How it all began......
While growing up with my cousins we always liked motorcycles and building choppers out of bicycles. You know, cutting the front forks off of an old bike and welding them onto the front forks of another. Then used a banana seat and the support of another to make a sissy bar backrest and those monkey bar handlebars and we were set. Oh, and we also used cloths pins and clipped playing cards to them so we would sound tough.

My cousin Larry and I got our first motorcycles, a Honda XL70 for each of us, one year for Christmas when I was in the 5th grade and he was in the 7th. This was my/our first experience with a motorcycle. It was a street/trail bike, but not for long. It didn’t take us long before the turn signals were torn off and it soon became a trail only bike. We built trails through the woods and made jumps. It was a lot of fun. We had always talked about having a chopper when we grew up but it would be a while before that would happen. Well time has passed and I have had several jobs and have accomplished some of my goals I had set for myself. One of which is becoming a professional engineer. I am a registered professional engineer in the State of Georgia,

In 2004, I began watching the Motorcycle Mania series on the Discovery Channel that highlighted Jesse James of West Coast Choppers who was building bikes out on the west coast. About the same time or the year before, the Discovery Channel started airing the American Chopper series I had worked on cars and had built my son a dune buggy from scratch with a 10 hp engine. Well, the guys at work knew I had done this stuff and kept on at me about building a motorcycle. Well, one morning in January 2005 we were standing around and it was brought up again about me building a motorcycle and this time I said I’ll do it. I never said I could build a bike but if I did it would look like something that came out of the TV screen or off the pages of a magazine. We started trading ideas for a name for my soon to be company and one of the guys said Gentleman Jim Customs and gave me a rough sketch of a logo to use. Well, that night I started sketching it out by hand and worked up several ideas on the cad machine. I had my wife look at several ideas I had worked up and she gave the nod on the one I am using today. I still have the original sketches.

                  WHERE WE ARE NOW.
It is now 2 ½ years later . I now have two custom bikes, another one for a customer, some custom parts and a web page about my business. I incorporated April 15, 2006 and have won several awards and have write ups in several biker magazines in the short time since we began. I am currently working on a new shop to move the operation out of the garage and into something that will give us a better handle on the operation

Each of these bikes only have an 80 CI engine but any size engine can be used. I am trying to keep the cost down at the same time giving the end user a dependable ride. As far as the details go, The Magnum was my first bike which has won several 1st place awards and The Southern Gent has also won some awards and been featured in Outlaw Biker magazine. These bikes have more than 600 man hours in each of them. Jay's bobber has about 200 man hours in it. All are great rides especially Jay's bobber. I didn't like it at first but came to love it once we finished. As a side note, Jay, the bike's owner, put half of the 200 man hours into the bike himself.

Each had it's own quirks during the build. Many bottles of fermented hops and aged mash went into the creation of these iron horses. All the shapes that are on the bikes were created using basic hand tools. I have your basic grinders, drill press, drills, wire feed welder and a variety of steel shapes and pipe sizes to bend the metal. I have no specialty equipment or nuclear power CNC machines like a lot of the big time builders may have. The frames are off the shelf and we manufactured a lot of the detailed items on each bike.

The Magnum

The Gentleman’s Bobber

ENGINE
Model: Harley Evo (New)
Displacement: 80 cubic inches
Carb: S&S Super E
Exhaust: Slasher Double Wall Drag Pipes
Transmission: 2004 Daeil Precision Co., RSD

Fenders: Kustomwerks blank , modified by Gentleman Jim Customs 
Wheels: Chrome Horse Bayonet
Tires: 120 Avon Front / 280 Metzler Rear
Brakes: GMC
Turn Signals: Kuryakyn Silver Bullets, Small Hallogen
Seat: Logo Design and Seat Pan by Gentleman Jim Customs

FRAME
Builder: Kwang-Shin, Inc.
Type: Softail
Rake: 42 Degrees
Modifications: 6 inches up, 3 inches out

FRONT END
Type: 41mm Wide Glide
PAINT
Type: Dupont Hot Hues
Frame Base Color: Sand Storm
Sheetmetal Base Color: Starry Night
Sheetmetal Finish Color: Molten Orange Candy

ACCESSORIES
Handlebar Controls: BDL
Grips: Chrome Horse II
Forward Controls: Chrome Horse
Mirrors: Semi-tear Drop Mini Mirror
Headlight: Accessories Unlimited
Tailight: Half Moon Integral w/ Derby Cover
Tank: Assaulter by JSR Customs

 SPECIAL FEATURES
The lower front portion of the frame has some additional metal bars added that are shaped into a point that has come to be know as the “Cow Catcher”. Both fenders have been shaped to match the shape of the Bayonet rims. The seat support bars are another feature that emulate the points on the fenders. Wherever possible, bar stock that was welded to the frame was blended to give the frame a smooth look and welds were filled as well. Aluminum covers were designed and fabricated to cover the swing arm bolts.

ENGINE
Model: Ultima (New)
Displacement: 80 cubic inches
Carb: S&S Super E
Exhaust: Cycle Shack Drag Pipes
Transmission: 2007 Ultima 6 speed

FRAME
Builder: Flyrite Choppers
Type: Rigid
Rake: 33 Degrees
Modifications: 2 inches up, 0 inches out

FRONT END
Type: Chrome Springer

PAINT
Type: Dupont
Frame Base Color: Satin Black
Sheetmetal Base Color: Satin Black

ACCESSORIES
Handlebars: 16" Ape Hangers
 Handlebar Controls: Old School
Grips: Flyrite
Forward Controls: Chrome Horse
Tank: 2.5 Gal. Sportster Tank
Fenders: Flyrite blank , modified by Gentleman Jim Customs
Brakes: Flyrite Choppers
Seat: Flyrite Choppers