Charleston Bike Builder Creates Fantasies

I actually found this piece while we were out in Vegas, but only got around to posting it.  These aren’t our regular, “garden variety” customs.  But, you have to admit.  They sure are intersting.

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Charleston Daily Mail

Ripley motorcycle shop creates rolling fantasies

George Hohmann
Daily Mail business editor

Thursday September 21, 2006
RIPLEY — Dave Anderson, Jeff Paxton and Larry Sayre don’t build motorcycles. They build fantasies that happen to have wheels and handlebars.

Take Anderson’s motorcycle, for example. It’s called “The Red Dragon” because, well, it is built to look like a dragon — from the red-and-black paint job to the horn-back crocodile seat and the pointy chrome accessories.

And then there’s “The Jagermeister.” It’s painted the same color as the famous green herbal liqueur. “That’s Jeff’s bike,” Anderson said. “He likes to drink that stuff.”

Anderson, 53, owns and operates Mountin’ Magic Customs and builds dream machines priced from $15,000 to $40,000.

“I got started racing dirt bikes,” he said. “This started as a hobby about 10 or 11 years ago.” He had a shop with a welding bay on U.S. 33, then decided to build custom bikes with Paxton. Now they have a shop and showroom nestled in a residential area off the Fairplain exit of Interstate 77. They’re looking to move closer to the interstate.

Paxton is involved in fabrication and mechanics and Sayre handles public relations and sales.

A custom bike begins with a bare metal frame. Parts are then shaped and sanded and cut out to the owner’s specifications. For example, Anderson offered a $50 reward to the person at Ravenswood High School who came up with a design he liked for the fuel tank of “The Red Dragon.”

“Needless to say, my wife Pat — an art teacher at Ravenswood High — won,” he said.

Sayre’s pride and joy is a custom soft tail that features a 1998 Harley Davidson engine and a body that was designed in the 1950s. “I was born in 1955 — I like the ‘50s,” he said.

“This bike was wrecked in 2001,” Sayre said. Mountin’ Magic restored the entire bike and replaced the totaled front with a Harley Hydra Glide front end. The baby blue paint job and black saddlebags make the machine look like it just roared out of an Elvis movie.

“The bikes that we build are bikes you can ride,” Anderson said. “A lot of people build bikes that are all looks and no go.”

Every Mountin’ Magic bike is a custom creation.

“They are one of a kind,” he said.

Mountin’ Magic’s steel-and-chrome fantasies have been featured in Easy Rider, Custom Bikes and In the Wind magazines. Mountin’ Magic regularly competes at Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Fla., and has won a lot of bike shows.

“We’ve been beaten by some of the biggest names in the business,” Anderson said. “I’m talking about the guys you see on the Discovery Channel — guys like Hank Young and Don Gray and Billy Lane and Kendall Johnson. We’ve been right up there with them. They’ve beaten us but said, ‘Hey, you’ve done some nice stuff.’”

Anderson said Mountin’ Magic does a lot of classic motorcycle restoration work, along with maintenance and service for all makes. “Most shops don’t want to work on bikes that are 15 years old or older,” he said.

Mountin’ Magic is hooked up with parts makers and suppliers from all over and can get anything a customer wants, he said.

Sayre is now working on a bare frame that will become a 2007 custom bike. He explained that the year used in the name of a bike depends on the motor’s model year.

“We’re taking our time,” he said as he smoothed out some rough spots. “Dave is the type of guy who wants things done now. Jeff has more patience. What really happens is, you end up spending a lot of time waiting on the UPS man.”

Asked how he and the others get away with spending so much time around motorcycles, Sayre said, “I’ve got a great wife who wants me to have a good time — and she loves motorcycles, too. Their wives drive, too.”

As for being around the shop, Sayre said, “This is like a job and recreation all caught up in one. It makes us like brothers.”

On a recent sunny afternoon, Chuck Smith was hanging around, talking bikes. Smith rides a 1979 Harley Electra Glide. Mountin’ Magic built a sidecar for his machine.

“I’m a supporter of quality work and these guys do quality work on old bikes,” he said.

Contact writer George Hohmann at business@dailymail.com or 348-4836.

http://www.dailymail.com/display_story.php?sid=2006092121