and wiring, with Dave and I assisting. It was a mammoth DIY project for him, but not his first or last. Our Mom's folk dolls are in the Smithsonian Collection. She bought me a painter's easel and real art supplies when I was 6, after I showed aptitude for art. As a result of this heritage, either of us is capable of designing and making literally anything, out of anything. And kustom is what guys like us do for fun. Bringing it back to the Tuttles, we were at a little kustom car meet in BR just before I left. I drifted past several conversations among rodders on the subject of OCC and how bogus they are because they don't do all the work themselves. You hand me $100,000 for a chopper or whatever, and you'll get back a million bucks worth of functional, sweat-powered art. There's a real difference between kustom art and what OCC do. Real art radiates the energy and creativity the maker put into it. When I went through the King Tut show, back when it was touring the East coast, it was literally breathtaking and knee-weakening. The sheer power of all those objects, even after thousands of years, was incredible. It was like nuclear energy coming off them. Your prototype chopper frame behaves exactly the same way. Even the photo of it radiates. And I'm sure your new projects will do the same. You've got a Briggs Vanguard Twin? That's the same mill I want for my mini-chopper project. I love that engine. I've had the rear wheel and tire on hand for years, waiting for the rest of the bits and pieces to accumulate. It may take a while though, because I always do things on the cheap, and Manhattan's a lousy place for finding engines, especially on the cheap. Of course, I have absolutely no personal need for a mini-chopper here, so I'm in no big rush. Your "concept chopper" tank sounds pretty knee-weakening also. An English Wheel? That's 28 X 1 3/8" isn't it? Just kidding!  an English Wheel's on my tool want list, too, although I sometimes think if I develop one more skill, my head will explode.. Speaking of which, have you seen this on Kent White's Tin Man Tech site? It makes me feel like one of those apes in the opening of Kubrick's 2001. Ya know, Aaron, these chats of ours are like the endless hot dog Al Capp created in the old "Lil' Abner" comic strip. What say we slice this one off and throw it on the bun, until the next time? Thanks for the usual fun time.

trend in the making. And bear in mind that Rusted Corten Steel is a very popular outdoor sculpture medium. Hell, that puppy might look even better if it had a nice coat of rust on it, along with those cool welds.  After all, rust is to Corten Steel as anodizing is to aluminum- it's a protective surface. Something to think about, hmmm?   Knowing that it's a hand-made prototype answers some of my other questions about this one. For example, I was going to ask how soon those wheels would be in the pipeline; but I suppose they're by Steve Hutch? Take it from me, the company which hits the market first with reasonably-priced die-cast alloy "billet-style" wheels will do very well for itself. Since the photo doesn't show a lot of extreme detail,  how about telling us about any other interesting details on this one? A:  Cheapskate?  Maybe, however, I can't remember the last time I was walking around with six Benjamins in my pocket!  Haha.  The nice thing was the unsolicited feedback from him and the dozens like him on my maiden voyage down Main Street, Huntington Beach on New Year's Day. They helped solidify my notions that I was on the right track. Exacto-mundo.  No Tube bender in my garage (yet!) and the local supplier I used to get the prototype tubes bent flaked out on me by postponing delivery by a couple of weeks.  I had to get the prototyping under way, so I bent the tubes myself by "pie-cutting" them to make the bend and welding up the joints. VERY Frankenstein, yet effective with a rugged manliness at the same time. Yup.  Steve Hutch wheels are on the prototype.  We tried working with Steve by taking his designs to Asia in an effort me get the cost down.  At the end of the day, there wasn't much of a savings, which led us to putting the project on hold.  Until then, Steve is still making wheels and can be contacted at www.wildwheelwerks.com As for other details on the chopper. . . It's what you can't see that means the most to me-.  geometry, geometry, geometry.  This bike rides awesome.  I spent more time researching human factors and ergonomics than actually designing the bike.  No steering flop, if you can believe that.  This chopper can actually be ridden with no hands!  I can say with significant certainty that this chopper will be the BEST-riding chopper on the market.

