"Do you come up with A song's title before you write the song or after?" The response to my question for James "Papa Het" Hetfield was this: "The subliminally evasive answer has always been both. Though it truly depends on the inspiration."
Definitely the type of answer a musician would give. In the case of naming this particular bike, James answered with a question, "Do you name your pet before you witness its character?"
While listing on a piece of scratch paper a few of the activities the bike would need to be able to handle - dragging, hillclimbing, and flat tracking - the bike's character began to reveal itself to James. Not only that, but James's lovely wife took one look at a rough sketch of it and said, "It looks like you could die on this thing, honey." And so, the moniker "Widow Maker" seemed to fit.
Basically, those were all the qualities that James wanted to see in a bike. Low, stretched rear; clean, stock-rake front end with no frills; all while having the ability to be ridden hard. Obviously inspired by the hot rod world he obsessively inhabits, the drilled I-beam was the first major piece in beginning to define the bike's identity.
Long-time friend and "Build Bro," Kirk Taylor of Custom Design Studios in Novato, California, got the hookup with CCI to sponsor this bike. James had very little time between music and motors, so he called on Kirk to use an empty lift for the bike build. Working alongside Kirk, ideas inspired more ideas - the two worked so well together that Widow Maker came to life quickly.
We asked Kirk, "So tell the truth, how much cutting and grinding did James actually do?"
"All of it," was the answer. "He's not just some celeb who attached his name to the build for marketing rights. Few know how much James loves what he calls 'garage therapy.' He is a big-time car guy who's into hot rods, muscle cars, and the classics, along with a love for bikes just the same. The only difference is that although James has worked on them, he has never had the time to build one from the ground up."
About 600 hours was put to good use creating something that will actually wear a street legal license plate. James and Kirk have designed bikes together before, but James has never had the time to put his hands on the actual build until now. James remembers the feeling when they first got the front end together; he was amazed that it actually worked. Kirk remembers turning to him and saying, "Well, of course it works."
Starting with the front end, the bike's origin came while James was thumbing through some old bike mags and found an ad from the '70s that had a reversed springer. It was a Denver's springer setup that Mondo had done on his own bike. James thought, "Well, if it worked on the top, it should work on the bottom." That made room for a clean lookin' front face. Longer rods were built, as well as Heim joints for flex. The front racing number plate hides some wiring, and brutally bright headlights were tucked away to blind slow drivers. No front brake for that "yer gunna keell yerself!" look. Handlebars were stock Sportys hacked in half and now flown upside-down. Gas tank was a zombie tank sectioned and concaved on each side. An old Eelco pop-top and external clear tubing for a gas gauge and/or crossover were added to finish off the tank. The amazingly detailed script was not the easiest thing to attach either.