In an age of self-appointed purists and professors of individuality dictating monoculture solutions to satisfy the fashion needs of the masses, it looks like the traditionalists have it all figured out or have they?
Sometimes the best things in life aren't pure but rather stem from a hybrid of ideas or philosophies. In the case of custom motorcycles lifting design cues from another style, it can actually improve the breed. In the world of automobiles and motorcycles it's truly not all that unusual. One only has to look at the latest air-suspension setup on a street rod and recognize that mini-truckers were the first customizers to use air-ride, or notice a shaved firewall on a lowrider Chevy and attribute it to the hot rodders.
For Gai Wilson of Louisville, Tennessee, the decision to build his rigid-framed show bike along the ultra clean lines of a street rod was a natural choice. If you look at the photo with his two Deuces and the '33, three-window coupe in the background, you will notice there's nothing on them that doesn't need to be there. If you look even closer, you will discover there's more detail than meets the eye. It's known as street rod style, and street rodders go to great pains tying to conceal and eliminate anything that disturbs a vehicle's gestalt. It's a reversal of the old adage that "anything worth doing is worth overdoing." When you apply this design philosophy to a motorcycle it's sometimes known as "bicycle clean." The bike we feature here isn't Gai's first bike, but it is the first one he has owned in over 30 years. The motorcycle Gai owned in 1975 was destroyed when he laid it down at over 120 mph. In the following three decades, Gai has made a living as a building contractor specializing in custom homes, but he satisfies his passion for perfection building street rods.
Sporting a concept drawing by Josh Shaw, Gai walked into American Cycle Works (ACW) in Louisville, Tennessee, and related to Rich Glassburn some of the features he wanted to incorporate into his bike. One look around at some of the projects Rich had going on and Gai was confident he had located someone capable of completing his project with the attention to detail he was in search of. Rich said he picked up a few tricks from Gai during the build,like how to conceal electrical wiring and run plumbing. To illustrate just how far street rodders will take this clean look, check out Gai's tires - they've been fully shaved. That's right. There's not one shred of evidence left to prove they were once Avon Venoms. The Avon name and all other markings were removed from the tires by buzzing them down with a Scotch-Brite wheel on a die grinder. Gai says, "[the burning rubber] smelled just like being at the racetrack."
Not content to cease his details at shaving the sidewalls, Gai moved his focus inward and designed a pair of wheels and brake rotors fashioned after the Boyd Coddington wheels on his '32 roadster. The crew of Tight Customs headed by Matt Donaldson and Don Hendricks in Valencia, California, machined the wheels from 6061 rotary-forged billet blanks and then produced brake rotors and a drive pulley to match.
For sanitary forks it's hard to match the super-clean looks of a Perse front end. Gai's bike is running 18-inch-over Pro-One fork tubes clamped into a pair of Perse 7-degree triple-trees that house a pair of Custom Cycle Controls Pro-Street handlebars with a 3013 Dakota Digital speedo nestled in. Five out and 4 inches up describes the stance of the curved single downtube frame from Killer Chopper of Henniker, New Hampshire. The seat on Gai's bike uses a custom pan from ACW and was upholstered by Paul Atkins in buffed stingray leather. Rich says ACW smelled like fish for a couple of weeks after Paul dropped off the seat.
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