Aaron Bethlenfalvy's Hand-Made Prototype Of The New Nirve Chopper

Yet Another Conversation With Aaron Bethlenfalvy

Aaron Bethlenfalvy's Hand-Made Prototype Of The New Nirve Chopper

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Long-time BR&K readers, and those who mine our archives will probably note that we seem to run a lot of interviews with Aaron Bethlenfalvy, former design head for GT/Dyno and current design head of Nirve Sports. The reason for this is simple. Not only is he a brilliant young designer firmly steeped in our (kustom) kulture, who always has something new and exciting to show; but, he's also literate and entertaining as hell. We'd probably offer him his own regular column if it weren't so much fun to interview him.  This time, the interview is based on a new batch of images, which showed up in our in-box recently. Most of them were of a new chopper frame design Nirve is about to introduce. Although the images were of the hand-made

prototype, and renderings for two production variants based on it, I didn't realize this at the time. Because of its exciting surface treatment and detailing, I thought the prototype image was of a high-end, limited-production edition. In art, we call this a "happy accident", as in this instance, it resulted in a more interesting interview. Enjoy!

Q: The new frame design's pretty snazzy, Aaron. The arced seat tube is a nice detail. Coincidentally, my original drawings for the Kandiru frame had that feature included; but I decided that it would be too much trouble to bend the CrMo to that extent with our equipment, so I went with a straight one when we did the actual frame, and the seat tube's concealed by bodywork anyway. There's a lot to be said for the design freedom of having a factory to execute things, eh?

You've sent images of three different applications of the design, all of them mighty tasty. Do these replace anything in the current line, or do they just broaden the existing line? A: I agree that the arced seat tube is a nice detail.  It really helps complete the visual flow of the frame.  Surprisingly, it really wasn't that hard to pull off in production, however, I did run into the same problem as you when prototyping the frame in my garage.  I ended up having the complete tube set mandrel-bent to the tune of about $700.  Three prototype frames later, I finally nailed the geometry and was able to send my prints off to our suppliers to start production. There's actually only two different models, "Switchblade" = 3 colors & "Cannibal" = 1 color We'll be offering two models to start with. The "Switchblade" a single speed, coaster braked version in three colors (gloss black, candy blue and candy red) with "old school" gold leaf graphics.  And, the "Cannibal" a three-speed version offered in a platinum silver (which actually looks like black chrome) with a crazy "cannibal" tribal graphic.  Both models will initially be additions to our line, but will eventually replace our current kustom-airbrushed cruisers, long-term.  Although the current kustom-airbrushed bikes have seen much success, while developing them, I borrowed styling cues from custom motorcycles and now that we have a VERY motorcycle-like frame platform, it only made sense to discontinue them.  That's not to say, however, that we won't see Kustom Airbrushed Nirves again!

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Q: Let's talk about Switchblade first. I don't know whether I've ever mentioned it, but when I'm not doing bikes, I work mostly in art direction for films and TV. Designing fake Victorian technology is one of my favorite areas. When I was looking at the images of Switchblade, I had a giggle at your audacity in putting those engine-turned Victorian-style gold-leaf graphics on that frame design, because the combination should be anachronistic. The giggle was because it works so well when, in theory at least, it

shouldn't. It works especially nicely on the black one, I think, and I'm really glad you went with gloss black, rather than flat. A doff of the chapeau, Sir, for pulling that one off. Now that I'm thinking about it again, the name "Switchblade" is a tad anachronistic also. But it would be a lot of fun to design a Victorian spring-blade shiv. Something with scrimshawed ivory grips and a gold-inlaid blade, maybe? Whatever, Switchblade is a very fun bike, and I'm sure you'll sell a ton of them. How much will it go for, and how soon will they be in the stores?  A: Art direction for Films and TV, huh?  One of the few things left on my "One-day-to- do list" before dying. I can see why you would say that it looks anachronistic.  Many of today's consumer products appear that way to me.  In my opinion, borrowing aesthetic attributes from years past and combining them with today's technology is the design du jour. To be honest, I can't take full credit for the engine-turned gold leaf, however.  I've been following the motorcycle chopper craze for quite some time now and there's been a significant resurgence of gold leaf details being incorporated in their graphic designs.  It's a bit of a lost art from what it seems, but the trick for me was to work with our decal vendor, replicate the look, make it producible and not come across as looking cheesy.  Lucky for me our vendor rules!  It turned out looking like the real deal. The Switchblade will retail for approx. $380 and be in shops by July.

