Since 1999, Robert Hitch is the owner of Symmetry Customs a business whose forte is one-off radical frame & parts fabrication for domestic and imports. As such, he is the man producing a lot of custom work for other Florida shops like Lightning Rod Motorcycles, Santiago Chopper and Gregg’s Customs. On a concept drawing provided by Rick Bonnin, he just fabricated this cool “Whiskey Bandit” bike with a strong board tracker flavor.
Let’s listen to Robert describing to me how he handled this 300 hours + job. “The frame is made of 1 1/4″ x 6″ solid plate and was cut by hand with a band saw, then contour sanded with holes done as needed. It took 16 hours to complete this task. We then moved on to the rest of the main frame which was built in our frame jig that we made in house. Next was the swingarm, a little bit more challenging because of the way we mounted the swing arm outside of the main frame and it being a softtail geometry making it resemble its final single dimension you see on the pictures”
The shock was borrowed from a Honda 1000rr. We have built this style of front end before on previousprojects. Again we used 1″x2′ solid plate, just like the rear and welded it on a jig. Motor, transmission, oil tank, starter mounts were fabricated. Oil tank was conceived and formed for a 4-quart capacity. Mid Controls, battery box are also one-off made from scratch. Ultima provided the 113″ Elbruto engine, the 6-speed transmission as well as the 2″ Belt Drive System. Steve Carr from Lightning Rod Motorcycles helped wire the bike. Paint work comes from Scott at Attitude Custom Paint. Symmetry Customs.
VERY NICE RIDE !! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK..
Great looking bike, nice wheels…
I thought this place just did fabricating in the metal industry, you know a regular machine shop in Largo fl., so now they build a few custom bike parts and all of a sudden there forte is radical custom one off parts…. What is it with you people, guess I could dissect a frog and become a surgeon.
Looks GREAT!!
never could get a regulator to last longer then a few months mounted there.
I like it.
There ought to be a law requiring all throttle cables be hidden within the handlebar.
To not do so, imo, is pure laziness. LOL
Kinda Fugley i think…..no balance just my opinion
Extremely nice build quality. Awesome custom parts, both in design and fabrication. Two thumbs up for the hard work at making everything.
But the bike just screams “I don’t know what I want to be!” to me.
So if I put a skinny rear tire on any motorcycle, can I call it a board tracker? If I put a front tire on the rear of a bagger, is it a board tracker? This looks like part sport bike, part pro-street, and part over the top show bike. But board tracker? I think you need to look in your history books, there’s nothing other than skinny rear wheel that says board tracker. And i’ve yet to see a real board tracker with billet wheels.
Really nice parts put together in an unusual way.
agree with GG…….why does everything with dual 21’s get labeled board tracker?
nice seat section !
For what it is worth. The regulator will get to hot there, not enough airflow to the heat-sink. Not a big fan of girder front end, but looks good on this bike along with their headlight arrangement. Very Nice design overall. I’m liking it!!
Craaaaaazy man! I like it. peace
Hmmm…
Unless my reading comprehension has taken another turn for the worst, the article says, ” “Whiskey Bandit” bike with a strong board tracker flavor.” Flavor, not replica.
No, skinny tires do not a board tracker make, but perhaps the loops frame (used back in the day to lower the bike’s CG) adds to that flavor. My God, everyone seems so intent on ripping apart others’ creations. Get a grip. Or go build something.
Old meets new meets old.
Lots of good details, special frame, front fork, etc.
Difrent style.
It’s funny, I know the complete story on this bike. This guy was hired to build the frame, and know he is pretending to be the expert builder and designer. This guy loves to pretend he has some type of design concept ability, if it wasn’t for a few other people he knows that are real designers, he would not have a clue what a custom bike is. This article reads as if this guy is some type of life long expert. He has a total of 2 ground up builds for himself. Everything else he has done has been partial work or some hired weld work for others. Those here in Tampa know what this guy is all about, riding on others coattails to pretend he is something he’s not and never will be.
Sam the hubcap man
Hi Sam,
Unfortunately, you received incorrect information. This guy was not hired, he was part of the design team. He is not pretending to be an expert builder (that was a weird comment)…he is simply put…the fabricator/builder. Two “ground up builds” that is wrong too…but kudos to him, they are not assembled from parts. Sounds like personal attacks and drama.
There is no ill intent in this reply, I only want to state the facts after I saw your information was incorrect.
Best wishes,
Vicki