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Metal Goddess
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Darla
David Morris
09/01/2006
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Brian J. Nelson
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The creation of a hand-built motorcycle is a series of philosophical
milestones on a path of many forks. Some lead to the circus of today’s custom
bike world, others to obscurity, with fortitude and integrity the only
companions on a route to transcendent reward. “Happiness is that state of
consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values,” wrote Ayn
Rand, author of The Fountainhead. The works of builder Jesse Rooke would have
enriched her lexicon of individualism, for this is a happy man.
Masculine faux chess pieces and graceful arcs define Darla. (Click images to enlarge)
On the
near side of 30, Rooke wears the mantle of genius bestowed on him by motorcycle
press from Utah to the Ukraine as casually as the flip-flops he sports. In the
unassuming warehouse in Huntington Beach, California that he shares with Todd’s
Cycles, Rooke pops open a pair of fruit-juice flavored Rockstar energy drinks,
courtesy of his sponsors, and introduces me to the latest in his line of metal
goddesses.
Her name is Darla. Rendered in flame orange, black and gold leaf,
she looks like nothing else. Her cheetah-like physique exhumes the boardtrack
racers of nearly 100 years ago, like the Indian Eight and the prescient Cyclone.
Touch the starter; the howl of scalded cats convinces you she is even faster
than she looks. Climb atop her studded leather-skinned metal seat and you are
instantly racing biplanes through a time warp that lands you back in the 21st
century, gasping for breath.
“People kept telling me that my motorcycles
looked like Schwinns,” Rooke muses. “I raced and built my own bicycles. It’s
natural for that to have an influence on my thinking.” Rooke’s new category of
custom honors the industry’s pioneer marques—such as Schwinn, and his
Hendersons and Excelsiors—that blended cycle and motor with a bygone style and
individualism in an era when all was ripe for invention.
Rooke has pursued
his path unencumbered by rules and conformity. Growing up in Arizona, he rode
motorcycles from the age of 3, and was soon competitive in skateboard, cycle,
motorcycle and kart events, reaching world-class levels in the US and Europe.
His racer father “constantly brought home motorbikes that were basket cases that
my brother and I learned how to fix, because we really couldn’t afford a new
bike.” He learned his trade “like a blacksmith,” finding ways to invent,
improvise, build and craft from scratch.
His talent for speed merged with
his ability to build what he rode and raced. An innate business sense earned him
relationships with major manufacturers and world-class suppliers. But racing
accidents, one of which left him non-ambulatory for three years, led him down
the fork to the path he travels today. “I was watching a TV program about Jesse
James building customs, and thought, ‘I can do that.’”
2002 saw his first
custom, a chopper he named Diane. Its unique single sided suspension, innovative
rear wheel hub and fresh styling caused a sensation, winning every show it
entered. The custom cult in the US and Europe caught Rooke fever. Celebrity
clients, including Brad Pitt and Indy 500 champion Jimmy Vasser, have enhanced
the exclusivity of Rooke Customs, whose production Rooke limits to ten new
builds a year.
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