Q: And the Cannibal would go for maybe $450? I got a sneak preview of that one on the Chopperdome Amsterdam site. Someone on a kustom cruiser discussion list I frequent brought it up. It was pretty funny- most of these guys are fundamentally anti-"factory bike", But by the time the thread had run its course, it was pretty much agreed that they kind of liked it, even if it was "factory". Your individual

components, especially the rear fender, were considered desirable. Is that the Shimano 3-speed hub on the rear?. Nobody mentioned the wheel aspect of it, but I really like the fanned spoking, too. A:  Cannibals will be in shops by August and will retail for under $500 equipped with a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed.  First production bikes won't have the fanned spokes like my illustration, but you can expect that feature on future models.  There have been so many hurdles developing this chopper, I had to choose my battles wisely in order to meet our delivery schedule.  I'm glad to hear your report from the message board.  It's been my approach from the beginning to merely offer a very sound platform for people to customize.  I realize that no one could ever deliver an end-all, save-all "factory" design that will leave everyone tickled pink.  I think it's difficult for most kustomizers to build choppers with sound geometry and a steady ride when starting with someone's non-chopper existing frame.  If for nothing else, few people have frame fixtures in their garage to ensure everything is perfectly straight when it goes back together!  In the case of the "Switchblade" and the "Cannibal", the goal was to provide a bad-ass chopper with the best geometry at an extremely affordable price.  Rather than dumping our money on the bits that most people customize anyway, we put our money in the things that matter; the frame, the fork, the fender, the seat (super sick seat! pic attached) and the grips.

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Q: Sturmey?  Wow, I had the vague impression they'd stopped making those. Good news, because many people are convinced the Sturmey's much more bomb-proof than the Shimano, although I like both of them, and have never managed to break either of them. I think your philosophy of a solid customizable platform is valid. And that frame looks damn solid to me. It seems really suitable for motorization, actually. So, we've discussed the Switchblade and the Cannibal. Now we're to the one I've really been looking forward to hearing about- the raw-metal Chopper. I've been around the block quite a few times, and I gotta tell ya, that's the most artistic bike I've ever seen. I'm aware that the bare-metal look is getting to be pretty popular in moto culture, and un-ground TIG welds have been a feature of serious machinery for quite a while; but this is the first example I've

noticed, of welds used gratuitously as some sort of tribal ritual scarification on metal surfaces. Have I just missed seeing that elsewhere before, or is that something you just came up with, out of creative playfulness? Either way, it's brilliant. How about telling us something about this one? A:  Yes, Sturmey is still making the their multi-speed hubs.  In the case of their 3-speed.  hub, its the same proven design that has existed from back in the day.  Our new chopper frame is DEFINITELY motor ready!  I proposed having an aftermarket engine kit, but the liability risk was way too high for us. Thank you very much the compliment.  Coming from you, the guy who has seen more bikes than god himself, I'm completely honored to have your approval.  The chopper in the photo is the second prototype of the Switchblade and Cannibal that I made in my garage at home.  The raw finish is a result of my excitement to ride the bike fresh off of my frame fixture and gratuitous welds are nothing more than my lack of a TIG welder!  Haha.  Its funny that you comment on that though.  Nine out of ten people who saw the prototype commented on the same thing.  One guy even reached in his pocket and offered me $600 for the bike right then and there.  The "raw" finish is nothing new.  Many freestyle/trail bike companies tried to do it over the past few years and were met with resistance from bike shops.  The biggest problem was rust.  There's no way to avoid it long term.  Even though the frames would be clear coated, the smallest spec of rust would continue to grow on the frame under the clear.  Nonetheless, I'll still try to do it in production if you and your readers feel it's worth pursuing.

