Some kids never do get the hang of that "color inside the lines" thing. While Mark Warrick, owner of Soncy Road Speed and Custom in Amarillo, TX, may have traded in his crayons for a torch and mallet long ago, it's pretty obvious he's had a long-standing issue with conformity.
After he was invited to participate in the 2005 HOT BIKE Artistry in Iron competition at the Las Vegas Bikefest, Mark got to chatting with his friend Jesse Jurrens, owner of Independent Cycle Company. Jesse, being a fan of Mark's work, immediately offered up one of his Hardlife frames as a foundation.
Since its introduction, the Hardlife frame has been a popular choice with high-end custom bike builders. While most of them turn into flowing customs where nary a fastener, wire, or cable has been left in view, Mark had an entirely different vision of what his finished bike could be.
"That was the whole idea behind this bike," he said. "I felt like taking things in a totally different direction from most of the other builders using Independent's frame and parts. We've done the bikes where everything is hidden, and they're just real sanitary. I wanted to keep a much more mechanical feel with this one."
Originally, the idea was to chop and cut the frame's backbone and downtubes, taking the neck up to a more traditional "chopper" elevation. "I told Jesse we were planning on cutting up the frame and changing the geometry," Mark said. "He just kept telling me to leave the frame alone and let people see what we could do with it."