A U.S. Kustoms Creation
There's a new vibe cruising out of the avenues and alleyways of California's rich lowrider culture. From its origins in dropped and chopped Chevrolet Fleetlines to the front-to-back and side-to-side motion of Chevy Impalas, SoCal's lo-lo phenomenon has spread from four wheels to two. Over the past several years, while the rest of the nation was fighting over the whole chopper/bobber b.s., a subculture of artists and craftsmen was quietly tolling away in shops and garages, utilizing H-Ds as a new canvas to express their skills, art, and love of the lowrider culture.
"My original vision for this bike was inspired by the handmade pistola in the movie The Mexican," Charlie Montgomery, U.S. Kustoms owner and builder of this Kandy Tangerine custom Softail, told us. "We wanted to create something with the fine details that echoed this. We also wanted to honor the classically defined lowrider aesthetic."
The bike was originally purchased in 2002 from McGuire's H-D in Walnut Creek, CA, and Rafael Carmona was completely happy with the 40th birthday present his wife had gotten him. But within a year he was ready to start transforming the Softail Deuce. "I was looking for someone to cut out the word 'Deuce' in my rear fender," Rafael said. "I wanted it to look very specific, though, like a car club plate you see in the back windshield. This polisher guy I knew pointed me in the direction of U.S. Kustoms in Concord, CA, and said Charlie was more than capable of getting the job done."
With a childhood background of restoring a '49 Chevy Fastback with his dad, as well as messing around with bikes since he was 14, Charlie learned the tools and tricks of the custom trade hard and early. But his love of being in the shop paid off, as he developed exceptional skills and an eye for detail.
Charlie did such a good job of cutting up the rear fender, dropping in the lighting, and then tightening up the front on Rafael's Deuce that a year later Rafael was back for more-much more. At first it was just for some new bars and a paint job, but within a few weeks, Charlie had turned the bike into an almost completely new machine.
"Rafael was gracious enough to give us a lot of creative control. But we tried to keep the Deuce's sheetmetal silhouette intact as much as possible, so it would still read as a Deuce," Charlie said.
"A lot of creative control" is putting it lightly; Charlie basically had complete artistic license. In fact, the bike was a perfect candidate for Charlie to use one of the most important tools he learned in art school: dramatic tension. "It's like Michelangelo's fresco The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When most people look at it, the first thing they notice is that the fingers of Adam and God are almost touching, but they don't. Why not? That's dramatic tension."
Take a look at the seat. It's like a sprung seat-but with no springs. There's only about a half-inch between the seat and rear fender. So upon first look, everyone thinks that the seat is going to mess up the paint on the rear fender as soon as you sit on it. The pan is fixed on three separate forward mounting points to give the illusion that it's just floating in the back, but it's strong enough to support Rafael's weight. For added rigidity, it has a spine running down the center, which helps keep the pan from flexing. Sure, it's not of biblical proportions, but it still inspires dramatic tension.
"The idea behind the gussets was to mimic the early build style where frames were braised together, which gave them an ornate quality," Charlie said.