Green Bike From Acme

May 2, 2016

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Article And Photos By: Chris Callen

Originally Published In The May 2012 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

We ran into these guys during the Boston NEMX series and man when they pulled this bike out, it peeled my skull back. Might seem funny to some since we just had a little Triumph feature from them a couple issue ago but as soon as I saw this bike, I knew it had to be on our cover. It turns out, there’s a good reason why. This wicked pissah of a Shovel is actually Wayne Ahlquist’s, half of the powers that be at Acme Choppers, own personal ride. Now I’ve seen these cats’ work for a good solid eight years now, I’ve liked every bike they’ve ever built, but I gotta say that this one is the combination of all the years and all the experience rolled up into one show piece. That is exactly what Wayne’s brother Jason conveyed to me. What they wanted to build was a bike to really show off their loop tail frame design. There are a ton of them out there but every time they’d tell a customer to send pictures in of what they built, it just never worked out. I guess Acme customers are too busy pounding the shit out of their bikes to stop and take pictures. Well, this build would not only end up covering that order but would also serve as a pallet for all of their parts. They would finally get to build the bike they always wished they could do for a customer. High end, all the frills, a solid powerplant in an S&S 93” Shovel, and they wouldn’t have to hold back. Knowing that their Born Free trip was coming up, this would give them a bike to show just what the East Coast was bringin’ to the table, and man, they did just that. Every inch of this sweet machine has been toiled over. The S&S motor was tore down as soon as it came through the doors so the cases and heads could be polished. The rocker boxes were cut down to mimic the styling of a stock set that had been split. Then all t h e covers were sent to Otto Carter out of Texas for a mega pimp engraving job. The Acme crew had used him for a few other bikes and knew he had mad skills but this would be taken to a whole other level.

With the engine details in the bag, they moved on to a direct drive fivespeed from Baker and laid the whole thing into their frame. T h e frame design is a badass: no rake, no stretch and kinda has the geometry of an FXR or Honda. It makes for real agile handling and that would be important for Wayne who has long and deep roots in BMX racing. It’s a big reason why their parts are so centered on performance. With 1 1/8” perimeter tubing and 1 ½” for the backbone, it’s good solid construction, too. To get the motor in the groove with the tranny, Wayne chose an open chain drive primary. It’s gnarly as hell and looks killer on this build. For the tank, he narrowed one up a bit and kept it pretty high. He met that line with a tall set of their bars complete with Brembo controls from a Ducati. These things work as well as they look. With an S&S hydraulic clutch release and six-piston PM brakes in the front, this bike gets it on. Jason commented that you really know what you pay for in that S&S motor; it runs like a Swiss watch. There’s plenty of torque and is a blast to ride. To be able to stop all this power, they went with PM brakes all around. I mentioned the front but in the back they went with something different for this Acme build. They used a little PM perimeter mount brake that was mounted clean as hell on the loop part of the frame. It keeps the back end looking tight and doesn’t take away from the performance of the brakes either. Now we talked about the frame, that it’s their production u n i t and when you order it, it comes with their oil tank, fork stops, paint savers and their battery box, but the rest of the bike is laid out in Acme production stuff as well. Everything from the trees, bars and risers, foot controls and fender struts are all products you can order yourself from their shop. Adding to that, the personal touch they put to things like the handmade fender and the stainless steel exhaust makes this a killer ride. The exhaust was made with middle star flanges that are machined out of stainless as well. Take notice of the little details like the grips that started as straight Renthal MX grips but were soon cut apart and pieces were machined for the bar ends and centers to remake them into Acme/Renthal grips. The same thing was done with the footpegs as well, and it’s those details that pay off but like I said, I’m partial because I’ve always dug the hell out of their stuff. In the end, they shipped the bike out to their boys at Biltwell and rode to the Born Free show with them. Jaws dropped over this sweet bitch and it does us here at the magazine proud to know they were reppin’ East Coast hard with work like this! This is a shop full of extreme talent and when they pull together on a project like this one, there is little that can stand in their way. You can expect to see more of their mad creations anytime we can get some into this magazine and you can find out more about their parts on their Website.