West meets East, old school versus new school,drag-inspired versus pro-street…call it whatever you want-I call it two badass bikes from different points of the custom motorcycle spectrum occupying one cover. For all those purists and craftsmen out there who can appreciate metal in its raw, unpainted form, we’ve got Cole Foster’s ultra-light drag-inspired rigid. It’s one helluva tight little bike with a caf-style fairing up front, setting the mood for a downhill run through the twisties or an all-out brawl down the drag strip. Cole doesn’t build too many bikes a year, but when he does, they seem to become benchmarks in the annals of custom motorcycle building.

Then, for all you hot rod muscle car types, we’ve got a flamed out, 121ci, wide-tire monster that’ll blow the doors off that old ’67 Plymouth GTX with the Power Commander 440 and footprint gas pedal you’ve been threatenin’ to restore. Oh, and did I mention it was built by one of the godfathers of the custom motorcycle scene, Dave Perewitz? Created with the same passion Dave has built his career on, there’s one slight little twist on this bike: The owner wanted it to have a sissy bar so he could ride two-up with his wife. Dave met the requirement and still kept true to the style he is known for.

So what else do we have in store for you? How about an elegant yet menacing, blacked-out pit fighter dubbed Fight Club from Mercury Customs? Owners Joe and Pam Takai have established a custom bike building company that really knows how to turn their customers dreams into fluid metal reality. Always trying to stay one step ahead of the competition, Pat has his fingers on the cutting edge of technology and has blood dripping from his hands to prove it.

As for the tech, we show you how to take the shimmy and shake out of your bagger with Alloy Art’s TXR rear stabilizer and their newest innovation, the TRI-Link front stabilizer-hit those corners hard! Sticking with the bagger theme, we show you how your touring bike will look with a set of apes as we throw a couple of different styles onto a Road Glide. It might not be your thing, but over here on the West Coast, the guys love to let their hands fly over the top of their fairings-the taller the better.

On the horsepower side of things we see some good gains over stock, by installing Kryakyn’s Cheap Thrills 103ci kit on a Softail. Then Mr. Denish is back with another one of his horsepower theory pieces; this time he educates us in the principle of greater power through induction system components. It’s a two-parter starting with carbs this issue and ending with EFI next month, so be sure to check back.Until next time,Eric