"Well, originally I'm from Miami, FL. Back in '02 before I was sent out here to Camp Pendleton, San Diego, I had this bike built by a shop called Boneshakers Choppers in Miami. I had met the guys at the shop a long time ago, so when I decided I wanted a custom chopper I didn't even think of going to anyone else," Oscar said. "I knew exactly what I wanted, so I started collecting parts. I picked up a Rolling Thunder frame, gas tank, rear fender, and hand controls from Eddie Trotta's Thunder Cycle Design. I also bought a set of Whisky Bars from Choppers Inc. and 21-inch and 18x8.5-inch Pounder wheels from Xtreme Machine, and then I got a hold of a RevTech 100ci motor and six-speed trans. I was at Boneshakers every day either dropping off parts or just helping out wherever I could. We're all drinking buddies, so it was more than just a business transaction."
Oscar went on to tell us that the build took about five months, and when the bike was finished he spent all summer tearing up South Beach, specifically Ocean Dr. At the end of August of '03 he was transferred out to San Diego, and naturally the bike came with him. As we continued to talk, we expressed our interest in featuring the bike, and Oscar jumped at the opportunity.
For the next several months we unsuccessfully tried to coordinate schedules to get the bike photographed. Then in September of '04 Oscar was scheduled to leave the sun and sand of San Diego for a six-month stint in even sunnier and sandier Iraq. However, before shipping out for a little place called Fallujah, Oscar and his bike headed back to beautiful Miami for a two-week pre-departure party. While stationed at Camp Fallujah, Oscar's bike was once again in the caring hands of the Boneshaker's crew for a mild makeover. Over his six-month tour, Oscar corresponded with the head Boneshaker, John, via e-mail as to what changes he wanted.
While Oscar was out wreaking havoc in Fallujah, all he could think about was riding his chop along the Miami and San Diego coastlines. Meanwhile, John and the skeleton crew were busy tearing down the chopper and prepping it for a black-cherry and black-ghost-flame paint job. They also crafted a set of one-off pipes, cleaned up the handlebars by running a La Briola Jockey shift and internal throttle and connecting the front brakes to the brake pedal. Last of all, to further enhance the rigid chopper feel, the traditional Softail shocks were tossed and replaced with a pair of solid steel rods that Boneshakers fabricated.
When Oscar returned to Miami from Iraq in March of '05, the first thing he did was run over to Boneshakers to pick up his semi-new ride and hit the strip. A few weeks later he was back in San Diego with the bike, and he phoned us to arrange a shoot. Needless to say, we weren't about to let the bike slip away from our cameras again and made arrangements to photograph the bike at the HOT BIKE Super Show that June. The photo shoot went off without a hitch, and Oscar informed us that he was in the process of selling the bike. About two weeks after the photo shoot we received an e-mail from Oscar stating that the bike had been sold and he was in the process of procuring parts for another chopper.
As you may have noticed, we said we'd shot the bike in June of '04, and it is now finally running in the magazine more than a year later. While we tried to get the bike in much sooner, it just didn't pan out. Oscar has been very understanding and very patient through the whole process. We'd like to say thanks-and we promise that if the next one is as cool as this one, we won't drag our feet getting it into the mag.