It’s hard to figure out who to go to these days. I’m sure you’ve walked into shops that look like several customers’ dusty projects have been on a bike lift for years without any progress. And there’s a chopper shop or three in nearly every major U.S. city with the current explosion of garage-built styled bikes.
The fact remains many are into choppers but can’t wrap their heads around building it all on their own. Everybody could always use a little (or a lot) of help. Just need your tank & fender mounted? Or the top end of your engine re-freshed? Maybe the entire engine rebuilt? There are a few solid, honest places for that…and some not so good.
After spending several years at West Coast Choppers as their engine guy, Aki set out to capture his own moment and is looking to prove it. With the amount of work this guy takes in and pumps out as his best, it’s no surprise that business at his shop has been moving so brisk.
I stopped in on a warm day this past summer to check out this Rising Son at work and to take a peep at his latest creation. Here’s how it unfolded.
How long have you been running your shop, Hog Killers? What services do you provide?
Three years. I do custom bikes, general service, repair, machining, and engine building.
Do you specialize in anything? What kinds of work do you like doing best?
Right now it’s engine work. Sometimes I like just focusing on that. Then I get burnt out on it when there are too many motors, so I start doing metal work. I go back and forth, I guess. I just don’t want to get bored.
So you do pretty much everything then, from the flywheels up.
Pretty much, yeah.
So what’s the story with this bike?
It’s a ’68 XLH. When I got it, it was my rider. It was a bad ’80s chopper when I got it—twisted springer and some other bad parts. I’m using the same frame, and I took off all the other parts. I just boxed it here and there on the frame, that’s how it started. The engine was leaking at the case halves, so I had to take it apart.
It was someone else’s bike before and I wanted to make this mine, so I took my time in doing it. It really pushed me to do what I wanted. I’m happy with how it turned out.
How long did it take?
Actual work, about six months, maybe less. It was off and on. The paint was another two or three months, which was done by Sonny Boy at Road Dog Customs.
Was there anything difficult to do on this bike?
I don’t know…uhhh, I think everything went smooth, but I had to find the right guy for the seat though. That was the hardest part. It wasn’t easy finding the right guy to do the upholstery the way I wanted. I actually sent the seat pan to Japan. It cost a lot to get done and even the shipping was expensive. The pan is made out of fiberglass and it’s upholstered with vinyl.
I just really like Sportsters. I like them because they’re cheap chopper bikes and fun to ride. This bike is pretty comfortable, not big and heavy like a raked-out big twin.