Tins

About Brass Balls Bobbers & Choppers
With a strong team at the helm and a slate of innovative, high-performance designs that blend vintage with contemporary, Darwin Motorcycles is primed and quickly becoming one of the leading motorcycle shops in the country attracting new riders and setting trends through their Above Average Bobber program.

The Free Chopper Program

We Have an Engine

John White, Owner of Crazy Horse Motorcycles, has decided to come on-board to provide a Crazy Horse V-Plus engine for the Giveaway Chopper that will be built on the pages of Cycle Source Magazine and Bikernet.com.

The Chopper is being built by Kustoms Inc. and Chop Docs. It will be given away at 2012 Las Vegas Bikefest. All the details are at Win the Chopper.

Biker Pros is producing the Giveaway Chopper program.

WordPress is Flexible & Easy to Use

WordPress allows 3rd party plugins that offer exceptional capabilities. One class of plugins are related to e-commerce. These allow you to sell knowledge products, ship-able products and services.

Shopping Cart Review

Two shopping carts that are easy to use and have significant support behind them are Shopp and Card66.

Card66

Shopp

This is a premium WordPress plugin, previously known as PHPurchase, that provides a shopping cart for selling digital downloads or physical products created. Using this commercial WP plugin, you can effectively turn your WordPress blog into a standalone online ecommerce store. Cart66 Features: Easy installation Bolt-on e-commerce Management of orders Create promotional discounts Multiple shipping options Set prices per shipping method Set prices per product Set prices per cart amount Sell both physical and digital products Customize storefront appearance Supports multiple payment gateways (PayPal, Authorize.net, etc.) The Cart66 e-commerce plugin for WordPress can be installed by anyone. It’s easy to use and install. Just about anyone can go from zero to hero and begin selling products in 15 minutes. The Cart66 shopping cart plugin for WordPress is priced at $89 per single site license to $299 unlimited license. When you buy Cart66 you get access to the members area for a year. There you will find the support ticket system where you can submit tickets and communicate directly with Cart66 support team and developers. Cart66 is simple but can lack sophistication. The more flexibility, sku numbers and options that you need, the less likely this will be a solution.

Shopp seamlessly integrates into WordPress. It has the same look and feel from the administration side as well as the online store’s shopping experience. The plugin is flexible, provides multiple tools and allows customization of the e-commerce marketplace. Shopp Plugin Features: Easy installation Bolt-on e-commerce Email order notifications SEO-optimized product pages RSS feeds for categories Sidebar shopping cart Product search Works with most themes Works with most plugins Product and category shortcodes Digital product sales and management Easily export sales data Streamlined single-page product data entry Handles multiple product images with easy drag-and-drop sorting The core plugin is priced at $55 per single license and $299 per developer license. The Shopp plugin requires a $25 add-on fee and allows integration of several payment gateways such as PayPal Express Checkout, Google Checkout, PayPal Website Payments Pro, Authorize.net, FirstData/LinkPoint, HSBC ePayments, eWay Payments, and iDEAL. Other notable features and benefits include built-in shipping rate calculations (FedEx, UPS, USPS, Canada Post) and a promotional toolset to offer customer discounts, promotional codes, and coupons.

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