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Introducing The 2019 In Motion Builders

Cycle Source Magazine, Progressive® and the Lone Star Rally are thrilled to introduce this stellar line up of world class motorcycle builders for the 2019 In Motion Show.

Austin Andrella – Akron, OH

Austin Martin Originals started building bike’s in 2003. He worked his way out of his basement shop into a modest 800 sq. ft. pole building in his backyard near Akron, Oh. Austin prides himself on thinking outside the box and being able to make it a reality with his own two hands. He is proud to say that he is self-taught on every aspect of motorcycle building, from Tig welding to machining. Andrella says that if someone is going to spend their hard-earned money to have him make parts or do fab work it has to be to the best quality. He feels that if you are building a motorcycle then it must be rideable and function properly, if it doesn’t…well then, you’re building a piece of art. AMO often goes with the theory of less is more and prefers when bikes look simple and clean yet the details are almost limitless, it should bring people back over and over again. He prides himself on unique, original builds that not only have form but also function.   To keep the lights on, Austin works full time as a Union Sprinkler Fitter and his family time is spent with his beautiful wife and three daughters, all of whom keep him on his toes. With much pride, he tells us that is 8-year-old, Adelyne Montgomery, has been bitten by the chopper bug and that we should look forward to seeing her work in the near future. He boasts that she can carry on the AMO legacy, especially with the same initials! Austin can be quoted as saying “I’m excited to be a part of the “In Motion” bike show at the Lone Star Rally. It will be amazing experience riding the streets with fellow builders riding their 2-wheel custom creations! This is will be a first for me, to actually ride with my competition. I think it adds a new level of respect throughout the industry between the builders. We are a select few and gravitate to each other being likeminded and driven to not settle for just mediocrity.  We aren’t sports fans and we don’t waste away on the couch, we get out and get after it! Thank you for considering me alongside the likes of veterans like Donny Loos, Bill Dodge and Kyle Shorey. I have looked up to these guys for decades and over the past five years they have allowed me to enter their small circle. I am honored and humbled to call these guys friends.” Give Austin a Follow at @austinmartinoriginals  www.austinmartinoriginals.blogspot.com

Bill Dodge – Daytona Beach, FL

Bill Dodge has been in the motorcycle industry for over 25 years. He started out west, then moved to Jersey before he set up his current shop in Daytona, Florida. He worked for a prominent builder for about 8 years before opening his own shop, Bling’s Cycles. Bill has well over 300 builds under his belt and has been featured in motorcycle magazines all over the world. His bike, Frankenknuckle was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine with Lauren Hutton as the model. Bill, with his unique style, has been an inspiration to both young and old builders. He offers his wealth of knowledge and connections to every builder to help advance their careers. Bill is always the first one to jump in to help fix a broken bike while on the road with his fellow riders. Bill’s latest project was his participation in the BC Moto Invitational held annually in Tennessee. The premise of the event is to get builders together whether they are just starting out or are seasoned veterans. None of the bikes are judged, so it has bred a brotherhood of builders who share tech advice and war stories from their various adventures.  Rather than trailering, you can usually find Bill riding his FXR to any show that he goes to. Check out Bill’s website at www.blingscycle.com or give him a follow in instagram at @blingscycles

Brandon Keene – Traverse City, MI

Brandon Keene of B. Keene Custom Built Cycles lives in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan with his wife, Amy and their pug “Alice Cooper”. Brandon is the proud dad to two grown boys that share his passion for motorcycles – which, in his words is “crazy AWESOME!” Keen is a trim carpenter by trade and has survived over 30 years pounding nails. Brandon says he typically eats, sleeps and breathes motorcycles. In April 2019, Brandon and Amy made the decision in begin a new adventure when they hung their own shingle and opened B. Keene Built full time.Keene was fortunate enough to have a client, Josh Pratt of Gladwin, MI, that wanted a “show bike”, and it’s been a whirlwind ever since that build was completed in July of this year. Among the many rallies Brandon and Amy have attended over the past few months the most noteworthy to date would be Fuel Cleveland, as well as winning the wildcard spot for Michael Lichter’s Motorcycles as Art exhibit in Sturgis. Both of which the Keene’s feel are huge honors. When asked how he felt about being invited to In Motion, Brandon simply says “Pinch me!!!!! It’s an incredible feeling to see cycle lovers everywhere smile when they look at what I put together. I guess I did a thing or two alright! We honestly were not prepared for all this excitement!” Keene send his thanks to the motorcycle community, who have embraced them with open arms, his Mom and Dad for letting me ride when he was barely old enough! If you’d like to follow Brandon and Amy be sure to follow @bkeenebuilt Facebook and Instagram)

