I discovered the first 300/300 bike in Sturgis. Reminded me of when we ran big tires on the front and rear of bikes in the ‘70s for the fun of it and a different design. Here it was the first beach ball front and rear bike and I’ve been chasing Branscomb and Bob Page for the last couple of months to feature it. Bikernet had to be the first to feature a 300/300. Then Branscomb gave up the skinney. They were designed and built for a movie. So let’s take a look at the sketchy story behind the bikes, the movies and the madness. Believe it or not there’s more than one…
You can sort info from here for both of the 300 tire bikes “Headhunter” (the cobalt blue and chrome bike) and “Slaugter” (the black and copper bike).
“Headhunter will be the good guy motorcycle star of the movie ridden by the star of the movie (final selection of those playing roles have not been finalized)…” Bob Page, Branscomb’s partner in many things. “So when you read the bylines of the movie that I sent you yesterday you will see the role that this bike plays as the supporting cast member to the star..the good guy in a good over evil plot.
The rider/star is a returning Iraq, war veteran who comes back to his hometown and tries to make a difference in rooting out the drug problems associated with this motorcycle gang (the leader of which will be riding the black and copper bike “Slaughter”). It was built to create its own character and reflect a good-guy positive image while still having that very aggressive stance and look. “Slaughter” was (the black and copper bike which is the bad guy of the movies bike) done for the bad guy…dark and sinister.
”Headhunter is meant to be all chrome and billet,” Bob said, “to stand out, and to reflect a positive bad boy image.”
The second big tire bike “Slaughter”, on the other hand is just the opposite, a sinister image, dark and dangerous bad boy role…
The whole big tire design was done to reflect this awesome, aggressive, dangerous, image for these two “characters” of the movie. “We wanted them to be their own star in the movie, not just another motorcycle bought off the H-D dealers floor,” Bob said. “They should be bigger than life just as the two lead characters of the movie are the bigger- than-life characters in their town and their gang.”
The two big tire bikes were totally custom fabricated from the ground up. They worked with numerous partners in building the bikes, but in the end a great deal of fabrication had to be done to achieve the independent look and feel of each bike. The custom Triple Tree’s had to be designed, fabricated, and machined from the ground up as nothing like them existed before. The 300 front and rear rims were machined in unique designs just for these bikes by “American Metal Works” with “Avon Tyres”.
The “Xtreme Custom Cycle” frames used for these two motorcycles were heavily altered to achieve the unique looks of both bikes. Most of the parts on “Slaughter” were bought raw and then copper plated. “Todd Prosser” of the Chop Shop did the fabrication and custom metal work on both bikes. We are using stock RevTech 110 engines and drive trains for both bikes, supplied by Custom Chrome along with the front forks and numerous other parts. Over the coming months you might see further customization to the engines to bring the bikes closer to the vision we have for these two characters. Brakes were supplied by Custom Chrome and Hawg Halters. The two hand tooled custom seats came from Hidecore. Headlights from Adjure. Forward controls, grips, etc. are from Supreme Legends and Custom Chrome.
Both bikes will be shown at the Pomona and Sacramento Easy riders V-twin bike shows this coming January.
The two support bikes “Pounder” and “Road Wolf” are just that as well…supporting character bikes. They are meant to be customs but more of a traditional motorcycle that members would ride. “Pounder” is the side kick to “headhunter” and “Road Wolf” is the sidekick to “Slaughter”.
They are just standard Prostreet frames developed for different looks again to be their own characters in the movie, but not as radical and strong as the two primary motorcycles.
In addition to the above supporting companies we also benefited from the help of Mike Corbin supplying the custom flame seat for “Road Wolf” and the gator seat for “Pounder”, Heartland supplying struts, Kustomwerks supplied sheetmetal, Samson exhausts, Ego Tripp wheels are on “Pounder” and American Metal Works wheels are on “Road Wolf”.
Builders: Branscombe Richmond, Lonny Spiva, and
Todd Prosser, Chop Shop Choppers
Fabricator: Todd Prosser, Chop Shop Choppers
Sponsors involved in the build of all four custom motorcycles for The Ironhorsemen
Custom Chrome: Revtech 110 and drive transmission, sheetmetal, controls, brake components, switches, etc.
Bikernet.com:
Corbin: Custom Seats
Hidecore: Custom engraved seats
Adjure: Custom Lighting
Hawg Halters: Brakes
Kustomwerks:
Samson Exhausts:
Xtreme Cycle Design: Frame
Avon Tyres:
American Metal Works: Custom Rims
Ego Tripp: Custom Rims
Buck Wild: Custom Paint
Supreme Legends:
Heartland USA: struts
Andrews Plating, Inc.: powdercoating
MissingInk.com:
Dioro Graphix:
It should be noted that several of these bikes will also be featured in the upcoming 2006 release of “Taken By Force”.
The making of Taken By Force
The cast of Taken by Force features two newcomers to the Hollywood scene. New rap artist Topic is making his feature film debut as a member of the special tactics LAPD unit depicted in the movie. Director Ron Althoff wanted someone with a natural likeability and engaging personality for the role, and he got just that with Topic. Newly signed to Big Chuck's Drama Family Records, Topic has music insiders betting on the success of his debut release that is rumored to feature rap superstars 'The Game' and '50 Cent'.
Twenty-four year-old John Brotherton is another member of the film's LAPD team who will be new to movie-goers. This Northwest native is tall (6'2″) with blond hair and the natural grace of an athlete(football, golf, snowboarding and basketball), but don't let his heart-throb looks fool you. The classically-trained Brotherton has been acting since he was ten years old. Although he has only been in LA for less than two years, he has already caught the eye of a number of producers, and has landed roles in several independent features.
When Director Ron Althoff went looking for an actor to fill the role of Dakota, the renegade member of an LAPD special tactics unit for his upcoming film, Taken by Force, there was only one name on his list…Branscombe Richmond. “Ronnie was totally familiar with Branscombe's work”, says Jack Gorton, the film's supervising producer, “and the only person Ronnie ever considered was Branscombe.”
“The character of Dakota has to have the ability to be intimidating, even to the other members of the LAPD unit. Branscombe has a real presence that stands out, even when he's surrounded by a bunch of pretty tough guys.”
In the movie, Branscombe's Dakota is a brooding, somewhat aloof member of a team of LAPD misfitsassigned to protect a diplomatic shipment from China. What they don't know is that the shipment is actually a terrorist weapon being smuggled into the US. When a Chinese gang tries to hi-jack the motorcade, all hell breaks loose.
It's up to Branscombe's character to keep the mismatched LAPD outcasts from fighting amongthemselves long enough to beat the bad guys. Branscombe's driving skills are on display when Dakotaswings into action, putting the tactical van between the attackers and their prey, while braving a hail ofgunfire.
But “American Motorcycle 1902” fans will probably get a bigger kick out of the moment when BR first appears in the movie, rolling into an LAPD parking lot aboard his 2005 “American Motorcycle 1902” Custom Motorcycle while wearing “AMC 1902” apparel and outerwear.
Branscombe also is an associate producer of this film, and Is actively involved in the creation of what is anticipated to be an exciting action thriller.
The films anticipated release is in the fall of 2006.
http://amc1902.com/takenbyforce.html
