"C&C Cycle - Award Winning Bikes Built in Severn, MD"

When you're asked to do an article on a builder there is a sort of excitement that a writer experiences. When you're asked to do an article on a builder with the stature of Roy Chamberlin of C&C Cycle there are two feelings, one is "holy crap I am a lucky S.O.B.!" The other one is knowing that pretty much every major magazine has featured Roy and his bikes and I am following in the wake of Easy Riders, Hot Rod Bikes, V-Twin and American Iron to name a few. Those are some big shoes to fill and hopefully my small feet can measure up!

Roy started building bikes twenty-four years ago. Twenty of those years he was a one-man show running the shop and doing all the fabrication and building work himself. Back in the day (trying not to date him) Roy was a certified master tech for Chevy and just got tired of working in the car business. He did not like the way the car world was going in the tech dept. so he switched over to the iron horse. His first build won third place at the first Baltimore International Motorcycle Show. This is a huge accomplishment for a first time builder. This showed the motorcycle world the potential that Roy had and in the past twenty-four years he has cemented his status as one of the industry's most talented builders.

There is a big difference between an assembler, a I like to call them, and a builder. Roy is a builder, which now a days is an artist of sorts. Roy stated to me, "if it comes in a box, it's not custom." Well put Roy, nothing is further from the truth. Back in the 1970's Roy was making internal neck stops before they had CNC Machines. That is doing it the hard way all right!

You will find that C&C make a clean stylish bike. Roy strives to make sure your bike is not a radical bar hopper that causes you to hire a full time chiropractor. His bikes not only have form, but function and because he fabricates everything from the handlebars to the gas tank and fenders, it is easy for him to hide things that the DMV requires you put on your bike but break up the artistic lines. A good example of this is playing hide and go seek with the turn signals on the bagger that he built for Margaret his shop operations manager. Unless they are turned on, good luck finding them! C&C builds roughly 4-5 bikes from scratch each year and Roy admits that he does a lot more modifications to existing builds and stock bikes that people want to turn into a custom of there own. Let's face it, not many people have the deep pockets it requires to build something from the ground up. However if you are one of those people and you are reading this, Roy is your man.

The shop is a full service shop and will take warranty work on your Big Dog, Titan, or Harley to name a few of the brands they normally see. Roy said he doesn't care if it's an oil change or a full -blown custom, they will take care of you. They are one of the oldest shops in the area and have garnered a few impressive accolades. The one that blew me away is that since 1988 C&C has placed at EVERY Rat's Hole Custom Chopper Show down in Daytona. For those of you who are new to the industry, that is like making it to the Super Bowl every year! From this show they were picked twice to go to Germany! Another notable mention Roy was invited to bring up bikes for the 90th, 95th, and 100th anniversary of Harley-Davidson out in Milwaukee to put them on display. C&C has a ten thousand square foot shop with a two thousand five hundred foot showroom. He carries your entire bolt on do-dad parts selection and all the biker paraphernalia you will normally find at a vendor. He enjoys blending things into the design that normally stand out such as the turn signals, ignition coil, horns, etc. Many of the bikes that you see winning the big shows are just trailer queens. The builders remove many of the parts required by DMV to make it look cleaner. Well all of Roy's bikes including his show winners are tagged and ready to drive on the street without getting you a ticket from Mr. Smokey.

The bike on our cover with Kandy from LaBellaParadise.com posing on it is Margaret's 2004 Ultra Classic. The bike started out as a small custom job with a few nice touches here and there but then the custom bug bit Roy. The bike has 18-inchwheels with a 200-rear tire. The tag was frenched into the custom rear fender that Roy stretched and modified. The bags were also stretched to match the fender. The tank was stretched and the blinkers were not only frenched into the bike to be flush but they were hidden within the paint job so unless they are turned on, you cannot see them. Most of the other parts such as the mirrors, controls, chrome covers, and the aluminum dash were all fabricated by C&C. Roy also designed the paint job. This is very different from most builders who have a painter take care of that. Roy designs all his own paintjobs and has the painters do the execution portion of it. He uses various painters including Pro-Artworks and Artistic Creations. Pro-Artworks is thecompany that painted the Ultra Classic. Margaret has been riding a total of 18 years and has three bikes so she is no stranger to the motorcycle lifestyle. She has the talk to back up her bikes walk!

So what can you expect from C&C Cycle? Wellbesides a custom bike that will probably win RafsHole and get you plastered all over ~very majormagazine in the country, how about a personaltouch in a friendly warm environment. Some builderswill sell you what they want to sell or try toconvince you to do something to your bike. Royand Margaret believe an educated biker is the bestkind. They will help you get the look you want and if they assist you mechanically they will save your broken part and show it to you and explain why it failed and what they did to fix it. This is a great thing you will not find elsewhere. That would explain why Roy works on so many "box customs" and other bikes that are built by other manufacturers. You can visit them on the web at www.candccycle.com or stop by their magnificent shop in Severn, MD. I am sure you will see a lot more of his bikes in our magazine. Don't forget to tell them that Hammer sent you! (I don't think you'll get a discount but at least he will know you read this)