Brian Buttera – Lakeland, FL

Brian Buttera is out of Lakeland, Florida. Although he is new to the builder scene, he has been a welder/metal fabricator with a passion for bikes for a long time. Brian started out as a self-taught mig welder working hard to advance his skills in the trade. Buttera quickly found his niche in close tolerance precision stainless tig work, ultimately entering into management after many years behind the hood. He has found himself doing everything from managing Las Vegas strip clubs, to being an OTR truck driver, and plenty of other crazy things that he chased in between…but it has always been his hard work in welding/fabrication that had gotten him out of a pinch and back on my feet. Brian says that the style of his builds are a result of the clean and precise standards in which he was held to keep a paycheck, of the, moving around experiencing different cultures and scenes throughout his life, and his personality of being simple and a minimalist. All of his work is done in a steadily growing small shop behind the house called Buttera’s Metal Werx. Although his equipment is far from that of many builders’ out there, it is never an excuse to not create second to none quality work. Shop time is worked around his current day job as a Construction Superintendent where they are thankfully very understanding of his passion and the time it requires. Brian’s fiancé Tina and dog Ladybug round out the team, and they’re here to stay grateful every step of the way. You can follow Brian on IG at @Buttera_metal_werx

Kyle Brewer – Carson City, NV

Kyle Brewer is from Carson City, Nevada. Brewer  has been a metal fabricator and welder for 29 years. Building motorcycles for 16 years has been more of a hobby until recently. Over the years he has realized that building a bike requires a huge amount of fabrication knowledge. Kyle takes pride in knowing that what he builds is not only going to look good, but also perform well for years to come. He runs the frame department for Paughco Inc. and has built many frames for numerous builders. He loves to see what is created from the frames he has constructed. In the past two years Kyle has had the pleasure of being part of a few prestigious shows including In Motion 2018, People’s Champ and Michael Lichter’s Motorcycles As Art . Be sure to follow Kyle on Instagram @rewerb70

 

Majik Mike Rabideau – Las Vegas, NV

Mike started building bikes about 12 years ago in a two-car garage in Racine, WI. He recently decided to make a move to Las Vegas to start a new chapter in life and be closer to family, strippers, and all that sin city has to offer. Mike will be working out of a custom fab shop in the city. The shop is located on the North side of town and this is where you’ll find Mike when he’s not traveling. It’ll be a place to kick back talk shit and watch this man follow no rules but his own.  The bike he’s bringing to the show is a 1981 Shovelhead swing-arm frame he modified for more of a streamline look. He replaced the backbone, down tubes and lowered the seat post rails an inch and a half. Custom shocks were made for the bike as well as lowering the front end to set the stance off proper, while keeping that signature style that “Majik” Mike does best. Mike chose a new painter who I think will complement the bike perfect. His name is Shawn Long and he owns Imperial House Paint out of central IL. The build will be clean and well-polished, but not overdone, he says “Sometimes less is more.” You can follow him @majikmikesdesigns

 

Nick Pensabene- New Smyrna Beach, FL

Nick Pensabene is originally from Long Island New York. He fell in love with the chopper world about 6 years ago when he and his best friend Chris Leduc bought clapped out projects and started their first builds in his dad’s garage. They cleared out a little 4×8 spot for each of them on either side of his dad’s bad ass chop top Merck, they were perpetually scared of hitting with tools or sparks. It took Nick about two years and a lot of help from his friends to complete that first build.  At age 24 he left New York to start his own fence company in Daytona Florida. He was still just tinkering with bikes and didn’t really have a project, so he picked up an old Shovel in trade for his Ironhead and started his second build which ended up being the “Shovel Puzzle” a little swing arm lane splitter. He won his first bike show with that bike and had it shot for Hot Bike Magazine! Shortly after leaving the show he rode down to Main Street Daytona and as soon as he parked the bike Michael Lichter asked if he could shoot it, unfortunately it had just been shot earlier that day. His response, “Maybe next one kid!” Lichter may have forgotten that moment, but he never will. Shortly thereafter Michael invited this up and comer to be part of the 2017 Old Iron Young Blood Exhibit. Not bad for only two builds under his belt. Building bikes is not his day job and he doesn’t do it for a living but balancing the passion he has for building bikes and building his business isn’t an easy task. Nick truly loves building bikes and has made many sacrifices to keep up on both. Pensabene says the bike world has taken him all over the country and enabled him to meet some big-name builders who he now calls friends. Sometimes he dreams of starting a shop and doing the Chopper thing full time because he loves it so much. But, like many, worries that if he does it for a check it may make him lose the passion and drive. A trade he’s not quite willing to make just yet so for now he will keep hustling putting up Fence’s during the day and go home and stay in the shop building bikes all hours of the night.  You can follow Nick on IG at @madpencycles 

