STORY: Eric Thiessen
PHOTOGRAPHY: Douglas Little

Freedom has proved to be more of an instinct than a wish for people throughout the ages. Freedom has driven people to go to war, to sit in front of tanks, to stick flowers inside of bayoneted rifles, and to go to other lengths that many of us in a free society would look in astonishment at.

But where, in this free society of ours, does the average citizen find that extra sense of liberation? Where to unchain one's self from the office, from the house, from the city, from the everyday constraints of life? For Dave Jeanson, freedom is found on the backside of a rumbling hog.

"You can just get on your bike and ride," he said, just after rolling up with his '98 Harley Davidson Heritage Springer Custom. "Just go wherever the wind takes you."

Dave Jeanson's discovery of freedom, and eye-pleasing freedom at that, started low-key enough, with little more than the simple desire to ride a bike. "I rode dirt-bikes all my life, then when I turned 16 I wanted a motorcycle," he explained. "But my mom wasn't into that, so I bought my first at 18."

While originally a rider of Japanese "crotch-rockets," Jeanson said the prestige that comes with riding a Harley-Davidson was something he couldn't ignore. But, once he got on a Harley, what he described as "the bug" took over his creative mind.

"It was (originally) just to go out and ride a Harley, then I got 'the bug,'" he said, explaining how a stock bike was transformed into the beautiful creation it has become. "I bought it back in '98, then I started doing little things, like chrome and whatnot," he said. "Then you get to a certain point where you notice the things that haven't been done, or that you want to do, and one winter I just tore it down and went to town."

Jeanson credited the recent explosion in pop culture surrounding of customized motorcycles with helping "the bug" affect his creative direction. "It was gradual at first, getting different ideas from different guys, then with all those shows on T.V. like American Chopper, you just start going wild with ideas."

Those ideas that Jeanson incorporated into his creation have garnered him impressive accolades from the biking community. A 3rd place winner at the Sturgis "Rat's Hole," a first place winner at the World of Wheels, and a first place win at Harley Davidson's Rolling Thunder are just a few of the highlights that Jeanson's bike has accomplished. But still, even with such an impressive bike, "the bug" that Jeanson speaks of has proved hard to calm with just one bike.

"I've got a 2000 Road King, and I'm working on a Pro-Street as well," he said, noting that while those bikes are great, his next creation will be a real show-stopper. "I bought a Paul Yaffe chassis and that'll be ready for next summer."