“The Brawler GT is my vision of an American sport cruiser. The GT-R is at the highest level. With this bike we wanted to showcase a bike that would be good for everyday long rides or cruising but could also be used to tame the Tail of the Dragon.” That’s how Dar Holdsworth describes this sexy beast he created for actor/comedian/gearhead Tim Allen and, not coincidentally, the GEICO Hot Bike Tour.
Initially this bike was meant for another customer. Unfortunately they had to pull out of the deal. That left Brass Balls Choppers in a bit of pickle until Buzz Lightyear’s voice lit up Dar’s phone one day. Tim Allen, who’d lent his voice to the Toy Story character, had seen Usher cruising his Brawler GT around LA and wanted one for himself.

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Tim Allen, who’d lent his voice to the Toy Story character, had seen Usher cruising his Brawler GT around LA and wanted one for himself.

“Tim is an avid rider and all-around motor head,” Dar says. “He had very specific ideas—good ideas—about what he wanted in his Brawler GT. We were able to merge Tim’s ideas with my ideas for the ideal Brawler GT-R, and, as it turns out, we were able to make it happen for him with the bike for the Hot Bike Build-Off. Now that’s what I call a win-win.”
Construction began with a Brass Balls Brawler frame, which is largely influenced by the FXR. The entire body and chassis of the bike are custom hand formed as is the fuel cap.
To further improve handling, Dar incorporated strong and very lightweight BST carbon-fiber wheels, as well as a Trac Dynamics billet-aluminum swingarm when turning the bones into a rolling chassis. The carbon wheels spin up fast and stop equally as fast due to their reduced rotational mass.

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The carbon wheels spin up fast and stop equally as fast due to their reduced rotational mass.

The combination o f very little unsprung weight between the carbon wheel and the aluminum swingarm help to keep the wheel in constant contact with the street.
Dar even made a discovery or two along the way. “We have always made Brawler tanks and rear cowlings in house,” he says. “And it was good work. But it’s the kind of work that needs Bondo to make the final piece look right. For this set (and now every set going forward) we enlisted the skilled hands of Joe Cooper of Cooper Smithing Company. My god, he is supremely talented. The metalwork on this bike is perfect and not one seam or wrinkle to be found. I can’t tell you how impressive it is to me to look at his work.”
What about the guy who made “more power” a household mantra in the 1990s though? This being his iron horse, what did he want from it?
Ponies, of course. Powering the bike is a fuel-injected, T-series (code for Twin Cam) S&S 124-inch motor.

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Powering the bike is a fuel-injected, T-series S&S 124-inch motor.