Steve Peffer- Butler, PA

Steve Peffer grew up on a dairy farm in Harrisville PA, the school of hard work. Peffer bought his first motorcycle at 8 years old with money earned from the farm, it was a 4 speed Honda Trail 70.  Even at that young age he knew customizing was in his blood. The day he got that bike he started to make it his own. His life consisted of three things; work, ride, school. That was his childhood. When Steve was 15 he bought his first chopper at the local Parts-A-Rama for $75. Again, he immediately tore it apart painted the frame and tins black and reworked it with 8″ over front end and ape hangers. That’s what he rode to High School. He says “That was before choppers were cool, wait choppers were always cool and always will be. Steve feels that they are just an extension of your personality. When Peffer was 17 he “retired” from the farm and moved to Miami Florida to pursue a degree in Art at The International Fine Arts College. At the time his bike was his only transportation, so he rode it all the to Miami. To pay the bills Steve worked at a Sign Shop during the day to pay the bills, and by night he worked at Specialized Finishes in the warehouse district. That’s where he learned the ins and outs of custom paint, from the best in the business, Chris Bomberger! After five years in Florida, he moved back to Western PA to start Classic Signs Graphics Garage and Steel City Choppers. Steve proudly offers everything from lighted signs to vinyl wraps to custom paint and fabrication. To this day he works 9-5 in the Sign Shop and then follows his passion with motorcycles and custom paint by night.  Steve says that when he first learned of Paul Cox and Indian Larry’s Motorcycles, he drove to NYC in a 1956 Panel Truck, slept outside their shop and just so he could learn from the masters. He says they were on top of their game, and the energy was exciting and wanted to draw off that vibe. Steel City Choppers proudly boasts that his work was featured numerous publications including the first color cover of Cycle Source Magazine! Steve says he does this for the love of the Chopper,  not for the money. Motorcycles are part of his heart and soul. “You can see the love in every motorcycle and let our art speak for itself, when you do what you love and love what you do it shows in your craftsmanship.” www.steelcitysteve.com

Rich Pitoniak- Westfield, MA

Rich Pitoniak started riding dirt bikes at the age of 12. Pitoniak’s dad was a machinist and his parents owned M&R Machine and Tool Co. It only seemed natural that Rich would go to a vocational school to learn the family trade. While working for his folks he was a Tool & Gauge maker. They had a Class 7 manufacturing arms license and made many prototype guns and parts for various gun manufacturers. As you can imagine precision and the small details were key in their day to day. From the get-go, Pitoniak says he was always a gearhead. He owned numerous dirt bikes, muscle cars and, of course, Harley-Davidson’s. When he was just 18, Rich took to the drag strip at Lebanon Valley Speedway. Coming from a machine shop background, he has always enjoyed building engines. When he was just 20 Rich bought his first Harley and started reading motorcycle magazines, his favorite was Iron Horse, that was thirty years ago. Pitoniak says he used the bikes he saw on those pages as his influence for the 1967 Basket Case Shovelhead he purchased, which he still owns. In 1999 Rich went to work at a local custom and high performance shop, Roland’s Motor Works. He spent the next five years building custom bikes, high performance V-Twin engines, machining and dyno tuning. Shortly after that, in 2004, he hung his own shingle and started Pitoniak’s Custom Cycles. Pitoniak wanted to build something special. He wanted to build bikes in the same style as those he had seen in the Iron Horse and in the David Mann paintings he loved. So, he built a classic old school chopper with his 1967 Shovelhead. It had a 1948 Harley Davidson Wishbone frame that he bought, the bike was called Painkiller. He built it in 2008 and it has remained virtually unchanged since then.  In 2008 he got a call and was asked to be the Tech Editor for Iron Horse magazine.  He wrote for I.H. for 2 years and feels it was a great experience. Today Rich is a technician for Harley-Davidson of Southampton MA, but still has his own shop, Pitoniak’s Cycles.  He owns three Shovelheads, a 1979 Shovel FL name “Layla” a 1981 Shovel FX “The Dirt Shovel” and his original1967 Shovelhead chopper “Painkiller”. All his bikes have been featured in Cycle Source magazine for which he is very grateful. Rich would like to thank his family, friends, photographers and editors that have supported and featured his bikes over the years. For him, it truly has been an honor. Find Rich on Instagram at @pitoniakcycles

