Motorcycles really are the center of it all. Have you ever encountered a bike that links many different humans together in different ways? This high piped freedom machine is just such a bike. Caged in the Zoo that is NYC, this bike is the kind of creature that is right up my alley. As is the story behind it which includes a barn, a divorce, and random connections between people. What old bike worth its axel grease doesn’t have a few stories?
Mikey the current tamer of this beast said he would see it daily as a young man on his bus ride home from school. It was parked in front of a local custom shop called Manx and it intrigued him regularly. When he got a little older the bike seemed to vanish all of the sudden. Smelling the potential for a deal on a broken machine, he could fix up on a budget, he stopped in to ask about it. Rich the owner told him he was going through a divorce and his soon to be ex-wife had taken it back. Rich was kind enough to hook Mikey up with her number… As luck would have it Mikey soon found himself on a ride out into the countryside to possibly purchase the bike.
She had been Rich’s daily rider, rain, shine and sometimes snow… Ridden hard, put away wet and dirty in the barn for “safe keeping” during the divorce. (the motorcycle) Now she sat nearly lifeless sandwiched between 5-foot tall tractor tires unceremoniously corroding.
Luckily a deal was struck to free her from this fate. Mikey assembled the bike knowing he would never paint it, which in turn freed him to use some of his favorite swap-meet finds with the kind of patina you just can’t fake. Inspired by the early sixty’s when shit just started to get weird, this machine speaks of an era long before wild custom paint and gregarious amounts of chrome. I love how this collection of parts has a real early budding chopper era feel about it.
Mikey wanted a bike with a story and this one is still making them. I first saw the bike parked at a few different bars in Brooklyn. On 2 separate occasions I had begun trying to track down the owner. I just had to shoot this bike as it had the dirtiest shovel motor and the tallest pipes I had ever seen. Sure enough the chopper gods intervened and I randomly met Mikey outside the Snake Hole Chopper Loft just hours before I had to leave NYC. He just rolled up the alley while I was shooting another bike and he seemed surprised when I wanted to shoot his machine.
Talking with Mikey the plot thickened there are parts and people I know connected to and surrounding this freedom machine and it happens to him regularly that this bike can have that sort of power. For example when it was being hard tailed, by my friend Mike at 47 Industries, a customer walked in and commented that it was probably the dirtiest shovel motor he had seen “other than maybe old Rich’s”. Mikey laughed and mentioned it was the same
I have encountered many 2-wheeled objects of desire that unite people, times and places in a way that few other things on the planet can. It’s these machines that speak to me more than any shiny new custom ever could. They remind me its more than just the way I feel when I ride that keeps me in the wind but also the people and places my bikes take me to.
Have you got a bike that has come back to you? Or came to you under strange circumstances, or caused you to meet people from earlier in its life?

Owner name, location: Mikey Bombay Guglielmetti - "Brooklyn, ehhh"
Engine, year and make, model, modifications: It started as beat up 1975 Superglide left for dead in the back of barn.
Frame: Hardtailed stock shovel frame

Fork: Original offset springer
Chassis mods: Stock specs hard tail by Mike & Ryan at 47 Industries.
Favorite thing about this bike: Maintaining an artful approach, all the fabrication looks completely organic.

Next modification will be: Repairs.
Other mods, accessories, cool parts, etc: hap jones tank, wassell fender, MCM Preunit bars, 1920s antique automotive taillight with original painted brass bezel, original cast cam cover from Morris Magneto, do i even need to mention the pipes?
Any building or riding story or info you'd like to include: Measure your door jambs before going up with your pipes.

