Custom Chops
Jeff Abigt had his heart set on a one-of-a-kind motorcycle. So he built it himself.
Some people like to play sports, and others tool around with motors, says Jeff Abigt, a sales rep at Midway Dental, his family’s Lakeville, Ind.-based dental distributorship. "This is just what I do," he points out. His hobby began with automobiles. In fact, at one point his prized 1987 Mustang appeared in the publication, 5.0 Mustang, he says. "I had done a lot of painting and polishing on the Mustang," he recalls. "I had it at a car show that was filled with reporters, and one of them liked it. I still enjoy driving that car around."
But, sports cars are only the half of it. For the last 25 years, Abigt has been a motorcycle enthusiast as well. "About 25 years ago, my dad got me started riding dirt bikes," he says. He’s been hooked ever since. So, it was no surprise when, about six years ago, he decided to construct his own cycle.
"Building a motorcycle is a lot like building a car," says Abigt. "I began with some research, drew up some plans and moved forward from there." A huge fan of Harley Davidsons, his goal was to arrive at a bike with a "twist – something you don’t see every day," he explains. "I looked at many different styles of Harley Davidsons, [searching] for the look I wanted. I could have bought one new, and taken it apart and rebuilt it. But, this would have been costly." And, it wouldn’t have been as challenging or as much fun as building from scratch, he points out.
Abigt discovered it was not difficult to acquire many off-the-shelf parts for his project, such as wheels, a motor and a frame, and then proceed from there. "I cut off brackets from the frame and made my own fenders," he says, noting this called for "a lot of welding and metal fabrication." He also constructed his own gas tank. "I began with a flat piece of metal and used various tools to bend and form it, and weld the pieces together," he explains.
Easy as pie? Well, maybe not. But, it’s certainly becoming as American as apple pie. Indeed, custom bike building has been gaining popularity in this country since the early 2000s, notes Abigt. Today, cable shows, such as American Chopper, have further popularized the hobby.
Although Abigt wonders if almost anyone can build his or her own motorcycle, he admits it calls for a huge amount of dedication and a mechanical inclination. "I have picked up a lot of building skills," he says. "I am a mechanical person," he points out, admitting that the ability to look at things, take them apart and reconstruct them "has always come second nature to me."
Worth the wait
After a year of working nights and weekends on his custom Harley, Abigt completed his project in the spring of 2003. "Really, the only part of the job I didn’t like was the wait – especially waiting for the contractor to paint the completed motorcycle. That took forever!" It could also get frustrating waiting on parts, he adds. Locating special items – or having to construct them from scratch – more often than not slowed down the project, he says. But, apart from the waiting game, "there was nothing about the project that wasn’t enjoyable."
And, the bike has more than proved its road-worthiness. "It turned out to be pretty much everything I wanted it to be," says Abigt. "For the most part, it was intended for around-the-town trips, not 300-mile [treks]." That said, he has nonetheless ridden his new bike to Michigan several times, as well as to the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota. "The Sturgis trip was an awesome experience," he says. "South Dakota is a beautiful state to ride through on a motorcycle. And, it’s amazing to see so many motorcyclists in one spot! There appears to be millions of cyclists there. In fact, [the rally] extends to all of the areas surrounding Sturgis. It expands through different counties!" Indeed, although the town of Sturgis has come to be considered a mecca for motorcyclists, it is much too tiny to accommodate the hordes of riders that show up every summer, says Abigt.
Debunking the myths
Abigt will be the last to tell anyone that his motorcycle hobby is cheap. "As far as the expense goes, it all depends what [one] is looking for," he says. "It could cost more to purchase a high-end custom Harley Davidson and then rebuild it, than to build one from scratch," he says. "[Similarly], building a custom motorcycle can wind up costing more than it would to purchase a standard one." But, build or buy, the motor cycle enthusiast will inevitably pay more than he or she anticipated, he adds. "Still, since I was going for a custom look, building my own motorcycle saved me a substantial amount of money."
Is his cycle safe? Having taken precautions in its construction makes riding it less risky than it otherwise might be, says Abigt. "In the state of Indiana, we must comply with certain regulations, such as including headlights, taillights, a horn and turn signals," he points out. "You need all of these in order to acquire a license plate and insurance.
"But, I wouldn’t say that motorcycles are safe by any means," he continues. "Statistically, more people get injured in automobiles each year. But, then, there are far more people on the road in cars. So, no, I won’t say motorcycles are [as safe] or safer than cars. But, I could be injured just as badly in an automobile accident. It just depends on how you look at it."
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