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Q: The guy who offered you $600 was a cheapskate. As it is, it's worth easily twice that much. I suppose that those interesting "tribal-scar welds" on the seat tube are the result of your not having a tubing roller in your garage, as well? And the welds take care of those little crimps like we get with our hydraulic bender if we don't go extremely gradually in tiny increments? I'm still impressed. The welds turn it into something even more stylized. I think I can spot a new

trend in the making. And bear in mind that Rusted Corten Steel is a very popular outdoor sculpture medium. Hell, that puppy might look even better if it had a nice coat of rust on it, along with those cool welds.  After all, rust is to Corten Steel as anodizing is to aluminum- it's a protective surface. Something to think about, hmmm?   Knowing that it's a hand-made prototype answers some of my other questions about this one. For example, I was going to ask how soon those wheels would be in the pipeline; but I suppose they're by Steve Hutch? Take it from me, the company which hits the market first with reasonably-priced die-cast alloy "billet-style" wheels will do very well for itself. Since the photo doesn't show a lot of extreme detail,  how about telling us about any other interesting details on this one? A:  Cheapskate?  Maybe, however, I can't remember the last time I was walking around with six Benjamins in my pocket!  Haha.  The nice thing was the unsolicited feedback from him and the dozens like him on my maiden voyage down Main Street, Huntington Beach on New Year's Day. They helped solidify my notions that I was on the right track. Exacto-mundo.  No Tube bender in my garage (yet!) and the local supplier I used to get the prototype tubes bent flaked out on me by postponing delivery by a couple of weeks.  I had to get the prototyping under way, so I bent the tubes myself by "pie-cutting" them to make the bend and welding up the joints. VERY Frankenstein, yet effective with a rugged manliness at the same time. Yup.  Steve Hutch wheels are on the prototype.  We tried working with Steve by taking his designs to Asia in an effort me get the cost down.  At the end of the day, there wasn't much of a savings, which led us to putting the project on hold.  Until then, Steve is still making wheels and can be contacted at www.wildwheelwerks.com As for other details on the chopper. . . It's what you can't see that means the most to me-.  geometry, geometry, geometry.  This bike rides awesome.  I spent more time researching human factors and ergonomics than actually designing the bike.  No steering flop, if you can believe that.  This chopper can actually be ridden with no hands!  I can say with significant certainty that this chopper will be the BEST-riding chopper on the market.

Q: The springer fork, I presume, is the same one in the last photo you sent? That's pretty damn' fabulous too, I might add. Based on my initial mental flash when I saw it, I have a very fitting name for that one: "The Metropolis Fork", after Fritz Lang's 1927 classic silent sci-fi film of the same name. The mental flash was of Maria, the film's robotrix character with the tin ta-tas riding a bike with that fork on it.  Perfect image! I hate to be repetitive, but that's the most artistic bike fork I've ever seen; as well as the trick-est. How soon are we likely to see those available, and how much is one going to cost me?

A:  Great name, Jim.  I'll pitch it to the rest of the group and rent the movie this weekend. As for the fork, thanks again for the props.  I'm still working through some minor details that I wasn't happy with on the prototype.  I anticipate that I'll have them finished, spec'd on at least one chopper model and available for aftermarket by October.  Estimated retail is approx. $250. Q: I'm really looking forward to seeing your kustomized Switchblade. We haven't run "stock iron" in the Gallery for a long time; but kustomized ones are always a fer sure; especially ones kustomized by the bike's own designer. Your page is already reserved. For almost the entire history of our little digital rag you and Gary Silva have been the only noteworthy pro bike designers consistently working in the BR&K vein.  Now, hardly a day passes without a press release to do with a new production bike of our style showing up in our in-box. Schwinn, Electra, Giant, Kona, and pretty much all the mass-market makers are entering the field with their takes on the chopper theme, along with a swarm of new boutique bike factories. I haven't seen it yet, but I understand Huffy also has one in the pipeline. I'm reminded of the '60s,

