BREAKING

Shop Hoppin'

Shop hoppin’

Atomic Customs

Article And Photos By: Milwaukee Mike

Originally Published In The December 2014 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

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Last May I had the opportunity to travel west to once again take part in the almost religious experience of Choppertown Camparound, it has become my personal Mecca to travel to Arizona for the last 4 years to kick off my riding season but there will be more about that particular event in a future issue. This story is about a friend of mine who is fighting the good fight and keeping the flame burning bright out in the mountains of New Mexico. His name is Trent Schara, better known as Atomic Trent, and his shop is one that is known far and wide as Atomic Customs. As his own blog and web page will tell you, Trent specializes in pre 1970 Harley Davidsons and all of his work is 100% backed. So before you spend your hard earned money, contact him to discuss your options! For those who are uninformed, Atomic Customs takes immense pride in that the bikes that roll out of this shop are as mechanically sound as they are beautiful.

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This puts Trent in a very small minority as some will forgo an engine rebuild or proper mechanical work in favor of the icing. But the cake doesn’t work without a proper base, so why not do it right once. As you can see by the photos I took and the body of work his website and blog page boast the bikes speak for themselves. The Atomic Customs Compound is comprised of a number of buildings that house Trent’s living and work space and a couple of acres for the dogs to roam with the local wildlife. It is a stunningly beautiful and peaceful part of the world and it definitely lends itself to creativity. The tranquility is only broken when Trent decides it’s time to jack up the moment with caffeine and Death Metal, which he uses to sharpen and hone his mind to help with the creative juices and build some amazing machines. I will use, as an example, the Panhead Trent built for my friend David out in Arizona, not only was it put together with great expertise and looked like a million bucks but it ran like a raped ape and was as dependable as a Rolex.

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This year Tent was invited to be part of the invited builders for the Born Free 6 show this last July. The bike he built was something else, unfortunately it was in pieces getting ready for reassembly when I got to Ground Zero at the Atomic Compound but there was plenty else to feast my eyes upon. As the pictures will attest the long Ironhead is an absolute survivor that was found in Michigan and put back into running order by Trent and is ready to find a new home, if it hasn’t already. The flatty and the big shovel are also ready to find new abodes, so if they tickle your fancy make sure to give Atomic Trent a call. For those who can’t get the Born Free bike out of their heads check out YouTube and the videos that all of the builders made for this years and the past two years events. There are some great shots of the stunning pan/shovel that was up for grabs as one of the available bikes from the raffle. You will also see two other things on that short bio, first is Trent training fighters at his local gym for UFC and the second is Trent riding his mountain on his hot rod FXR. That’s right kids, Trent is an FXR guy as it seems more and more of the informed amongst us are.

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What better machine to roll the hills in and around Albuquerque on, which we did, up and down some back roads to a killer BBQ joint that had great and I mean great brisket. We of course had to continue the evening with a few beverages at a local haunt and then chilled the rest of the evening as I still had a long way to go and a short time to get there. Thanks again for the good times and crash spot Trent!

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Again I will tell you, the faithful Cycle Source readers, to look at both Trent’s website www.atomiccustom. com to see what I am talking about. Be sure to mention that you saw this shop hop in this fine publication. We will keep striving to bring the best of the best to our faithful readers! If this article has inspired you to step up to an Atomic Custom bike or if you have a pre 70’ Harley that needs some TLC make sure to give Trent a call at 505 281 2520 and see what he can do for you! I look forward to many more visits to this area and think I will have many opportunities to share Trent’s future bikes with y’all!

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