Biker - February 1993

"Roy, From Bowie - His Streetable Toy"

Most of the time cars ain't good for much - except getting you around town when your Harley's down or haulin' your ol' lady to the nearest liquor store.

But Roy Chamberlin spent a lot of time around cars. As a technician for General Motors, he discovered that the same approach to making four-wheelers applied to building custom motorcycles.

In the car business they mix and match parts from various models to create a whole new car. That's kinda how Roy's 1980 FXWG came together. He used parts from a number of Harleys to build a motorcycle with a totally unique look.

"I bought it off a local guy, and it was in pretty good condition," Roy says. "It had a lot of chrome but was basically a street bike. This was my first custom project and it really started my business of building customs. I'd been around bikes and helped people with bikes for years, but I'd never pursued it as a profession."

Roy really got off on building his first scoot. In fact, it excited him so much that the old 9-to-5 routine at the auto factory began to bug him.

"I got burned out on all the changes, the computers, and going to school so often," he says, "so I got outta there and started a bike business." Roy left GM and opened C & C Cycles in Crofton, Maryland, and he's been going strong ever since.

Roy digs a radical chopper as much as the next self-respecting scooter tramp, but he's got a gripe about building them.

"Some of these radicals look great," he says, "but they're not real practical for the street. Sorne of them are really, unrideable. I've come up with a lot of weird ideas, but they're not practical. They're works of art you put on a shelf and look at. I want a work of art I can take out and ride."

That explains why Roy chooses to enter the conservative class in bike shows, where you're only allowed five modifications to a bike. He applied his old GM schooling to the look of his custom bikes - they appear to be fairly stock-looking machines, but are different in a way you can't put your finger on. He uses stock parts whenever he can and mixes them together on the sarne scoot for a one-of-a-kind look.

-Red Dog

written by:

Red Dog

photographs by:

Mike Lichter

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