Wayne Barretto grew up in paradise. He was raised in Maui, Hawaii, where his father Percy had the first Harley-Davidson dealership on the island, and watching him work on and build bikes grew on Wayne. Soon he was old enough to help, and with a few lumps on his head here and there he learned how to read sizes on wrenches and fetch screwdrivers for his dad. There were days when a bunch of Percy's friends would show up at the house on their bikes and Wayne thought that was the baddest thing he had ever seen. The sight and sound of the boys cruising the island in a group made quite an impression on young Wayne. So did the copy of Easyrider where a photo of Wayne's parents and their bike appeared-in fact, Wayne still has a copy to this day.
Wayne's dad passed away in 1997, but his legacy rides on in the bikes that roll out of Bad Island Toyz in La Habra, California. That's because Wayne feels a connection with his memories of father and the hours they spent together in the shop in Maui. Wayne only wishes that his dad could see him and the bikes that he is building now.
And beyond the connection with his father, Wayne is always trying to think about what his customers would want a bike to look like. He takes other people's ideas into consideration and tries to blend classic elements that he learned growing up in his father's shop with some of the modern parts and styling to build truly unique bikes. In Wayne's own words, "I hope to always build bikes that people would want. Not only do I try to build a badass bike, I also make it to ride. You can't buy a bike you can't ride."
To give you a little history on Bad Island Toyz, Wayne actually started building bikes on his own a little over 10 years ago and officially opened the doors of the shop about 7 years ago. He started in Maui in a 400 square foot shop, but there were only so many people on the 727 square mile island who wanted a custom bike built. So to try and grow his business, he and his wife decided to pack up and move to the mainland. Now in a 1300 sq ft shop in La Habra, California, Wayne has brought some island influence into the Southern California chopper scene. And according to Wayne, "The move so far has been a great choice."
Building this bike made Wayne think of his father more than a lot of the other bikes he has built, because the Grandeur pressure plate with the jockey shift makes this bike so easy to ride. Percy rode until the day he passed away, which was no easy feat because his left arm was paralyzed from a motorcycle accident-a true test of character that never stopped him from riding or doing anything that he loved. Judging by his can-do attitude, we're pretty sure that a lot of that spirit was passed down to Wayne. But he admits that he couldn't have done it without the support from his family and friends from near and far, and especially his wife and kids.