Rick Bray – LeMoore, CA

My name is Rick Bray, Owner/Operator of RKB Kustom Speed in Lemoore CA. Bray says that fabricating his own custom projects had been a lifelong fascination of his. For as long as he can remember he’s been building his own custom cars, trucks, hotrods, motorcycles and projects for customers alike. Rick says it is his passion in life to see how he can test my creativity through his fabrication skills. He believes in form and function and works hard to meld the two throughout his motorcycle builds. Rick is well known in both the two and four wheeled communities for continuously striving to put out stellar work. Be sure to follow Rick on Instagram at @rkbkustomspeed

Roadside Marty – Pensacola, FL

Martin Davis AKA Roadside Marty attributes his passion for motorcycles to his Dad, Shelton Davis. For as long as he can remember motorbikes have been a staple in his life because of Shelton. Roadside says he currently owns and ride the first motorcycle he ever rode on as a child, his Dad’s 1966 Shovelhead. Getting that bike running was definitely on his  list of one of the most gratifying things  he has done. Riding that bike in Daytona, made him feel like a little kid at Christmas.  Davis is an an Army Veteran,that works full time for the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority in FL.  Marty  loves to share his passion and hopes to inspire others through his position as Southeast Editor of Cycle Source Magazine and as an Emcee at different events throughout the year. One of his favorites to Emcee is Chopper Time at Willie’s Tropical Tattoo during Daytona Bike Week and Biketoberfest.  Being in the industry helps fuel his passion and working full time helps him fund it! Motorcycles, in general, are in my blood, my passion, I live and breathe motorcycles, if I am not building, I am riding, or buying, selling, swapping, writing or talking about motorcycles. Keep up with Roadside on his Instagram at @roadsidemarty

Stacy McCleary -Manteca, California

Stacy had a passion to build at an early age.  By seven he was building model cars, changing the wheels, frames, engines and transmissions and body modifications to what he thought looked the best.  In fourth grade he was drawing choppers on my school book covers.  From 10 to 13 years old his passion was building custom bicycles and mini bikes. McCleary bought his first vehicle, a 1932 Ford pickup when he was just 14 and put in a 1948 Mercury V-8 flathead and got it running and got a couple of tickets for under age driving without a license.  By age 15 he got a drivers permit so he could legally drive a motorcycle.  That first bike was a 1962 Cushman scooter.  Stacy drove it to high school, and says it wasn’t very cool but it beat walking.  He later bought a 57 Chevy which he turned into real cool car and promptly had it it was stolen….twice!  A few years later he married his beautiful wife Danell, her first car was a 1957 Chevy, and now over 43 years later her 57 Chevy is still in their garage! When he was just 17 Stacy decided he was going in to the construction business and for the next 40 years he worked as a Plastering Contractor, keeping the family business going. During those 40 years he and Danell raised a family while he built many Hot Rods, Cars and Bikes.  McCleary says that for the past 20 years his passion has been for building bikes! Check out Stacy on Instagram at @sd.mccleary

Xavier Muriel – Austin, TX

Xavier Muriel has been around motorcycles as long as he can remember. His father brought home his first bike when he was just 7 years old, a moment he said he would never forget. He came home one Saturday afternoon with a trailer carrying 3 bikes, his orange Harley Davidson SX 250 single cylinder, his big brother’s Honda Elsinore CR 125 in silver and red, and a lil Honda MR 50 also in silver and red. That was in 1975 and forty-Two years later Xavier is still in love with motorcycles. As kids do, he went through his share of flavor of the month type things, including working in a motorcycle shop for a good bit before settling into music a career. They say you never get over your first love, well Muriel finally found the way back to his. In retrospect, the love for two wheels was never lost, when he wasn’t touring, Xavier was always in his garage learning as much as he could about anything to do with the creation of the best build possible for himself, no one else. And when he was touring he would scour the internet for best parts that would compile his dream bike, which is always the one on the table at that moment in time. He is humbled to be a part of In Motion, with such an amazing line-up of builders. @therealxm

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