I decided to brave the heat and HD-crowd and went to Born Free 8 with my buddy/painter Bondo. He painted 6 pro build bikes on display. There was a broad mix of all things V-Twin -- old school and new school.
Some friends and local builders from Long Beach, Aaron and Shaun Guardado aka Suicide Machine Company debuted their XG750 Harley-Davidson based sport bike. Ducati 1198 geometry with ground-up custom trellis frame and Ohlins suspension, BST wheels and single sided carbon fiber swingarm, Saddleman one-off carbon fiber pan seat and custom aluminum bodywork. Yes, it's a Harley, but a very cool one.
The Guardado brothers race Hooligan class flat track (stock frames) and have been twice invited by HD to build custom bikes around their new 750 water-cooled motors. I got to hang out with them in Vegas at last year's Superprestigio. They look pretty serious with all the tattoos, but are incredibly humble, smart and downright nice. Most of their bikes are actual racing bikes, as opposed to the showbikes HD asked them to build.
Suicide Machine Company's tracker show bike from last year (carbon fiber wheels, tank and seat)
Also enjoyed this bumper sticker
