Building a custom bike

Sleepless nights

Story by Bill Kresnak
Photos by Bill Andrews

Bruce Mullins (right) and Jim Davis study the mock-up paint graphics on the other side of the frame. Mullins admits this is what will make or break the bike—and neither men are completely sold.

With the Candy Red paint laid down on the custom bike being created at the Skunkworx Custom Cycle shop in Columbus, Ohio, it's time to decide on the graphics.

Skunkworx owner and master custom bike builder Bruce Mullins has ideas in his head for the graphics and trim color. Mullins and bike builder Jim Davis agree on a tan color for the trim, to match the seat color.

Mullins begins to lay out the graphics on the gas tank and bodywork of the Skunkworx/Jim Davis custom cycle, using very thin masking tape.

Creating graphics

The process is long and arduous. Mullins says he'll lay a line down, look at it, and then rip it all off if it's not going right.

This process is repeated countless times...

...until the final design slowly emerges.

Once he's satisfied, the rest of the tank gets masked off.

The Skunkworx team walks around the bike, studying what the graphics look like before the paint. They take the bike off the workstand and place it on its sidestand, to get a look at how the bike will look in the real world.

Even now, Mullins, Davis, and other Skunkworx workers aren't completely wedded to the idea of tan for the graphics.

"How about a marbleized look to the tan paint?" Mullins asks.

Davis insists the straight tan color is the is the way to go.

They decide to stay the course, but add a silvered pinstripe around it. The parts are masked and painted on the spot with airbrush tools.

With the tan paint on, Mullins and Davis now try to imagine the look of the completed bike once it's bolted back together.

They go home that night feeling uneasy about their tan accent color choice.

"We're really not sold on that tank color," Mullins says.

The next day, Mullins and Davis consult, and briefly consider sanding off the tan and starting over. But Davis decides that would delay the project too much, so they stick with the tan.

"The trim color is questionable, but if it makes you stop and say you're not sure about this, then it works," Mullins says.

"It made you think. Like the new Ducati 999. It made people stop and take notice. It works. This bike should do that. I have yet to hear anybody say, `that's ugly.' People are questioning it, and that's OK," he says.

The bike is almost done. The final step: create the custom wiring harness, and bolt the bike all together.

The Graphics: from concept to paint

Part geometry, part artistry, Mullins uses both to create symmetrical designs on the tank.

Once he has a design he likes on one side of the tank, he'll need to duplicate it on the other

To make sure both sides of the tank are perfect, Mullins first copies the completed graphic on the right side of the tank with tracing paper using the center line as a guide.