Chris had two friends at school who were into choppers. One of them had a brother with a Knucklehead, and Chris started drawing really cool choppers. The other friend had a chopped Sting Ray with extended forks, lowered seat, custom handlebars and sissy bar. Chris soon modified his Sting Ray. He spent time with this friend working on their bikes, drawing choppers and chopping Revell Harley models.
Chris got his own mini-bike, a Taco 44, for Christmas in 1969. He paid for most of it, though his parents kicked in some dough. Three other kids in the neighborhood got scooters at the same time. Chris’ brother soon bought one from a family friend and he and his two brothers took turns racing around the block, dodging the cops. Later, to avoid the police, they created a course up and down a long driveway, through their garage, into the backyard, around a tree and back the same way. The concrete garage floor made for nice brodies, but the track really tore up the lawn in the yard.
Around 1967-68, during seventh grade, a kid up the street whose brother was building a metal flake green custom Triumph in his bedroom, was out for a test ride. A Harley WL chopper was also on the street at the same time Chris and his family was returning from church. It was a strange time for young kids with straight folks in middle class cars, surrounded by the straight life and years of military style. Society painted the same sober American dream on television, in movies and stores. When a biker pulled alongside their Ford, glistening with never-before-seen green metal flake, sparkling chrome, loud flashy pipes and straddled by a long-haired man with a scraggly beard and raggedy vest, life was suddenly different. To many in the world it indicated an unleashed freedom, the bad side of the tracks and creativity without rules.
Chris was caught off guard. He wasn’t sure what to make ofthe wild men and flamed machines. He started buying Cycle Guide magazine, the only magazine at that time that occasionally featured choppers and custom bikes. Later he bought Big Bike and Ed Roth’s Choppers magazines. Around that time he started seeing Roth’s ads in magazines for chopper posters (photos of bikers on their choppers and David Mann’s paintings).
Original Kallas Chopper Sketch, Circa 1967
During high school Chris drew hot rods, drag racers, customcars, Roth-style monster cars and surfing themes. He collected Pete Millars’ Dragtoons, a big influence at the time. Friends bought his rough originals with their extra milk and snack money for 5 or 10 cents.
He had drawing contests with his brothers at the kitchen table to seewho could draw the best custom car in an hour. This helped sharpen his skills.
Original Kallas HA Sketch, Circa 1969
His brother was also a high school artist, but was less capturedby the craft. In the mid- to late-?60s, his brothers started playingguitar and Chris took up drums. He drew psychedelic posters and rock stars such as the Beatles, Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf and Cream. Later his brothers gave up drawing for music, and Chris went back to concentrating onart.
Chris continued to follow the craft the way many of us followedbikes — like heroin addicts, shunning the ?normal,? standard jobsof life. And even though riding can be dangerous and impractical, we keep at it, no matter what.
In September 1975, the day after finding out he didn’t win abid on a highway patrol hog, Chris bought his first bike, a 1971 Sportster, from a hillbilly for $1,300. The man had to ride it to Chris? house because he didn?t know how. For a 4-year-old bike, it was a mess, with 6-inch over forks, a reverse direction twist grip throttle (because of installation of a Lake injector), a radiator cap for a gas cap, a cardboard battery cover, no front fender and a transmission that jumped out of third gear. He took it apart a week later and repainted it. In 1984 he traded the Sportster and cash for a special construction semi chopped bike, a 1974 Shovelhead in a 1972 frame, which he rebuilt into a stripped dresser. In 1992-94, Chris restored a wrecked 1970 Electra glide that replaced the ’74. It has won first and third place trophies in shows. In 1991, his wife, Nancy, got her own bike, a 1984 FXR, first year Evo.
