Isto will surely face stiff competition from builders from all around the world when they meet for the finals in the AMD ProShow World Championship of Custom Bike Building, but, win or lose, Isto, the silversmith from the little town of Tampere, Finland, will surely make his mark in custom bike-building history.
How the bike was madeI made the frame out of 25mm seamless hydraulic tube and covered it with 1.5mm sheetmetal. For the gas tank I used 1.5mm sheetmetal as well. First, I hammered it with a Pullmax and then with a hammer. I drew the spokes for the wheels, then laser-cut and bent them. Finally I ground them round and polished them. The rims were special-ordered from a rim maker in the United States. The frame and gas tank were molded with lead just like on the old custom cars. The headlight is handmade, and it has a modern lens and bulb. All the other parts were made using silversmith techniques.
Why he built the bikeA lot of the shapes come from old hearse wagons, and there are lot of symbols of death on the bike: hourglass, omega, cross, and so on. But there are also symbols of rebirth. I have tried to make the bike timeless, so that it could be ridden in the future, past, or present. The whole bike is a symbol of death, or maybe a hot rod bike for death. No good, no bad-just a natural part of life. There is also a bit of humor that might be difficult to find, but it's typical for us Finns (death riding a hot rod). Life is not so serious, after all. A bike is one way to try to understand life and death.
I hope you get something out of this.Isto Kotavuopio