The impetus to launch Spartan Frameworks didn't come to George Counes in some smoky chopshop at a biker clubhouse. No, the metal-crafting seeds that live inside this DIY builder, recreational hooch brewer and family man were planted decades ago when George terrorized his turf on a BMX bike. Like so many other teenaged boys in the '70s, George became fascinated with metallurgy and frame building by tinkering with bicycles. After moving up to motorcycles, George applied technologies like TIG welding, ventilated plate gussets and seamless 4130 chromoly tubing to the chopper chassis that bear the Spartan brand.To prove the mettle of his metal, George and his awesome wife Wendy hammer out the kind of miles that would put any iron butt bagger to shame.

George Counes

Age: 43

Business: Spartan Frameworks

Town: Vail, AZ

Coworkers: Wendy, Jimmy and Nikko Counes

Riding buddies: Mostly myself but sometimes Wendy, Anthony, Scott and Trent

First time on two wheels: 1976 on the back of my friend's older sister's boyfriend’s chopper

First hand-built motorcycle: 1967 Shovel in an old D&D rigid frame with a girder in 1987, I built it in my parents dining room.

Earliest two-wheeled adventure: It was back in ‘88 or ‘89, a day trip heading north with my friend Chief. It turned into a seven-day odyssey in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Lots of unbelievable shit on that trip. Not having cell phones and credit cards made it alot different than road trips are now

Most recent two-wheeled adventure: The Bash at Lake Skinner in Temecula, CA

Current stable of bikes and projects: My ‘36 knuck; Wendy's ‘72 shovel; the beginnings of a ‘63 pan (possibly a long bike); plus a backlog of frames, front ends and customer bike work taking up most of my riding time