Spike Customs Aces Wild P40 Flying Tigers WWII Tribute Seat Set
This is a seat set that i made for a customer who was building a bike themed around a tribute for the
WWII P-40 Flying Tiger Pilots. The whole project was a lot of fun, and i used some new ideas to make the seats come out as great as possible. Ostrich paneling on the seats, and a panel of black alligator on the spade backrest, the the brushed stainless steel trim-ring and stainless hardware, a custom shaped X-bones seat pan, and all the custom color-work to match the P-40 and symbols to the actual WWII colors made this seat set come out absolutely great. This is one of my favorite seat sets that I've done.
Enjoy the pictures.
-Spike
Harley Crossbones “One Shot One Kill” Sniper Seat Set
Here's an awesome seat set for a bad ass veteran sniper.
This is a bobber style front seat, made on one of my OE replacement harley crossbones seat pans, and an OE fit back seat, as well as an OE mounting sissy bar and pad. I made all this stuff to bolt directly to my customer's crossbones.
I never thought it would be as hard as it was to tool guns. I figured all straight angles and geometric shapes would make it easy... wrong. Hours of tooling in details in the grips and rails later, I realized how much more painstaking it was to get all the little geometric details just right so that the gun had symmetry. Making something look like a machine in a material that really wants to make organic shapes and design is much more difficult than I first imagined. The side panels are brought to life with black ostrich panels and black lacing around the edges.
There were a few hiccups, and the seat took much longer than I anticipated to make as well as I ended up making the front seat and rear seat TWICE, because FedEx destroyed the first set in shipping.
All well worth it for a man willing to give his all for freedom.
Enjoy.
-Spike
Spike Customs now taking credit card payments
My dear customers,
I have set up a vendor account and can accept all major credit card plans directly. No more hassling with the slimey paypal payment system, or the complicated google checkout system.
In person, i swipe ypur card normally. For long distance orders, just call in and i can take your payment and order right over the phone.
I know i know, its so much hassle to actually pick up the phone, dial the number and *talk* to someone, but i'm sure you can manage. And a little human contact away from the computer couldnt hurt. Ordering custom work and getting something this cool shouldn't happen by the click of the mouse, anyway. Afterall, youfr not buying a machine made piece, your buying a handcrafted piece... so talk to the owner of the hands.
Happy shopping,
Spike
F&@K! Paypal. Spike Customs will no longer be using any PayPal services.
Spike Customs is terminating any and all association and business through the PayPal networks. We will no longer be accepting any kind of payment made through PayPal.
Currently, we can accept check or money order payments only. I will post updates to the situation of not accepting online payments as i find them. However, with payment systems getting as greedy and un-user friendly as they are, i'm not holding my breath that i'll be able to find a less-greedy, reliable or trustworthy enough company that i am comfortable doing business with.
Carbon Fiber & Tooling Softail Skull Seat
Okay Folks,
Here it is... my secret weapon... well, one of them, anyway...
CARBON FIBER.
Now you may think, "but Spike, i see carbon fiber all the time."
Not like this, you havn't.
This isn't a carbon fiber seatpan, or headlight, or accent piece... this is woven carbon fiber used like material and actually used in the seat.
It is incredibly strong and durable, beautiful... and expensive (yikes!). My trick is how i prep and make the carbon fiber material ready to be used in a seat. It is not the hard plastic looking material you're used to seeing in motorcycle and automotive parts... its still a cloth like material, and is soft and flexible.
Combine that with some kick-ass leather tooling, elegant lacing, and an exotic hide like alligator and you've got one AMAZING seat!
Enjoy the pics of this seat i made back in August 2009.
Later,
SPiKE
Drill Press + My Finger = Disaster
Okay Kids...
Today's blog post is another perfect example of how *my* example... can be a *bad* example.
