It's an old standby for us to end bike features with "...and since the project was completed, he/she's ridden the tar out of it." Usually this means along the highways and byways interconnecting the continental U.S., but in this case "riding the tar out of it" takes an extreme twist: dirt riding.
Obviously, not the extreme hijinks you see at motocross events, but more like what you'd do with a utility quad: camping trips. See, when Aaron Greene isn't building big, bad choppers at Paramount Custom Cycles (PCC), he likes to ride them, and this is his personal sled. Not only has he taken it from one end of America to the other (and back again), he also loves to get away on it for trips in the mountains surrounding his Reno, Nevada, shop. "I've taken that thing on dirt roads all over the place," he recalled. "I've got a rear fender pack that'll hold enough stuff for a five-day fishing trip."
And he does this on a rigid, no less. If you've followed his work, you know how much Aaron loves himself some long chopper, and he put his money where his mouth was with his own bike. It's raked 41 degrees and stretched 2.5 inches up and out, with tubes that PCC turned in a lathe. Between the dimensions and frontend, it doesn't exactly make for a hill climber, but it's fine for Aaron on unpaved roads. And since it has Speed Point wheels and an Avon 250 back tire, we're pretty certain it's got more style than most dirt bikes. Although Aaron takes it camping in the hills, he also runs it on the highway. For that he wanted power, power, and more power, so he chose a 120-inch Merch Performance V-Twin in the motor department and hooked it up to a RevTech six-speed for smooth running at high speeds.
Stylistically...well, this isn't exactly the sort of bike you see on Biker Build-Off, and that's fine with Aaron. "The great thing about having a bike with no paint on it is you aren't afraid to beat the crap out of it," he told us. There's no painting or molding on his chopper, just clearcoat and whatever finishes came with the parts he used from outside sources. "I left it raw like this on purpose so you could see all the welds and work that went into making it." Regardless, there's still plenty to look at, including the long, flowing curves along the gas tank that start near the bars and flow in line with the backbone, or the hard work that went into hiding the lines and cables in the hand controls.
All of this took place in 2002, and recently Aaron was kind enough to share his bike with us. Since the project was completed, he's ridden the tar out of it.