No, not the performance 'art' put on by some hipster asshole standing on a stage and ranting about the gov't while beating on a garbage can lid. I mean the kind that propels you down the road at speeds three times faster than good sense would dictate. A very wise and capable man from Detroit once said that form follows function. For those of us passionate and foolish enough to try to build a motorcycle that you can't buy in a dealership, the real challenge is making form follow function without it seeming like an afterthought.
My long running Sportster project is an immediate example of this challenge. I started with a certain vision for the bike, and despite refining this idea over time, I've always had a focused image of a stripped down, sharp handling, fire breathing XL as the final goal. I'm light years from a high end bike builder, but I like to think I know when a bike looks right. The mechanical part of bike building is easy for me. It's the aesthetic aspect that remains the challenge. I keep chasing that vision and it's what keeps me excited to keep building bikes. It's the addiction that doesn't need a cure.
