"For the next 10 days Wayne and I assembled the bike, while my brother-in-law Will drove to every motorcycle shop and auto-parts store in SoCal, looking for the rest of the parts we needed: Accutronix forward controls, a Headwinds headlight, dual Mikuni 42mm carbs, a Spyke starter, and a Martin Bros. exhaust. My dad also jumped in on the build, machining a couple of parts over at our family business, Niedwick Machine.
"After more than a week's worth of 18-hour days, living off nothing but Coors Light and stale pizza, it was finally time to fire the beast up. I was a nervous wreck. Wayne was set to leave the next day, and I knew if it didn't start I'd be in trouble once again. But Wayne was confident and told me not to worry. So I hit mare. We had just shifted the bike's stance to get some detail shots of the tank. We were walking back toward the camera when all of a sudden the bike fell over on its side. We immediately ran over and picked it up. Luckily there wasn't too much damage, but there was a nasty ding on the side of the tank from the handlebars.
"Needless to say, I pointed it out to the prospective buyer when he arrived, but he was understanding and still wanted the bike once it was fixed. So I took the tank off and headed back to Rock & Roll. Now, Randy's a busy guy who's just trying to keep up with his custom-painting business, but when I arrived, not only was he running his paint shop, but he was up to his neck in film crews. There were three different TV shows being filmed at his facility, but he still found time to meet with me, take a look at my tank, and turn one of his guys loose on the task of fixing it.
"A few weeks later the tank was back on the bike, and the new owner made arrangements for it to be shipped to him on the East Coast. It turns out the shipping company was kind of shady and was turning the whole project into a big hassle. The new owner couldn't wait any longer, so he paid $10,000 for an 85-foot FedEx truck to come pick it and expedite it back east.
"Now here's the real kicker to this entire story. After having the bike for only a week, the new owner had a slight mishap, which led to a minor accident. And wouldn't you know it? The only damage was to the tank again. So, since Rock & Roll did such a good job repairing it the fist time, it only made sense for them to fix it again. And I have to say that even after being damaged twice and touched up twice, the tank still looks just as good as it did when Rock & Roll painted it the first time. So if I learned one thing from my first bike build, it's to always use a reputable painter, 'cause as we all know, accidents can happen. Finally, I'd like to wrap things up by giving a big thanks to everyone who helped me accomplish my first build, especially Wayne Kemp. Without his assistance and guidance this bike probably never would have come to fruition."