Thanks to: Endless thanks to Mike at 47 Industries and extra big thanks to Ryan Stalter, who's knowledge, help and sacrifice of his own bikes, helped bring this junk pile to fruition.
Give Mikey a follow on Instagram.
Thanks for reading. Keep it between the ditches and the shiny side up!
- Bear
brooklynbomber
MIKE47
skinny66
Don't change a thing.
skinny
BenHittle
chopemall
53Bash
Novel use of that word. Chrome like clusters of weeds, eh?
gre·gar·i·ous
griˈge(ə)rēəs/Submit
adjective
adjective: gregarious
1.
(of a person) fond of company; sociable.
"he was a popular and gregarious man"
synonyms: sociable, company-loving, convivial, companionable, outgoing, friendly, affable, amiable, genial, warm, comradely; More
antonyms: unsociable
(of animals) living in flocks or loosely organized communities.
"gregarious species forage in flocks from colonies or roosts"
synonyms: social, living in groups More
(of plants) growing in open clusters or in pure associations.
ulysseskcmo
JuhaP
DirtBag4Life
That bike is sick!! Good Work!!
renzsniper
AMFshovelheads
DripShovel
vagrant318
DirtBag4Life
chopemall
TwistyMcFisty
Riotsporty13
shovel rules and i bet that mikey rules too
Godspeed4506
offbeat
JohnnyROT
curley
AMFshovelheads
I'm so fed up with arm chair warriors and dick measuring on the internet. The point is people should be not say shit they would not say to someones face on the web just because they are separated by a key board and some cables.
Over moderation is not good nor is it my roll here but sometimes when a guy is being a dick I'll send a private message and I often get some mousey apologetic dude on the other end. "I was drunk" or other lame excuses for being a dick.
The point I make is why not keep your online persona a little more genuine and less filled with hate. I love a good joke, pissing match or debate but after all aren't we all here to have fun, build and ride motorcycles? Not insult each others looks?
Being young and dressing well does not inherently make you a hipster or an idiot. People picked the wrong guy to call that in this case as Mikey is a classy guy with big heart and he actually knows a thing or to about choppers...
I'm gona quote Billdozser one of the founders here and refer everyone to rule number 4 in the Mission Statement & Posting Guidelines http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=628...
4. Manners & Thick Skin.
Personal attacks on members will not be tolerated. Dissenting opinions and robust debate are encouraged, but show other CC members some respect. There is a line where funny smart ass turns into lame and annoying, try to find that line and stay on the good side of it. If mods get legit complaints or see behavior that is out of line, you may get your post deleted, you may catch a PM asking you to mellow out or you may just find out that you've been deleted. This is at the mod's discretion. Consider it like a bar, it's there for you to have a good time but you punch someone and you are going to the curb head first. This is a tight community and there is no reason to take yourself so seriously. So, if you've got a massive ego or thin skin, you should probably stick to lurking or go elsewhere. If you see someone going too far, try to help get the thread back on track yourself or let Allen, CRFyou, Torch, or Jetblack know and we'll handle it. We are very light on moderation and want to keep it that way but will not tolerate abusive behavior to other Chop Cult Members.
On the fashion point, well today’s bikers fashion may be hip, but its shit-ton better than the miles of Velcro dorags, clip on ponytails and ugly tribal skull designs of the preceding 20 years of biker fashion black hole. So don't be a dick. I think if more guys gave the up and comers a chance they might be surprised what they find.
Hats off to those that piped up for Mikey and no love lost to the guys stirring the pot with the hate (it can be funny) but lets just try an ease up on the personal attacks and focus on the bikes and builds! This conversation has to happen every once and a while...
Onward!
-Bear
AMFshovelheads
KimQ
Amouxdiesel
MIKE47
shook
Sounds like a lot was done to it after he bought it off some dudes ex-wife. Hard tail, exhaust, fender, sissy bar and oil tank. Bars look new and the front end is new or very well maintained unlike the rest of the bike.
Soooo It's not really a survivor.
Is it just meant to look like one?
Why is it so crusty after all that work was done?
"Next modification will be: Repairs." What? Repairs aren't a mod, they come before modification and if the bike is properly maintained you likely won't have many repairs. WTF is going on?
The article mentions "organic fabrication". Does that mean it's like the poorly done chops i see around town? I'm not seeing that, but clue me in here...
Again, this is a fine bike but I don't want to see a trend where making a bike look shitty is what everybody is going to do. It's a waste and all the good iron will just rot. Put an air cleaner on that thing and take care of it as if you like it. That means cleaning it! Can you imagine what this thing would look like all cleaned up? tits!
If I've got it all wrong just tell me and I'll shut the fuck up.
Should i just crawl back in my hole? I haven't been on this site in forever...
shook
MIKE47
MIKE47
I did a feature on the bike because it caught my eye among lots of over done bikes that don't get ridden. The fact that Mikey knew his shit and was cool to bro bow with was just a bonus. Best part in all this is I talked to him today and he could give a fuck about what people think about him or his bike on the interwebs. LOL
-Bear
Now can everyone pull their panties out their asses. This is supposed to be fun right?
-Bear
DirtBag4Life
rickybongos
If anyone out there sees Val at my old garage on Metropolitan Ave, ask her if shes still got it. Please, have her hit me up.
and you know because of all the name calling and ghey biker distractions people missed that and failed to notice my thought provoking question at the end of the piece...
Have you got a bike that has come back to you? Or came to you under strange circumstances, or caused you to meet people from earlier in its life?
I thought this thread would fill with cool stories...
Wait now he said Ghey not Gay lets have a debate about wether or not I'm a politically correct pos.
I'm hoping some guys that care to see this place be filled with more than mudslinging and hate chime in with some cool stories about bikes they have owned or maybe even ones they are trying to meet again.
Would be nice to see a few here but I also started a thread for this purpose. http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?p=580...
Everyone in this "community" is a content creator, and I sure would like to see us live up to that name "community" more than any other forum full of dick measuring and insults being hurled from behind key boards.The Junk pile is for that shit but lets set up our game on comments on features and in the main forums.
Long Live CC
-Bear
Leiffireeater80
chopemall
Coopchop
YeaItsSlo
kegkillercustoms
kegkillercustoms