My Favorite Bike Builder… in case you care.

December 4, 2004

From Behind The Lens

December 2004

BigShots is my business and in that respect is mirrors my interests. Photographers have as many subjects to specialize in as there are subjects; but mine is motorcycles. I didn’t pick motorcycle photography because I thought it was an untapped market, or because my first client hired me to shoot a bike; BigShots specializes in motorcycle photography because we love bikes. We love motorcycle events, we like the people who ride bikes and we like the people who build bikes.

Bike builders have evolved into a phenomenon of their own. You used to be able to count them on one hand and most of them were not one-off builders but rather motorcycle companies that manufactured lines of bikes. Then customization led to huge after-market parts manufacturers and then to frame builders and now nearly anyone with enough creativity, time, money and a tool box can put parts together and build a bike.

Then, a breed apart from them are the custom bike builders that do more than assemble kits, they build frames, manufacture components and push the limits of style and functionality.

I have spent a lot of time looking at a lot of bikes. I go to an awful lot of bike build offs and I critically look at the bikes to try to develop my own sense of what I like and what I don’t. Every person has his/her own taste and is entitled to it, as am I. Unlike many of the people that I meet on the road, I am not a gear head. I do not base my opinion of whether I like a bike or not on how many cubic inches, open or wet primaries, how loud the pipes are or how much the builder spent to make it. On the other end of the scale I do not base it on the color or degree of rake alone either. Having said that, I get asked often enough who my favorite bike builder is that I really should pick one. And here is where I get mired in my own personality.

Honestly, my favorite bike builder was this guy that came to Myrtle Beach Bike week this past spring. He rode up on this sweet little black chopper and asked me how much I would charge to take pictures of his bike. I told him my deal, that I would do the photo session for free and if he wanted to buy any of the prints the first 8”x10” was $50.00 and after that they were $15.00. He frowned at me and quickly explained that he wasn’t sneering at the price, but at the fact that he had just finished this bike. It was on its inaugural ride, he had literally finished it just 2 hours before and from the final expenses he incurred that last week, he was flat broke. He barely had enough money in his pocket for a beer and he wouldn’t be able to afford the pictures, although he really wanted one because the bike was for sale and he wanted a picture of it before he sold it.

This was a completely foreign concept to me. First off I am a woman. If I want something bad enough to scrape all of my knuckles off (as evidenced by the condition of this man’s hands) I was by God going to keep it for at least more than a few hours before trying to sell it! Hell, selling a bike I worked that hard on to build myself would be like being pregnant for 9 months and then immediately sending the baby off to boarding school so that I could get back to the business of getting pregnant. I did not understand him. What I did understand was his desire to have a picture of the bike before sending it off to a new owner. That part I understood very well.

So, I offered to do the photo session and he would be under no obligation what-so-ever to buy any of the prints unless he wanted them, even if it was at a future date. He gladly agreed and pulled the shinny new bike up onto my platform for shots. He politely warned the acrylic-heeled models of the fact that the gas tank clear coat may not be totally hardened yet and would they mind being very careful with their foot-wear near it. He stood back from it a few feet, grabbed a rag from his back pocket and dabbed and brushed at his bike checking every detail. I, for one, could not believe that this man would really let this bike sell.

I asked him what he wanted for it and he told me and I proceeded to get on my microphone to instruct the models on poses and to tell the attendant crowd whose bike they were seeing on stage and the fact that it was for sale and I pointed him out to the crowd if there was any interest.

By the end of the photo session he told me that he had given his number to someone who had approached him about the bike and he thanked me for the announcement and the free photo session. I wished him luck and bid him a good night.

The following night he returned without his bike. I asked him where it was and he told me with a smile that the bike was gone. The guy who heard me announce that it was for sale the night before had bought the bike from him, paid him cash and drove it away while at the rally. He was thrilled. I asked this guy what he was going to do without a bike and he smiled broadly at me and answered as if I were from another planet, “Well, build another one, of course!”

He purchased every one of his prints from the night before and tipped each of the girls. Those pictures were all he had left of that bike now and that was all he wanted of her.

I don’t need to understand him, I don’t have to want to build one of my own, I don’t have to pick a favorite bike builder because there isn’t just one favorite for me. Being a good bike builder, to me, doesn’t mean having a line of clothing, a TV show, or a client base willing to pay $50,000 for what ever you build. A good bike builder to me is giving up your nights and weekends and your spending cash to do what you love and to take pride in your work. I am fascinated by the God-like quality that causes someone to create something that they love and are proud of and then have the compulsion to send it on its way so they can build again. I’m sure this guy didn’t make a ton of money on that bike, I’m sure if he counted his hours he lost money, but he didn’t care. He loved building bikes, one at a time, and that, my friend, is a quality that makes the average Joe with a passion for motorcycles, my favorite builder.

That is how I see it, from behind the lens.

Colleen Swartz