The new issue of Cycle World features this bike on the cover and a rather bizarre article that’s not really a lot about the bike. This piece does a little better job telling the real story and is told by a secret agent imbedded within the Performance Machine compound…
Strangely enough, bike building has become powerful television and the networks featuring them have seen healthy ratings narrating our chosen lifestyle. A few years back you would have been hard pressed to convince anyone that a TV show following a bunch of bike builders around would be such a huge hit. Yet, thanks for the most part to the Discovery Channel, Bikers and bike builders are now international super stars with their own agents, PR people and Leno appearances. We’ve watched the meteoric rise of biker TV from the beginning, occasionally helping builders with parts as they needed them, but have for the most part we’ve stuck with Speed TV’s stalwart American Thunder. Not that we haven’t seen countless opportunities, in fact a couple of show concepts come through here each month, each a wackier version of the last.
That all changed when the Discovery Channel folks called and asked our very own Roland Sands to be involved in a Biker Build Off. If you’ve followed this particular series, you undoubtedly already know how entertaining it is. If you haven’t, imagine pitting two talented builders against each other, filming them day and night and only allotting 30 days to create a ribable masterpiece from nothing. The carnage is wildly engaging and the ratings are spectacular.
We were blown away to be part of the antics and Roland had already started designing a bike. Then the fateful call came, he would be going up against the patriarch of custom bikes, none other then Arlen Ness himself. The fun loving folks at Original Productions (the production company that puts these shows together for Discovery) thought it might be amusing to match up the brand new guy against the established ‘done it all’ master. Now, these are the same guys responsible for the original Motorcycle Mania shows, as well as Monster Garage, Monster House and a number of other twisted shows, so it probably should not have surprised us. Although, the man is an icon, recognized worldwide and has been building bikes longer then Roland has even been alive, so it did seem a bit intimidating. Roland was nonplussed and by now had locked himself in his office and started the design process.
His past projects had all begun with a detailed illustration and he usually remained true to it throughout the build. This one would be no different, as pen was put to paper in a furious desire for the ultimate bike. Never much on doing things the way other builders do and certainly not one to build a bike that even closely resembled anything before it, Roland stayed sequestered in his den of design for what seemed like way too long. We we’re more than a little worried. His walls had become completely covered with drawings of bikes that hardly even resembled, well… Bikes and his eyes looked more like a crimson roadmap of LA. Rumors around the PM offices ran from mild dementia to word of him screaming at his computer in the middle of the night and only the truly brave even ventured near his office by the end of the first week.
Shortly after, Roland emerged from his office, looking a bit worse for wear, but sporting a wry smile that told us he found what he was looking for.
Now, we all knew he had not slept much and had been living on a steady diet of energy drinks, but building up a Motor Company bike against Arlen Ness seemed like a sure sign of insanity. Utter silence permeated the room as an entire office of PMers thought the same thing… Roland was going to need sedation. Luckily before medical personnel could be called, he presented a giant drawing of what he called the Glory Stomper (named after a biker movie from the late 60’s that featured none other then Dennis Hopper and Casey Kasem). There wasn’t much of a Softail left in this creation, but it was certainly wild, looked nothing like anything before it and seemed like it could be built within the build off’s oppressive timelines.
Several key players were recruited to lend a hand. Motorman and Salt Flats king Wink Eller came in to help with the motor and legendary builder Tom Foster offered to help with some of the fab work. Fellow freshman builder Johnny Chop did a little wrenching, as well. Not only was this Roland’s first bike build in such a short timeline, but it was also his first attempt at fabbing his own frame and now he’d be doing it on national television.
The film crews seemed to be everywhere and cameras were mounted on walls and shelves. Roland found a salvaged 2003 Fatboy at a local junkyard and its remains would form the foundation of the Glory Stomper. Once set into a frame jig, most of the Softail chassis was carved away and replaced with smooth flowing tubes. Only a few tell tale signs like the fork lock in the head tube remained of the original chassis. PM’s own R&D crew volunteered to stay after work and help with the metal mania. The completed chassis now incorporated elements of a Harley, Performance Machine’s wide wheel Phatail kit and some sort of sport bike on steroids. A 240-rear tire wrapped around an 18 x 8.5-inch wheel and a 21-inch front became rolling stock. As luck would have it, Roland had just finished the design on a new wheel he dubbed the Method and beginning with a set of these beauties, he began playing around with anodized finishes.
