For this issue's "Shop Crawl," we swung by the Fullerton, California, location of Matt Hotch's HotMatch Custom Cycles. It is difficult to imagine someone who hasn't heard of Matt, but just in case you haven't he's the two-time season winner of the Discovery Channel's Biker Build-Off and needless to say, a very talented individual. With the exception of custom paint and upholstery, the custom bike building end of HotMatch Custom Cycles is pretty much a one-man operation.
In contrast to the small armies that usually man the teams of custom bike builders on TV today, Matt prefers to build his bikes alone. The first time we got a glance at his shop in the background of his first Biker Build-Off segment we knew we had to get a closer look.
Matt's shop is housed in a 23,500-square-foot structure built in 1924 by the Union Pacific Railroad that is listed as a National Historic Place. Matt tells us that it's a great place to show up for work everyday. All of the equipment you see here, Matt says he uses at least once a day. We'd like to thank him for allowing us to share his workshop with our readers.
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