Renegade Issue 30

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the partially gold plated motor. For further detailing,
the front cylinder uses a Shovel-, the rear a Panhead
cover atop the cylinder, both CNC-machined to perfec-
tion, the heads equipped with dual ignition. Mario also
prepared the 5-speed “Chopper Kulture” rebuilt gear-
box and added head- and taillight to the parts list. Any
“Old School” project of that magnitude asks for open
primary and mid-shift controls, all special-made for this
excellent manucaftured beauty.
Naturally, a Chicano bicycle has very little¬ (if any)
electrical system – so the target for the bike was to be
as minimalistic as possible. As well known by any Cus -
tomizer who has tried that before: The more minimalis-
tic the electric system, the more complicated the task
– this bike did not make a difference. Every essential
component – relays, plugs and fuses – was squeezed
into the left tank half, complicating the handcrafting of
the fuel reservoir even further.
In typical “Lycan” style many parts were gold plated,
asking for a similar “shiny” paintjob, reminiscent of
the old classic “Lowrider” cars and the detailing went
ahead: The mounting brackets for the rear brake line
were by chance found in the local homeware-super-
store, but had to by “customized” and – you guessed
it – gold plated. But they certainly add to the clean and
unique look. Another topic that caused surprising last-
minute headaches: The seat. Only two weeks to the
final assembly showdown, the ordered seat was miss-
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ing somewhere between the US-based designer and
Dubai. Disappeared into thin air or gone with the wind?
Who knows? Which became the hour for Hamburg-
based Ute Jäckel of “Buckaneer-Design”, one of Ger-
many’s true world-class leather artists, renowned for her
detailed handcrafted (and often award-winning) seats,
bags and leather-artworks. She delivered in time for the
BBO: Omar did not have to sit on the bare springs, when
performing the first test rides, the day after the bike was
completely assembled.
“Green Chicano” is the authentic proof that customizing
is international – and you can always create something
new. Some may dispute the styling, some the paintjob
and another one the gold plating. What is without any
doubt is the excellent craftsmanship of this unique
bike – and as Harley-Davidson and customizing is
spreading out as a form of self-expression into even
more exotic countries than the Arab World you can
be assured: We haven’t seen it all – not even half!
Other cultures, other styles are rising to fame – and it
is easy to state that young Omar will soon inspire the
scene with even more great custom bikes „Made in
Dubai“...
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