Jarrod Del Prado of New River, Arizona, has made a fast name for himself in the modern customizing game. Several of his recent works have received high praise from readers on sites like Bikes EXIF. Jarrod built this ironhead for racecar driver Perry Mele.
Perry's machine displays Jarrod's personal chopper aesthetic nicely without falling victim to the dreaded theme bike curse. Here's what Jarrod has to say about his Mele project and its new owner.
Our customer on this build is a racecar driver, so we really wanted a racing look and feel. It turned out to be a really cool hybrid of a cafe racer and a drag racer-style bike. The sport bike tires and clip-ons work surprisingly well with the 6" stretch. The owner says, "It's the smoothest riding bike I've ever been on, and it begs to be ridden fast!"
As we were delivering the bike down to Tucson, we could see just about every motorist that we passed snapping their necks to get a look at the bright white wheels contrasting with the bright orange and the near chrome. The owner had not seen any photos, but we were pretty sure he'd like it based on the response we were getting.
Special thanks to Duffee Motorsports, Ramjet Racing and Strahm Photography for helping us bring this whole project together.
Owner: Perry Mele, racecar driver in the Pro-Mazda series
Builder: DP Customs, New River, AZ
Bike: 1979 Harley-Davidson Sportster
Engine: 1000cc ironhead with hot cams, headwork, Branch intake manifold, Mikuni carb
Bars: DP Customs clip-ons
Exhaust: DP Customs 2-1-2 X-Pipe
Paint and graphic design: DP Customs
Frame: Stock rake with a 4" stretch hardtail, modified by DP Customs to 6", dual underseat down tubes modified to a single tube
Front Suspension: Lowered 3"
Rear suspension: Seat shocks
Seat: Biltwell Slimline
Grips: Biltwell Kung-Fu
Throttle: Biltwell Whiskey
Wheels: Stock 19" front, 16" rear
Tires: Pirelli Sport Demon
Fuel tank: Peanut
Oil Tank: Scuba
Controls: Vicious Cycle Works
For more photos, visit Jed Strahm Photography
See more bikes from DP Customs at their website
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Digging the Orange
ironheadd79
I want a set of those pipes, awesome!
Boylecomm
Nosebleed
hotrodkid
SLCBrandon
PAULDJ
ShittySmerf
eliwolf6
clean as a whistle
elTee
Shooter469
Drake93
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deadcityrider
dpcustoms
ridemore16
drzaster
drzaster
davidabl
davidabl
bikerman14
Wooley
Fantabulous job.
Riotsporty13