One look at thIS bike from Duane Kastor Customs (DKC) and it's obvious you are looking at something original. Duane is not a builder who is out there to copy anyone's style, but you will see some West Coast influences from the nostalgic hot rod era-a fondness from Duane's youth. Between the ages of 11 and 12, Duane spent a lot of time in his dad's auto body shop. It was there he learned how to shape and form sheetmetal. He also learned how to sand and paint all the projects he worked on. A family friend told him about a motorcycle salvage yard not far from his home so any free time Duane had, he could be found working on some junked bike in his dad's shop. The owner of the salvage yard eventually let Duane work on a few of his customers' bikes. During these formative years, Duane started saving money for a bike of his own. Jump ahead a few years-he found a good deal on a '69 Sportster. OK, we'll just say he had enough money to get it and leave it at that. After spending a lot of time on that bike kicking, screaming, and wrenching for hours just to keep it on the road, Duane decided to sell the Sportster and use the money to build a bike from the ground up.
What inspired Duane to build this hot rod-style chopper was based on a hot rod he saw, along with a liking for most of the cars of the '50s and '60s. Hell, he even has a few cartoons he can tell you about that have given him inspiration. As with all of DKC bikes, the one thing they all have in common is a funky paintjob, and this one is no different. According to Duane, one of the most often made comments about the bike is, "That's a bad-ass bike-not the colors I would use, but still cool." To Duane, comments like those are just more reason to use the colors he does. Duane had a specific vision for this bike in his mind before he even ordered the first part. Josh at Killer Chopper Cycle Fabrication executed Duane's ideas for the frame exactly as Duane had envisioned. The single downtube would serve as the oil bag and house a set of custom foot controls. He wanted the chopper to be long but not too long. So a 42-degree neck along with 8 inches of downtube and 4 inches of backbone were added to fit just right. Duane got his hands on a 6-over frontend from Revenge Cycle, and he soon went to work on shaving the lower legs and working a little more shape to the triple-trees. To cover up the tubes, he used a set of orange dirt bike boots to match the color of the tubes and trees. He then fit a set of drag bars under the trees with internal throttle and clutch.
Next, a set of DNA spoke wheels were put in place, with a 21-incher up front and an 18x10-incher out back that were both covered in Metzeler rubber. To keep the front looking clean, Duane did not run a brake choosing only an HHI rotor and caliper to handle the stopping power in the rear.