You can bling your car. You can bling your Chihuahua. You can even bling your teeth, so why not bling your bike? Well, we’ve been doing it for a hundred years what with all kinds of nickel and brass then chrome and polished aluminum. And then there’s the paint job where it’s easy enough to drop $5,000 and more on high graphic multi-colors, gold metal flakes, chromatic paint that changes with the angle of the sun, even stealth paint to avoid radar detectors, you name it, it’s out there on some bike. You gotta wear shades or a welder’s mask to get close to some customs due to their rating on the paint and polish Bling scale.
But what if you wanted to go un-bling? Seems the car guys have been painting their streetrods in semi-gloss, satin and finally flat colors, very lo-cal, all shine removed. Why not do up a custom bike all non-gloss monochromatic but maybe add some shiny touches? Make that elegant touches. It was along those lines that French-born/Californian Christian Audigier was thinking when he commissioned the creation of NonBling boulevard cruiser seen here.
Now Christian is no stranger to high fashion with a twist. Make that with a tattoo, his design ideas generated by what’s moving and shaking in that thing we call the rock n’ roll pop culture. His insights have paid off big time to the tune of $35 million worth of sales booked at a recent Las Vegas Project and Magic Shows.
Known as the “Godfather of Street Chic” the designer turned the Sand’s Convention Center into a “Mad Max Thunderdome set” to launch his hip apparel that includes the tattoo inspired Ed Hardy, Smet and Christian Audigier lines. Along with a bevy of top European models there were several top custom motorcycles as well. Christian’s into bikes in a big way, often using them as center pieces at his stores across the country including the Flat White NonBling 1980 FLH seen here, now on display at his location in Miami.
His designs are noted for their “vibrant colors and exuberant, life-affirming attitude” and are popular with the public as well as the celebrity crowd including everyone from Paris Hilton to Liz Taylor. Christian was previously head designed at Von Dutch and we all remember that clothing phenomena and maybe even the original Von Dutch who had a penchant for painting motorcycles. In fact one of Christian’s customs, the Ed Hardy special, features tattoo inspirations as well as von Dutch style pin-striping. It’s one of a dozen one-off customs built for him special order by the Garage Company located in L.A.
Based around a 1980 FLH, the Garage Co. trio of Yoshi, Kiyo and Segura went to work on a ground-up. The 80 cu. in. H-D was refitted with a set of 8:1 compression KB pistons while headwork included a dual sparkplug set-up fed by an S&S E carb. Christian shifts through a 4-speed rotary top tranny mated seamlessly to a Primo 1 ½-inch belt all of which starts with a touch of the electric start button.
For long lower lines the 1984 FLH front end was raked three degrees while the H-D Wide Glide was shortened via a 2-inch under tube. 16-inch rims roll classic white wall Coker nostalgia tires locked down by a GMA clamper up front, an H-D juice brake on the rear. The fenders and 3.5 gallon gas tank are H-D items but take that as a base for all the one-off custom, handmade pieces that include the elegant fender ornaments, windshield, windshield crown, handle bars, tank panel, seat pan, seat rail, carb cover, license holder, and derby cover with Christian’s monogram logo.
Now we get to the frost on the cake so to speak. Well, make that sugar free frosting. Rather than jump for a flash paint job, the choice was a svelte flat white with just the right accenting from the talented hands of the artist Emilio who spent several hours on the striping and lettering. This is a bike tailored to its own set of fashion rules. Call it a trend setter, something that both Christian Audigier and the Garage Co. share in uncommon coolness.
More info at www.garagecompany.com and
www.christianaudigier.com.