when everyone instantly started mining the musclebike genre, originally begun by kustom kids; except this time it's radical kustom-style bikes in adult scale. I'd be very interested in your impression of what you think the effect of all this will be on the bike-industry zeitgeist, and on KustomBiking itself.  Are we entering a new golden age of kustom kulture applied to bicycles, or is all this bandwagon-jumping going to burn everyone out on the style? A:  By and large, I think there are two large factors for the new era that seems to be dawning in the bike industry.  First, is the continuing downward spiral of the juvenile segment (BMX / Trail / Freestyle).  The second is Jesse James. It seems to me that our industry only has the ability to push the "extreme" end of cycling.    Fun to watch on the X-Games, but not that fun for Little Johnny from Arkansas who just attempted his first pedal grid down the handrail at his school and ended up smashing his sack, gashing his shin and breaking his pinky toe.  Poor Little Johnny was never even given the opportunity to simply enjoy riding his bike; the kid might as well join the choir now.  My point being, once again, our industry has gotten caught up advertising to 1% of the overall potential customer base and, once again, the simple pleasures of riding a bike have been lost.  Then comes Jesse James.  Someone might as well turn the lights off in Howard Stern's studio because there is a new "King of all media".  Jesse is slowly, but surely taking over the world.  He's a craftsman, an artist, a marketing genius, a CEO . .  . plain and simple he's become the working-class hero of our time.  He's made tattoos socially acceptable, he's made us respect the artistry in building kustom products, he's changed the face of reality-based television, and his name in now recognized in most households around the world.  Combine the above-mentioned and it's a very logical progression for kustom cruisers and choppers to be sweeping through our industry, especially at the mass end.  We are FINALLY promoting fun, fashion and style rather than the extreme side of our industry.  We are FINALLY promoting cycling to the remaining 99% of potential bike enthusiasts.  I've taken the long road to answering your question, however, we are entering a new golden age of kustom kulture applied to bicycles and there will be a lot of bandwagon jumping in the beginning. "Kustom" cruisers are here to stay.  It's quite conceivable that the "chopper" cruiser will become a long-standing category in addition to "Kustom" cruisers, but at the end of the day, my personal feelings are that many of the companies you mentioned won't be part of it.  There's a fine line between what this new consumer deems as cool and what's deemed as a feeble attempt at being cool.  I just hope to fall on the cool side!        Other little "Hop-up" chopper bits I'm working on include:  Billet grips, "old-skool" style springer fork, custom fenders, headlight, hand tooled leather (like) saddle w/ matching grips, running board pedals, handlebars, and more. . . all of which will be displayed at Interbike on my Kustomized Switchblade!

Q: As a rule, I find discourse among people who agree with each other to be yawn-inducing; so I generally try to be at least a little bit contrarian, just to keep things more  interesting. But, in this case, I gotta say, "Dude, you are sooo right!". That out of the way, I suppose I'd prefer that Mr. James came off as a little less smug about it. But, at least he's not Paul Tuttle, Sr. And, I admit, Jesse has a hell of a lot to be smug about, so he's forgiven. As for your concern about your long-term coolness: you were obviously born on the cool side, and that's unlikely to change. I know this because anybody who builds his own damn car has the right stuff. And your approach to prototyping your chopper frame is just more evidence to prove it. Most people without a tubing roller would have just changed their design from an arced seat tube in their prototype, or they'd have

