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The Quiet Master
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Goldammer Cycle Works
Michael Schulte
02/01/2007
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Photography by Cordero Studios/corderostudios.com
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For the last few years, cable television has launched custom bike builders
into the celebrity firmament with the same mechanical efficiency it churned out
TV chefs in the 1990s. Like celebrity chefs who rarely pick up a sauté pan,
full-time motorcycle “personalities” are often elevated by the medium over
quiet artisans who are the true exemplars of their
craft.
Designer
and builder Roger Goldammer may be unrepresented on Wal-Mart’s T-shirt racks,
but the earnest multi-disciplinarian with the rigorous work ethic has emerged as
the custom world’s Northern Star. His beautifully engineered, flowing
sculptures have won his peers’ admiration and respect, along with an impressive
inventory of commendations.
 Goldammer began gathering laurels in 2002
when he picked up a troika, including a best engineering nod for his Project X
bike and top overall honors for his plasmic take on the fat-tired chopper meme,
Dragon Bike, from the Oakland Roadster Show. He also earned a best new product
citation for his G Force Billet Front End at that year’s V-Twin Expo. (Click image to enlarge)
Most
recently, the unassuming founder of Kelowna, British Columbia-based Goldammer
Cycle Works won the recognition of his native Canada when he picked up the
British Columbia Creative Achievement Award for Industrial Design. This
home-grown accolade came after Goldammer played an astonishing pair of deuces in
Las Vegas, walking off with first place in Bike Fest’s “Artistry in Iron” show
and the prestigious AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building in 2004 and
2005, running both tables two consecutive years.
The “Artistry in Iron”
accolades are especially fitting, considering Goldammer’s upbringing. This
architect’s son grew up working on his father’s E-type Jaguar and airplanes,
while absorbing his mother’s artistic aptitude. “You can’t help be influenced by
your surroundings,” the thoughtful, soft-spoken Goldammer says. “I combined my
love of the arts and all things mechanical, and here I am today, building
bikes.”
After an eight-year apprenticeship as an automotive machinist out of
high school, Goldammer relocated to Phoenix, Ariz. and underwent a
full-immersion baptism, attending the Harley-sponsored Motorcycle Mechanics
Institute by day, and working in bike shops at night. “I’d escape from school,
go to work and get home around 11:30 at night,” Goldammer recalls of his
seminary years.
Returning to Canada, Goldammer began building
high-performance engines before progressing into custom bike building and
manufacturing. While crafting bikes for customers provided an effective
sharpening stone for his skills, Goldammer yearned to build the bikes that were
racing around in his head. To a large degree, Goldammer’s manufacturing
enterprise has provided him the resources to do just that.
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