Videography by: Levi Jacob Swann Proud new owner of a Killman Customs Independent Buildhouse Bobber: Alison Alexander
She encouraged us to do with the machine as we would, said she'd happily wait until it was finished to find out what we were going to do with her baby and we were hooked. Pretty tough to turn down carte blanche. So there you had it, we’d put together a wicked scoot and she’d let us use it for some shows and photo and video shoots, tag along to help spread the good word and even do some modelling for us. Sounded like a win-win in our books. Never underestimate karma.
Ali had sent us some pics of bobbers she liked, so going in that direction was a natural, especially considering the presence of a stock monoshock in the rear, that still left the bike with a hardtail aesthetic. After deciding on a heavy 50's Bobber influence with modern touches, some things were just have-to-haves. The black tuck and roll La Rosa Design seat with the white stitching needed something special behind it, so we asked them to also whip us up a one-off black diamond tuck p-pad with matching white stitching, to compliment the look without getting all conformist and cookie cutter about the upholstery. Shinko 777 Whitewall tires added a heady dose of clean elegance and titanium wrapped pipes with an additional slotted heat shield laid on a bit of additional charm. A gold D.I.D xring chain and new JT carbon steel sprockets made it so she’d have the looks as well as the vroom and we added a Galfer stainless steel braided brake line and Motion Pro clutch cable to help ensure things come to a stop when needed. Some sweet Stainless Steel Allen fasteners for the engine covers are going to make future life easier and a return to the stock airbox config, but with a shiny new chrome cover, took care of some reliability issues she was experiencing with her existing pods. A new ignition, gas cap and steering lock means she's able to use one key for the whole bike. The machined reaper cutout for the radiator was strictly for shits and giggles. As we found it, The back end was a bit tragic. The cuts were a couple of inches too short and uneven. When you add that to the asymmetrical frame rails on this model, you have a recipe for a ton of rescue work. We sealed off the tubes and mounted some beautiful old school bullet signal lights over them to give things a tight, clean look. Zeppelin signals up front brought some extra funk. Following our philosophy of form wedded to function, we wanted to give her a nice sleek rear end that was still capable of carrying a passenger or go-bag as needed. Enter TJ Brutal Customs and one of his powder coated sissybars. Now unfortunately the sissybar didn’t allow for enough tire clearance at the rear fender, so we spent a bit of time with our friendly neighbourhood machinist and came up with some clever but simple brackets to allow us to move the bottom sissybar mounting points up an inch and a half. Extra special low maintenance points to us for mounting everything so that the rear wheel and fender/sissybar can be removed easily and separately. We also used a tidy stack of tasty Blue Collar Bobbers parts to save on machining and engineering time. They came through in a powerful way, customizing an order to our needs and offering the benefit of their experiences over the phone as well. That took care of the rear fender, side covers, seat mount/electrical cover up top and a wicked black nickel tail light too.
Our first outing with the stunning Copper Bobber, the Om Boys Shitshow and Shine in Nanaimo, was an absolute blast. The day after the show, while getting some fresh ink, Ali’s tattoo artist told her to wear her first biker rally sunburn with pride. Obviously a wise and intuitive man. She’s going to be riding her beautiful and reliable bike for a long time to come and it should be one Hell of a Summer for her and for us. Thanks for everything Ali, you absolutely killed it and remembered the fun. You wound up in our doorway for a reason and we’re so glad you did!
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