It would probably be an understatement to suggest that the custom motorcycle is experiencing a renaissance these days. While no one can argue that Paul Teutel Sr. and Jesse James are charismatic characters, what captivates viewers is the romance of witnessing the creation of rolling sculpture from billet and sheet metal. As each finished chopper roars to life and rolls out of the garage, one has the sense that Mary Shelley is somewhere nodding her approval.
In the wake of their newfound cachet, some builders have come to see themselves as TIG-welding Titians and shun direction from customers in favor of a “build it and they will come” approach. Fortunately there are still master builders, such as Discovery Channel Biker Build-Off contestant, Jerry Covington, who create true custom bikes that are conceived with varying degrees of input from someone like, well perhaps someone like you.
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Photograph by Hughes Photography. (Click image to enlarge)So with this in mind, we spoke with Jerry about his methodology for working with a client who wants his personal dream ride built from scratch. Covington’s Cycle City is based in Oklahoma, and while they welcome visitors, Jerry accommodates his remote location by conducting design briefings over the phone and internet. Assuming that you possess the $75,000 to $125,000 honorarium required to ride away on a Covington custom, Jerry will commence the three- to six-month design/build process by asking you to examine the 45 bikes displayed on his web site. Once a favorite has been selected, its design can serve as the rough draft upon which embellishments can be made.
Anticipating the riding conditions that you plan on subjecting the bike dictates to what extent cornering capability and long-distance comfort will play in the design constraints. The prospect of accommodating a passenger plays a role as well. The less “rideable” the bike needs to be, the more radical the design potentiality—rake can be extended and tire widths can expand.
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Componentry can either be selected from Covington’s
existing parts catalog, or one-offs can be fabricated. The process of designing
and creating wheels from scratch on-site takes six to eight weeks alone, so
they are one of the first features that need to be decided upon. Likewise,
Covington’s Cycle City makes all of their own gas tanks, bars, exhausts and many
other parts, so, according to Covington, “If you’ve got some radical ideas, we
always like to do something new.” (Click image to enlarge)Covington asks his clients how fast they plan on riding the bike to determine whether aggressive 1¼8-mile times or smoothness at cruising speeds are of greater concern. “A lot of guys don’t ride that fast, but they want a real aggressive motor anyway. I would go with a 113 cu in Patrick, maybe a 125 cu in if you want the big one, but personally I like the 113. It’s a little bit smoother motor and is real crispy when you hit the throttle. It’s got 126 horsepower and 131 ft lbs of torque, and of course we like to put some nice billet heads and cylinders on it.”
When it comes to paint, Covington believes that “it’s your bike and I’ll do it how you want it, but I don’t like to overkill the paint job. I like a really nice paint job, but I want it where you really have to walk up to it to see the details in the paint.” It’s important for Covington’s crew to know specifically what color they’re using by no later than halfway through the build, in case the decision is made to use some color-matched anodized foot controls, levers or other components.
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Photograph by Hughes Photography. (Click image to enlarge)Once Covington has ascertained the customer’s basic physical dimensions and preferred ergonomic positioning, he’ll fit the rolling chassis with the motor, the transmission and the gas tank, and then select one of his 18 employees with similar dimensions to model the ergonomics. “At this point we’ll email pictures so you can let us know if there are any changes we need to make so we don’t work past that point and then have to go back and cut it up. We’ll do the same thing whenever we have a question in our minds as to what the customer wants, like the style of bars or fenders.” The end result is a one-of-a-kind rolling throne perfectly tailored to its owner.
“I had one guy come down who’d never ridden a chopper before, and he was surprised that he felt the chopper we built him rode better than his Dyna Wide Glide. We’re getting ready to ship our third bike to him next week.”
Price: Covington Custom, starting at $45,000
www.covingtonscyclecity.com