hired an outside shop to do it for them, like the Tuttles would, for example. But you went ahead and did it yourself anyway, with what you had available to work with. And in doing so, you made it even cooler. That prototype absolutely radiates  the creative power and ingenuity you put into it. If I didn't know you were a hardcore member of real kustom kulture, I'd think you were just some sort of mutant throwback to the days when most Americans were like that. Read Jules Verne sometime, and you'll see what thinking Europeans thought about Americans in the 19th century. Verne practically considered us Gods because we were that way. That's what Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is all about, too. And that's what kustom kulture is really about, at its core. We're like the monks who kept literacy and knowledge alive during the dark ages; but in this case, we're keeping hands-on dirty-fingernail creativity going, in an age of consumerism and couch dwelling. Christ! Now you've got me on my bloody soap box. But seriously, that's what BikeRod&Kustom's not-so-secret agenda is: to get kids building their own bikes. Because once kids have built their own bikes, and been admired for it, they get the idea that they can build other things; that they don't need to walk into a store and buy something that's sort of what they think they want, presuming they have the money- that it's actually cooler to build exactly what they want, without blowing a load of money on it. If it weren't for kids like that, the original Stingray would've never happened; because those suits in Chicago saw what those '60s kustom kids were doing and jumped on that bandwagon. Yeah, it's great to see some snazzy bike in our Gallery, built by a 50-year-old, or whatever; but what I really like to see in there is some proud 12-year-old's bike, even if he didn't do a fabulous job, or spend much money on it. His next one will be better, you can bet your ass, because his creativity and ingenuity were recognized by a world-wide webzine, and he wants more of that juice he gets from the experience. Who knows, the kid could grow up to be another Jesse James, or maybe even an Aaron Bethlenfalvy. And God knows we need a lot more of those. So, what's next for you to apply the power of your kustom kreativity and ingenuity to?

Jesse's Hand

A: Something told me you'd have difficulty disagreeing with me on that one! I have to admit, I'm hooked on American Chopper!  However, the main reason isn't the bikes. Mikey Tuttle entertains the hell out of me, which makes Paul Jr.'s robotic, scripted narrative and Paul Sr.'s obnoxiously abrasive attitude more palatable.  I'm waiting for a show comprised solely of out-takes and behind-the-scenes footage of Mikey's buffoonery. Once again, thank you for your compliment.  I had the luxury of growing up with a father who didn't believe in paying people for things he could do himself, and an incredibly creative mother who encouraged my creativity throughout my life.  While in college, I found myself being educated by three world renowned designers, one of whom studied at the Bauhaus in Germany and wrote the book on product semantics.  I'm merely a product of my environment. I encourage ANYONE, no matter the age, to take a crack at creating a kustom of any type.  I've always thought that the day would come where it would begin to grow old, but that's simply not the case. It's become my heroin.  There is nothing more gratifying than the sense of accomplishment gained when someone admires your hard work.  So, put down those F'in game controllers and go make somethin! Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. Finally, to your question.  I'm dual-tracking two fairly large projects at the moment, and one quick one, on the side. I'm building a mini-chopper with a Briggs & Stratton 20HP V-twin engine.  My goal is to marry a cruiser bicycle with a motorcycle chopper and, unlike O.C.C. I'm fabricating and designing everything on the bike I'm also fabricating the "concept" chopper based on my new Nirve chopper platform.   Over the past few weeks, I've been fabricating the tank section.  Since I want it chromed, I've got about 30 hours in on the English wheel thus far, and still have some to go.   Also, the craziest thing happened to me on Friday last week.  I had a meeting with the people from Sanrio (Hello Kitty) and they mentioned a celebrity auction they're having, to benefit UNICEF.  They've asked many renowned fashion designers to design one-off "Hello Kitty" pieces for the auction.  They asked ME to design a custom "Hello Kitty" bike for the event.  How cool is that?  The design is done and attached.  I wanted to make something that oozed quality, but not in a lame way.  So I decided to make the "Bling-Bling Kitty".  The parts are 24K gold plated!

