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The pursuit of a custom cruiser took hold of Osborne two
years ago. He began by assembling a custom cycle from components
he purchased. However, this would only serve as a warm-up.
He sold the bike as soon as the snow fell. Osborne desired
a machine that was customized from his mind, through his hands
and not by catalog.
"I wanted a chopper and I wanted something that would
look super clean," Osborne summarized. "I wanted
the whole thing to flow from one end to the next."
Osborne began by outsourcing the frame fabrication to an
American shop. Despite investing significant time into research
and references, it was not without hesitation that he entrusted
his specifications to another's hands. "You have to put
your trust into someone at that point," he said. "That's
the hardest part."
His trust rewarded and the frame delivered, Osborne went
on to fabricate many of the components of the bike from blank
metal with hammer and dolly just as he had witnessed his grandfather
do. The eight-month process was an expression of both Osborne's
admitted limitations and his abilities.
"It's hard for me to tell someone else what I would
want. With metal I can create anything. But to try to draw
what I want to create, forget it," he said. "I know
what it looks like in my head so I just build it until it
looks like what I want."
While the fender took the most amount of work, the handlebars
went through the most variations. Osborne experimented with
a variety of curves and spikes before finding the right fit
for the bike. "I was trying to make them look too fancy,"
Osborne concluded. "In the end, the simplest design is
the one I liked the best and suited the bike the best."
Osborne's custom fabrication and custom paint all combine
to draw attention to the focal point of the bike; the engine.
"The motor is such a focal point of the bike I wanted
to show it off," he said. "The motor looks so good
when it's all polished and chromed, I wanted to show as much
of it as I could. I don't like hiding it, it's the heart of
the bike."
The build was completed last October, yielding only a week's
worth of riding before the snow fell. But for Osborne, the
true thrill of the bike comes in the build and not in the
ride. He is already planning on perhaps parting with Bad Ass
and setting to toil on a new project.
"The building part of it is what I enjoy. I need to
create something. I can't draw, I can't paint by brush, it's
my artistic side coming out."
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