2005 Von Dutch Kustom Cycles Mayhem - New Art For A New Era

To hold up the back of the bike, a custom swingarm wide enough to hold a massive 280mm chunk of Metzeler rubber was fabricated and bolted to the frame along with a Hi-Lo Rider air-ride system. Being the detail-oriented person he is, Alex said the swingarm had to be dipped in chrome eight times just to get the deep, wet, mirror look he wanted, while the frame was drenched in multiple layers of Coppertone reddish orange. Speaking of details, Alex knew the grand opening would be packed with celebrities and sports figures. He also knew that when it comes to their vehicles, celebrities are never happy leaving them in their stock form, especially in regard to the interior. Since motorcycles don't have interiors, Alex did the next best thing and had the headlight, backbone, and seat wrapped in his wife's Louis Vuitton luggage bag.

"I saw the bag sitting in my office and thought it would be perfect for the project. We didn't just cut up my wife's Louis Vuitton suitcase-we pulled out every stitch by hand," said Alex. "I was surprised to learn that it's not even leather; it's some kind of high-quality vinyl, but it costs 50 times more than the European vegetable-tanned leather we normally use. I worked with my seat and leather guy, Pascal of Riff Raff Leatherworks, and we basically had to invent the process in which we were able to get the material to form to the bike. I'll just say it involved a torch, rubber cement, and a lot of ingenuity."

When it was all said and done, Alex and his VDKC crew had turned a nearly unintelligible sketch into a luxurious yet menacing machine to be debuted among the fastest and most exquisite cars in the world. "Everything happened so fast, and we encountered a lot of problems along the way. It was so chaotic in the shop during the six weeks we worked on this project that we dubbed the bike 'Mayhem.' The best thing about this project was that it inspired our newest production bike, the Flying Dutchman," Alex said.

When Richard saw the bike for the first time, he was in awe of the artistry and craftsmanship Alex and his crew had put into the bike-but he had expected nothing less. "I'm not a big motorcycle guy, but I know what I like," said Richard. "The grand opening was a huge success, and everyone loved the Mayhem bike. In fact, we didn't want to sell it right away; we wanted to keep it on display for a while. So we put a price tag of $150,000 on it, but even that didn't discourage a couple of all-star basketball players and a few well-known celebrities from making offers. The bike is definitely a real attention-getter."