The result is naturally like nothing else. With Roland’s racing background, high-end suspension is a given and a phone call to Ohlins resulted in a super bike quality front end and a set of the trickest Softail shocks made. Custom machined triple clamps and a brand new PM radial mount caliper completed the front, while a slick little drive side brake did back end stopping duties and opened up the rear wheel. Baker supplied the tranny internals and Wink did some secret performance mods to the motor.
Everything was coming together now, in spite of the constant presence of cameras and lack of sleep. This was about the time the Discovery crew told us the final part of the build off (the show and ride) would occur in Puerto Rico. Located in the Caribbean, PR is an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of the Dominican Republic. Not exactly near our So Cal building base. A lot of head scratching and some furious planning followed and it was looking like we’d have to put the PM semi on a boat to get it and our show crew to the island. A clandestine phone call to the Ness camp revealed they’d be doing the same. These discovery guys continued to prove they had a twisted sense of humor.
Next on the to build list was an entirely machined from aluminum fuel tank top and a set of rocker box and motor covers to match. Chips were flying everywhere for these parts and several of the covers came out so cool, they are slated to be in next years PM catalog! The frame was now shaping up and a minimalist sport bike style tail section had been wrapped in wrapped in steel and integrated into the seat pan. This precluded using a traditional oil bag, but that was not a problem, as Roland had already come up with a beehive looking tank that would mount in front of the engine.
A polymorphic fuel tank was finally completed, capped with Roland’s machined aluminum brick while Wink and crew scrambled to build an exhaust that would clear Roland’s prototype mid controls. A trim little air cleaner housing was created to match the lines of the tank and then the entire thing was stripped down and sent to paint. Air Trix in Santa Barbara had body paint duties and started slinging bondo within an hour of receiving the metalwork. The chassis was sent out for a unique silver/chrome powder coating and while everything was getting pretty, Wink did his magic with the engine internals and the crew began buttoning up the details.
Meanwhile the Discovery crew was lurking around PM, trying to dig up dirt on Roland and interviewing anyone that stood still for 30 seconds. Before long, shiney paint returned and final assembly started. The bike looked very much like the original concept drawing and in spite of not really fitting into preconceived style descriptions (is it a sport bike, a bobber or a chopper?), it was starting to gain a fan base at the otherwise very cynical PM headquarters. With only days to spare, final wiring and cleanup were completed and Roland took his maiden tire-smoking voyage. It was good and the bike was ready to kick ass.
After cleaning the burnt rubber off the rear end of the bike, it was loaded into the PM semi and sent to Florida, from there the entire rig would board a boat to tropical Puerto Rico. Like the Ness team, we sent a full compliment of personnel to support our builder’s cause and possibly pick up any broken pieces!
The first day was spent bartering with the local customs guys in order to free the bikes and PM rig. After that, the ride through beautiful Puerto Rico is better seen than described as this small island turned out to be an amazing place. Our crew toured the tropical paradise, stopped to roll cigars at a 100-year-old factory (an impromptu rolling contest between Arlen and Roland broke out).
The local PD was gracious enough to lead everyone the wrong way down a one way street and then along the emergency lane of the highway back to the hotel. A trip to Rincon was on tap for the next day and saw the previously friendly police become unammused as Roland “accidentally” broke a few traffic rules (in his defense, they were not very well posted). The police chase that ensued ended in both Roland and his bike being hidden from site until the heat let up.
The final day encompassed the show and all too critical judging. A massive bike show in Rincon was the heart of the event and was staged a now defunct power plant right on the beach. If you’ve watched the show you already know the judging did not come out in our favor, but even losing to Arlen is still quite an honor. A little stage diving and finally a taste of PR’s famous surf ended the day as the most gorgeous orange and red sunset served as our backdrop.
— George Hanson
