With the exception of the upholstery, chrome, and custom paint, all of the work on Paranoid was handled within the walls of Thunder Struck. The person responsible for Paranoid's flawless House of Kolor paintwork and frame molding was Dennis Epple at Ace Custom Paint in Grant's Pass, OR. Thanks to Mark's metal-finishing skills, Dennis was able to mold the bike with a minimum of polyester filler and primer. Dennis squirted HOK's Kandy Violet with Kandy Purple for the main color, using Kandy Tangerine and silver to complete the graphics. Mark and Dennis worked together to create the Paranoid patterned artwork, which was sealed under numerous coats of House of Kolor clear. After a quick color-sand and rub, the bike was ready to be assembled.
Ever so carefully the completed frame was placed onto a padded Handy Lift. From there Mark and Travis slowly hoisted the 125-inch Patrick Racing Evo motor into place. The chrome pieces Mark bolted onto Paranoid, including the exhaust pipes he fabricated, were plated at one of Southern California's best-known chrome shops-Orange County Plating, just miles away from Patrick Racing's Garden Grove, CA, headquarters. Next in line for assembly was the six-speed right-drive fully polished billet transmission from Baker Drivetrain of Haslett, MI. Leaving the tranny bolts loose enough to shift for final alignment, Mark installed a primary drive from Billet 4-U of Louisville, CO, then completed the job with a torque wrench to the powertrain's Grade-8 fasteners. The last major components to hang on Paranoid were the beautifully chromed 12-inch-over forks from Perse. A built-in 6-degree rake on the Perse triple-trees allows a Headwinds headlight to shine its beam onto an Ego Tripp Paranoid wheel shod with an Avon tire capped with a Thunder Struck custom fender.
Mark modified a set of handlebars sourced from Matt Hotch to guide Paranoid's direction. He can bring it to a fast halt with a Performance Machine hydraulic brake master cylinder pumping to a Performance Machine caliper matched with an Ego Tripp Paranoid rotor. On the left side, a Performance Machine clutch master cylinder pumps juice to a Performance Machine hydraulic clutch actuator operating a Barnett Scorpion clutch. The last phase and finishing touch on Paranoid was for Mark to string the wiring in such a manner that it looked as if he forgot to wire it.
Mark had Paranoid sold before he even turned a wrench. Bill Smith of the Portland Trailblazers walked through Thunder Struck Custom Bikes' front door and asked Mark to customize his Springer Softail. Before Mark could ask his first question about what Bill was seeking, the basketball star spotted a chopper Thunder Struck had just completed. Bill asked Mark to build him a bike as nice as that one. Perhaps the best determination of a bike's quality is to pit it against the world's best builders. At the 2005 World Championship of custom bike building, held in Las Vegas, NV, Thunder Struck Custom Bikes placed two bikes within the Top 50. One of them was Paranoid.
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Thunder Struck Custom Bikes
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