DP Customs '95 Harley Sportster - “del Rey”

Anyone that has studied the creative process will tell you that the world's great artists eventually develop a style that is simultaneously totally original, yet uniquely and utterly their own. Think Kimura. Or Falcon. Or Lennon & McCartney. They seem to reach a point in their careers where they just manage to transcend their contemporaries and take flight. After that, their work is a good as their signature or their offspring; inherently and unmistakably theirs. Looking over the shots you see here of DP Custom's lastest creation, I'm beginning to think that they, too, have taken flight. Please welcome back the brothers Del Prado, with their 6th (!) bike to make it's Pipeburn appearance - the larger than life Harley ‘del Rey.’

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1996 Sportster XLH - '1944'

Life is the biggest lottery of them all. And it seems like Dan Kocka from Chicago won the jackpot in the 'Cool Dad' lottery. "I grew up around hot rods and rock 'n roll thanks to my dad who always owned bad ass muscle cars" says Dan. "Dad owned a few bikes as well – an old BSA chopper that was pretty cool." Dan taught himself to ride at a very young age, but was never that interested in building or tinkering on his motorcycles. Until recently, when he was given a solid insurance claim for his hail damaged car. Instead of replacing the car, Dan decided to do something sensible – for the first time in his life – and save the money. That was the plan until he came across a rolling chassis and a '96 Sporty motor on Ebay. "I've been an electrician for 5 years now so I have a decent sense of how things work, but motors are something I've always wanted to learn" he says. So Dan threw himself into his first motorcycle project – and what a project it was.

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Evolution's '72 Harley Ironhead Sporty - “No. 22”

Ever get the feeling you've forgotten something? That horrible, smouldering worry that you've left something behind or forgotten to do something. I've had one for the past few weeks, and it's been driving me crazy. I've been checking ovens, keys, wallets, and door locks like a mad man - all to no avail. Then, just when I'd almost given up hope of ever finding what it was I was missing, Paul McKinnon from Pipeburn's local favourites Evolution Motorsports wheeled the bike you see before you into our basement garage for a photoshoot. Suddenly it hit me - I knew what I'd been missing all this time. Good ol' fashion, hairy-balls-to-the-wall, down and dirty, blowing angry blue flames out of a red-hot exhaust cubic goddamn inches. It's been light years since we featured some decent capacity, and I'm here to tell you that this oversight has now been corrected like a nuclear weapon corrects fine bone china with exactly one thousand cc's of Milwaukee's finest two-wheeled tractor goodness.

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DP Customs '99 Harley Sportster - “Centennial”

That's it. I give up. I can't write any more “humorous” intro pieces for these DP Customs bikes. The guys just work too fast for me. They are wrenching and welding at a far greater rate than my scrawny little fingers with the chewed-down nails can type. I fear that if I keep trying to keep up with them I just may do myself a serious injury - quite possibly something involving my prostrate. So in place of some elaborate opening gambit about them using alien technology or being the direct descendants of William S. Harley and making bikes true to name while the real Harley is being run by Illuminati puppets, I'll just give it to you straight. Here's there new bike. It's a beauty, please enjoy.

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Harley "48" Sportster - "Rajmata" by Rajputana Customs

When it comes to custom bike builders in India there's only one that immediately springs to mind. This is the fourth bike we have featured from the guys at Rajputana Customs and they have all been unique in one way or the other. The previous three builds were all built using Royal Enfields as the donor bike, but this time they have chosen something beefier - some good ol' American Iron. This 48 Sportster has a level of craftsmanship and inlay work that you would usually only find on ancient Indian artifacts or Hindu temples. We understand this style won't be to everyones taste, but that's ok, because the locals from Mumbai to Delhi are drooling all over this thing.

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Blitz's '91 Harley 883 - “Gentle Board Tracker”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you all are thinking. I thought the same thing when I first laid eyes on this cool new Harley from Paris' Blitz Motorcycles. "Surely they mean STREET tracker, not board tracker?" I wondered. After all, this Harley looks about as much like a board tracker as the Hindenburg looked like a hummingbird. But you, like I, would be wrong. See the concept behind the latest Blitz creation was to take the essence of that much-loved era of fearless riders and death-by-buttock-splinters and and apply it to one of Milwaukee's finest. And gosh darn it if they haven't just gone and done that very same thing. The more observant readers out there will also note that unlike pretty much every other blitz bike in existence, this one is in fact "avec de la peinture et sans poussière," or "not completely filthy" as we say in Anglaise. Please welcome the Gentle Board Tracker to our friendly pages.

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WLA Harley Bobber

Buying expensive things on ebay can be very dangerous, especially if you've been consuming a few too many beverages. We have all been there. We talk ourselves into needing the thing so badly that we make a spontaneous decision to buy the thing before someone else beats us to it. Russell Lowe had one of these experiences. He was so excited about leaving New Zealand for the sunny shores of Sydney that he thought he would buy a new motorcycle for the new country. "I decided not to ship my current bikes (Moto Guzzi 850t, Sunbeam S7 and a 1920 Douglas 350) over with me as it gave me a great excuse to get another one" he says. So after looking through bike magazines and on ebay he admits he "got a little crazy about finding something". Then this Harley WLA appears on ebay and he knew he had to have it. Russell impulsively hit the 'buy it now' button in fear of missing out on it. Then around a week later the Harley was delivered from Melbourne and he got the shock of his life...

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DP Customs - ‘Seventy Three’ Harley Ironhead

Study the keeping of time and you'll soon realise that methods for keeping track of the multitudinous moments that tick by before we all drop off this mortal coil are as many as they are varied. Which is all good and well, but what's the best way of accurately measuring time if you are a biker? You can't see a wristwatch under your leathers and take it from me, using radioactive isotopes to power your handle bar-mounted atomic clock really isn't a good idea - the judge said I may never get off that damn terrorist watch list. But never fear, for I have found a way to measure biker time so accurately you'll never need a watch again. How? It's easy! You just need to note the time that has elapsed between two cool Harleys that are rolled through the out door at DP customs and divide by 60 to get a perfectly accurate 1 second measurement. Why? Because that's just about how often they've been managing to produce their superb new creations. At this rate, every Arizonian man, woman and child will be riding an DP Customs Ironhead by this time next year. Best get your ear plugs now before stocks run out.

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DP Customs - ‘Mele’ Ironhead

If you've ever studied art (yes, yes - but I'm all better now) you'll know that history's best artists often hit a sweet spot in their career where they just can't seem to do any wrong. It's like the planets have aligned for them and they have some sort of sixth sense about what makes a masterpiece and what doesn't. Picasso had his blue period. Monet had his water lilies. Coop had that series of pictures with the hella sexy nudie devil girls. Oh, hang on; that's all his work. Anyhoos, we're beginning to think that Arizona's DP customs has reached their own particular acme of perfection. It seems that every bike they have completed of late is somehow from a collection of work yet each one is a superb example of the custom bike art form. We are not worthy.

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