Custom Chrome® 40th Anniversary. From Custom Chopper To Custom Bagger And Everything Between.

colefosterIn 2010 Custom Chrome Inc. will celebrate its 40th Anniversary (save the date March 12 to 14 for a big celebration). Very few companies in the custom motorcycle business have the privilege to have survived 4 decades through a constant change of the US and international economy and of the taste of bikers regarding the type of bikes they want to customize and ride. (Wish Custom Chrome would send me a copy of their 1st catalog. It’s an open request…). Such a celebration deserves a very special 2010 Parts Catalog and President Holger Mohr had the good idea to commission 2 custom motorcycles, one representative of his company in its early days in the 70’s when they first started out (of course a Chopper) and one reflective of one of today’s stronger trends (a Custom Bagger), both bikes evidently using custom parts out of the Custom Chrome catalog.

The builders are respectively Cole Foster from Salinas Boys Customs and Kirk Taylor of Custom Design Studios. These 2 awesome bikes will be part of the new catalog to give you inspiration for a new project and will tour with the CCI display all along 2010. Below how Builder Cole Foster describes his collaboration with CCI.

“I got a call from Steve Veltri and Holger Mohr.  The plan was to build a 1970’s Chopper as period correct as possible and using parts and products from the CCI catalog.  I started with a Paughco rigid frame, Jammer Shovel style engine and a RevTech® 4 speed kicker transmission as the platform to build around.  Then, 16″ & 21″ star hub wheels were sourced from the CCI Catalog and mated to a Paughco narrow Springer front end. The frame showed up while I was on a motorcycle safety tour with the USO visiting U.S. Naval bases in Europe.  Aaron and Andrew chopped the frame out a few inches and raked the neck to 46 degrees.  Upon my return from the tour, it was a rolling chassis and it had the stance I was looking for. With a little over a month to finish the project and the pressure of having it ready for Michael Lichter to kirktaylorshoot for the upcoming anniversary catalog cover the Salinas Boys rolled up their sleeves and went to work. We dug deep into the catalog and picked out all the dinosaur parts we could find that matched the 70’s era theme we were looking for. Here’s what we found: hydraulic rear drum brake, stock style forward controls, tin primary, horseshoe oil tank, Mustang fuel tank and much more. We massaged and fabricated the Jammer and Custom Chrome parts to ensure they flowed the right way and gave the bike that true 70’s feel. A fabricated seat pan was then sent off to Christine and the crew at LePera for leather. Then we worked on the handlebars and sissy bar to make sure all the finishing touches were just the way we wanted them. Those and some other items were then sent to “Sherms” for chrome plating to get just the right finish and they had them back in just 4 days!  We pulled a few goodies out of our own stash of vintage parts too. After all of the fabrication and assembly work was complete, components were sent Kirk Taylor for paint on the new old girl…”

More pictures and details on these 2 bikes very soon. Custom Chrome Inc. (Michael Lichter Photography)

13 Responses to “Custom Chrome® 40th Anniversary. From Custom Chopper To Custom Bagger And Everything Between.”


  1. 1 howard kelly Dec 7th, 2009 at 9:16 am

    good choice of builders…both do great work and are close to CCI headquarters

  2. 2 Jeremy Dec 7th, 2009 at 10:02 am

    Go CCI. Go!

  3. 3 krugger Dec 7th, 2009 at 11:03 am

    I always has been a big fan of Cole! He’s a great guy and have a lot of “racing” culture! (and chopper culture too, of course!)

    So good luck to the both!

  4. 4 MCBill Dec 7th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    I don’t think the Anniversary is open to the public. Just dealers, right?

  5. 5 aft customs Dec 7th, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Cole & Kirk did a great job & the bikes look better in person.Holger & crew put on a really fun ride from their head quarters in Morgan Hill to Big Sur with some stops along the way.Holger showed a lot of class as the CEO when I noticed he was phisically filling peoples tanks with gas at the pump.They provided a nice lunch as well.AFt Customs Girls Sara & Melanie were invited to ride as passengers by CCi & they had a blast.Micheal Lichter filmed & photographed the intire day.Nice to see a company put on a day like that in this economy.

  6. 6 squidlybob Dec 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    I bet those bike have more Chinese parts than a Kymco scooter

  7. 7 VenomSC Dec 7th, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    Squidlybob, You sound jealous?… It’s ok squidy, I’ll be sure to look for YOUR 40th anniversary catalog. 😉
    (or maybe not)

    Congrats CCI! Cole and Kirk are awesome guys as well as AFT Customs. 🙂

    Venom

  8. 8 tepiddeath Dec 7th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    Being the “parts broad” at an aftermarket Harley shop, I can say that out of all of our vendors CCI is definitely the most customer orientated. They have the best support team, and are more than willing to go above and beyond to help us out! I am really glad to hear about a company so “near and dear” to me succeeding in this economy! Keep up the awesome job!

  9. 9 toph Dec 7th, 2009 at 10:52 pm

    i’m all for cci supporting the industry in this manner; two high-quality, experienced builders, two cool scoots. it’s forward thinking imo. it’s good for everyone.

    congrats on 40 years.

    kirk looks mighty fine on that bagger, welcome.

    i like brevity.

    toph

  10. 10 Roadside Marty Dec 7th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cole and Kirk and I’m glad to see CCI give them this chance to show of their talent!! Great job guys and I hope to see both of you this year!!

  11. 11 maroco Dec 8th, 2009 at 7:36 am

    CCI have big options of choise for anyone who want build a good bike.
    The images prove that, amazing 70´s chopper, and a great bike for long distances.
    I guess the bikers, more and more, like make real changes in the bikes.
    All the best to the company and also for this two Builders.

  12. 12 Take a Chance Dec 8th, 2009 at 11:34 am

    Love the look. Nice job and Happy 40th!!!!!

  1. 1 Custom Chrome 40th Anniversary Harley-Davidson Bagger By Kirk Taylor at Cyril Huze Blog Pingback on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 am
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