BREAKING

Feature Bikes

The Salt Racer

Article and Photos By: Twila Knight

Originally Published In The. January 2017 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

It started as a pile of parts, a seized up motor and a trip to Fredericksburg, Texas, just a small jaunt from Austin, TX where the builder lives and works. Seriously, that had to have been the best $100 dollars ever spent!! The story begins way back in 2009, and it took a few too many years to complete this baby due to the many hats the builder wears, and, well, life in general just kind of gets in the way sometimes. I’m sure the majority of y’all reading this can relate there. First off, a bit about the builder. As mentioned earlier, Matt Hurtado wears many hats. Not only does he have a day job as an Electrician (22 years strong) he is also the Owner and Operator of Working Man’s Customs. Working Man’s Customs is predominately in the business of Leatherworking (Seats, belts, wallets, etc.). The second part of that business, however, is fabrication, everything from parts to total builds. And of course, the best hat of all is that of Father and Husband. The Salt Racer was inspired by two totally different builds. One was Hot-Doc custom’s “Parabellum Bullet” and the other inspiration was Dan Webb’s re-creation of “The Golden Submarine.” Yeah, ok, so The Golden Submarine is a car, but hey, inspiration is inspiration, right?

 

Though there were already two huge inspirations for this build, Matt was also drawn to the streamlined look of the cars and motorcycles out on the salt flats. With that in mind, the first thing he did was call up Mooneyes USA and ask them to spin up some custom moon discs. A few weeks later the discs had arrived, and Matt went straight to work getting them mounted up. Then it sat, and sat, for about two years! Smack in the middle of the shop, as if it were mocking him, taunting him daily. He just found himself too busy to get back to work on it. All he could do was stare at that would-be Salt Racer as he spent his days working on everyone else’s project but his own. Then the third year of the build rounded the corner which conveniently coincided with the second annual Handbuilt Show in Austin, TX. Matt decided to submit some photos of the partial build and lo-and-behold, not too much after submission he received the official invite into the Hand-Built Show in the mail! Now all he needed was a completed bike!

This was the flame that lit a fire under his ass so to speak. With a few calls to some very patient customers, asking to put their stuff on hold momentarily while he worked on his own build, he put his nose to the grindstone and got right to work. As most builds go, Matt ended up taking a lot of the parts of that he had originally fabricated for the bike and re-fabricated them to match the ideas he had come up with over time. I guess when something sits that long unattended to you have plenty of time to conceptualize new ideas. And plenty of them too! Taking a little time, and lots of labor he finished the fabrication on this beast, and he was ready to start buckling things up. Wanting the look of brushed aluminum, he decided to get the frame powder coated a satin style chrome. He Chose Accent Powder Coat in his hometown of Austin. Matt then wisely chose an Un-seized motor to repurpose for the Salt Racer. The motor came out of a 1981 XS650 that had been laying around his shop. He sent the motor over to Chris at Limey Bikes.

 

Chris got ahold of it and worked his magic on it. A couple of weeks later the final assembly began. Finishing all the bells and whistles and Finally, he was able to complete the basket weave seat that he had envisioned years ago. When it was all said and done, Matt was able to sit back and take in the artistry of his own hard work. “It truly is a work of art in my eyes.” Since finished the bike, not only was Matt honored to show it in the HandBuilt Show, but also entered it into the ROT Rally show in back in June of this year. Proudly he took Second Place in the “Custom Retro” class. He isn’t quite done with this beautiful machine, and neither is the rest of this motorcycle family. Next up is the Harvest Classic in Luckenbach, Texas in October. Many more shows to come after that, you can count on it. Although some of you are reading this and looking at The Salt Racer, might think it isn’t exactly practical, it is in fact road worthy, and as Matt puts it, “It may not be practical, but damn it looks slick rolling down the road and damn is it fun to ride!”

 

The Salt Racer Tech Sheet

Owner: Matt Hurtado

City/State: Texas

Builder: Working Man’s Customs

Year: 1981

Model: XS650

Value: Whatever Someone Will Pay

Time: Way Too Long

ENGINE

Year: 1981

Model: XS650

Builder: Working Man’s Customs

Ignition: PMA

Displacement: 650cc

Pistons: 1 Over

Heads: Ported & Polished

Carb: Mikuni

Cam: Stock

Air Cleaner: Velocity Stacks

Exhaust: Working Man’s Customs

Primary: Stock

TRANSMISSION

Year: 1981

Make: Yamaha

Shifting: Stock

Frame

Year: 1975

Make: Yamaha

Model: Working Man’s Customs

Forks

Type: Stock

Builder: Yamaha

WHEELS

Front Wheel: Stock W/ Custom Spun Moon Disc

Size: 19”

Front Tire:

Front brake: None

Rear Wheel: Stock W/ Custom Spun Moon Disc

Size: 18”

Rear Tire:

Rear brake: Drum

PAINT

Painter: None

Color: Brushed Aluminum

Type: Powder Coat

ACCESSORIES

Bars: Working Man’s Customs

Risers: Working Man’s Customs

Hand Controls: Internal Throttle

Fuel tank: Working Man’s Customs

Front Fender: None

Rear Fender: Inetgrated Into Seat

Seat: Working Man’s Customs

Foot Controls: Mids -Working Man’s Customs

Oil tank: None

Headlight: Perlux Fog Light

Taillight: Retro Fitted Bullet Style

Speedo: None

Photographer: Twila Knight

Related Posts

1 of 54