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Q: I don't get to watch American Chopper at home, as I threw away the TV I had in the studio a long time ago, because it took up too much room, and I barely watched it anyway. Now, anytime there's actually something on I'd like to watch, no matter what time or day it is, my wife's always got an episode of West Wing she just has to see for the fourth or fifth time. But when I'm in Baton Rouge, and we think of it, Brother Dave and I watch it together. I agree about Mikey, and my reaction to Paul Sr. is "No wonder they call it crank". The first time I saw the show, I thought the little cockpit

Paul Jr. designed into the tank was an incredibly clever idea. Then, the next time I saw the show, he'd worked the same gimmick into that bike's tank. ZZZZZ! In our recent refurbishment of of the 2Much!!! trike, we added a hot rod-style nose to it, with a little streamlined cowling on top to reveal the speedo, which we'd left in its original location. Pretty slick, I thought at the time. Then, later, when I looked at one of the documentary photos we'd shot of the project, I suddenly had a horrible thought. The thing looked just like one of Paulie's bloody Barbie cockpits. Pretty mortifyin', I must say. I was tempted to grind it off and close up the hole, just so nobody would think I was being influenced by those clowns. But then I'd have had to find another, worse, location for the speedo; so I left it alone. Maybe no one else will notice it and think that. Fat  chance!

After the last time we watched AC, Dave and I were back in the shop wet-sanding a bike's composite bodywork for about the dozenth time- swish, swish, splash, swish; swish, splash. I turned to Dave and said, "There'll never be a reality show about two brothers who build bicycles in Baton Rouge, because we're too old and ugly, we don't fight, and the work is boring as hell to watch.  A show about Aaron Bethlenfalvy might work, though." Around that same time, Dave and I were talking about how lucky we were to have the parents we had. Pretty much exactly like yours, now you've described them. When Dave was 12 and I was 16, our father designed our big new house, and he built every bit of it himself, down to the plumbing

and wiring, with Dave and I assisting. It was a mammoth DIY project for him, but not his first or last. Our Mom's folk dolls are in the Smithsonian Collection. She bought me a painter's easel and real art supplies when I was 6, after I showed aptitude for art. As a result of this heritage, either of us is capable of designing and making literally anything, out of anything. And kustom is what guys like us do for fun. Bringing it back to the Tuttles, we were at a little kustom car meet in BR just before I left. I drifted past several conversations among rodders on the subject of OCC and how bogus they are because they don't do all the work themselves. You hand me $100,000 for a chopper or whatever, and you'll get back a million bucks worth of functional, sweat-powered art. There's a real difference between kustom art and what OCC do. Real art radiates the energy and creativity the maker put into it. When I went through the King Tut show, back when it was touring the East coast, it was literally breathtaking and knee-weakening. The sheer power of all those objects, even after thousands of years, was incredible. It was like nuclear energy coming off them. Your prototype chopper frame behaves exactly the same way. Even the photo of it radiates. And I'm sure your new projects will do the same. You've got a Briggs Vanguard Twin? That's the same mill I want for my mini-chopper project. I love that engine. I've had the rear wheel and tire on hand for years, waiting for the rest of the bits and pieces to accumulate. It may take a while though, because I always do things on the cheap, and Manhattan's a lousy place for finding engines, especially on the cheap. Of course, I have absolutely no personal need for a mini-chopper here, so I'm in no big rush. Your "concept chopper" tank sounds pretty knee-weakening also. An English Wheel? That's 28 X 1 3/8" isn't it? Just kidding!  an English Wheel's on my tool want list, too, although I sometimes think if I develop one more skill, my head will explode.. Speaking of which, have you seen this on Kent White's Tin Man Tech site? It makes me feel like one of those apes in the opening of Kubrick's 2001. Ya know, Aaron, these chats of ours are like the endless hot dog Al Capp created in the old "Lil' Abner" comic strip. What say we slice this one off and throw it on the bun, until the next time? Thanks for the usual fun time.

Nirve Cannibal

Nirve Swichblade (black)

Nirve Swichblade (red)

Nirve Switchlade (blue)