F***, another theme bike. I can't wait to turn the page."
C'mon, you know you're thinking it. But, really, try to look past the funky army styling that borrows as much from Kaiser-era Germany as the modern US troopers that it's dedicated to. Yea, that's right, it's dedicated to the troops. Try not to let that little clich ruin it for you, either. It's actually a very cool little scoot. And then there's Amina Munster.
In case you're not a fan or member of the post-modern soft porn hipster site SuicideGirls.com, Amina Munster is either the queen-or at least a princess-of the dark playfulness that is SuicideGirls. We're not exactly sure how it happened, but she was tagging along to throw her fine self all over the bike (or just stand around and look pretty). It could be that she wanted to make sure we plugged her website, where she's holding a fundraiser to buy herself a chopper (www.aminamunster.net) modified to work with her unique requirements. Or it could have been that she was just supporting the troops, kinda like a USO tour but without the long-ass plane ride to the Middle East. Or someone might have paid her (and the smart money is on this one)...but that didn't really matter. What mattered most (to us, anyhow) is that the first words out of her mouth as we began shooting were, "Are we shooting this topless?"
I could tell you I said "Yes," but that would be a lie.
This story is not about a shoot at a private hanger at McCarran Airport in Vegas; it's about a bike. But seriously, how many times do you get to hang out with a multi-million dollar jet in a glorified garage that costs five figures a month just to pay the rent on? But it was typical of the juice that the kids from Sik N Twisted choppers were known to pull off in their personal playground known to the world as Sin City. Which made it all the more shocking that Jason and Danielle are moving their shop back to their native Orange County, CA.
"We're done with Vegas...and we missed the beach," was Danielle's simple response when asked. So right now Sik N Twisted is actually just a virtual shop, with locations in cyberspace and Jason's garage in Huntington Beach. The only capability they've lost by losing the storefront is the possibility of drive-by traffic; all their parts and apparel are still online, and with the price of a storefront, it hasn't been such a bad trade for them.
That said, this bike was built at their now-closed Vegas shop. While it's a shout-out to the soldiers risking life and limb for cheap access to petroleum, I mean freedom, it shares much more styling-wise with a WWI or WWII aesthetic. Just about all of the chrome surfaces on the bike were assaulted with a box or two of ScotchBrite pads to give it that vintage, brushed look. Even the highlights of many of the Olive Drab painted parts were scrubbed down to the metal to give it a worn appearance. The worn paint on the handmade air cleaner, bars, and oil tank does a good job of pointing out their details. This is one of those bikes that would have looked even better if it had been left outside for a week before the shoot, or been ridden in the rain some, as in the pictures the wear and tear looks a bit artificial on a perfectly clean machine. It is nice to have a sweet custom like this one that doesn't require much cleaning, though. Thankfully, the graphics and details don't include any welded-on guns or simulated RPGs.
The details are very well thought-out, and one of the cool things with a Jason McReynolds custom. There's lots of little stuff to look at, like brass oil lines and diamond plate inlays on the frame. Old-style squared-off PM controls fit the quasi-vintage look of the machine well.
Daniel Collazo's masterful pinstriping does more than just decorate with his spooky, layered German soldier on the tank, a spiderwebbed headlight and traditional striping in great quantities on the rear fender.
The engine is a scarcely disguised illusion: a seeming generator Panhead, actually a RevTech Evo-style 100-inch motor for plenty of juice, as well as 21st century reliability. The frontend is the same, with American Supension's Springer housing a pair of modern dampers inside the large springs for a smooth ride and a bit more control than the old-fashioned springs under the seat.
So before you get down on the bike for its variety of military influences and totally fake retro vibe, keep this in mind: You'd have to wear a very geeky orange vest if you were to actually ride it on a military base. I have no idea why that matters, but you have to end a story sometime, and 840 words are just about enough.