Sometimes you have a moment when you are nothing but pissed off at the world; brooding over everything that is going wrong at the moment, be it a philandering deceitful girlfriend, finances not being what you want, customers that make you angry... or anything that is wrong in your world. These moments happen. It's normal it's human... get over it.
The point here i can not stress enough here is this: While this is going on, don't decide to operate machinery. especially not something with sharp spinning bits. Like, oh let's say for example... a drill press... and i would further go on to state that while drilling holes for mounting brackets on seat pans with a 9/16" bit is an even worse time to be distracted and worrying about everything else in the world.
fingermovie3 This is the beautiful thing that happens, when while you are too busy worrying about how crappy people have treated you, and the violent daydreams about what you could do to them if you had a chance... your workpiece catches on the bit and spins your finger into the very sharp almost brand new bit.
Granted... all the pictures i have are all after i got it to stop bleeding as much as i could. I bet it would have looked hilarious if someone were watching when it happened. Imagine me scrambling around a crowded shop with one arm over my head and blood running down my arm looking for some paper towels and something to use like a tourniquet (the tightly wrapped blue tape).
After i could throw a couple paper towels on it, i grabbed my trusty blue masking tape, quickly tore off a foot or so, and wrapped my finger as tightly as i could. Bleeding stopped quickly. Then i went into the house and started to clean it... which is when i thought, "i should share this with the world." because everyone should share in my unhappiness about having a giant gash in my finger now. And so i grabbed my camera and took some pics. since i had already washed it a bit, the pics aren't nearly as gory as i would like. You've been spared for now.
I was lucky, in that the little flaps of skin that had been sliced into by the sharp hardened flutes of the drill bit were still somewhat attached, and allowed me to have a sort of 'built in' cover to glue it all back together with. Like i said, lucky me. Of course at this point, i was no longer distracted by any outside force, and was completely focused on the task at hand. Funny how that works out? If you set off with the wrong mind-set, you end up getting into the correct frame of mind one way or another.
and if you're wondering now, "Why Spike, you got it to stop bleeding... but how do you close a huge gash without going to the hospital for stitches?"
That's a good question... and it's been my experience that hospitals don't use stitches anymore. They use Super Glue. Of course they can't just go and *call* it super glue... because then they couldn't charge you $100 for it. But rest assured, it's the same cyano-acrylate glue labeled as super-glue, crazy glue, or (my favorite) loctite super-glue that you can buy at wal-mart for $2.
So, after a good couple cleanings with some antibacterial soap and douse of hydrogen peroxide, i was ready to dry and apply my glue.
Look ma... now i'm my own craft project.
And here's the finished product. Skin flap glued back down into place. You can clearly see the 'C' shape of the edge of the flap in the pic. I imagine this will dry up and have to be removed soon... perhaps more pics? just because i love you so much. haha.
Just remember folks... do as i *don't* do on this one. When approaching machinery that can potentially maim or mangle you or your precious appendages, always clear your mind. stay focused, and be alert.
Metalwork is a joy. Usually beating shapes into sheetmetal, making gastanks, frames, seatpans and the like puts me into a zen-like state of meditation, where i am centered mentally and unhindered by the world outside of my little shop. Obviously not the case this time.
Later,
SPiKE
Technical Difficulties / Server Crash Last Week
Sorry everyone about the site being down last week (5-24 to 5-29). My server crashed and it took that long to get it back up. If you tried to contact me during that time, you will need to re-send your message, since my email was down too and i could not receive any messages.
But not to worry, as the site is back up and running for everyone to look at and love.
Enjoy!
SPiKE
“Deadman’s Hand” .44 Caliber Bullet Custom Softail Seat
“Deadman's Hand” .44 Caliber Bullet Custom Softail Seat
I made this seat up for a guy on the east coast back in March '09. This seat came out absolutely beautiful. This is the kind of work that a customer gets when they tell me an idea that they have and say something like, "i'll leave everything else up to your judgement." When you set me loose, you get a beautiful work of art.
Yes, those are REAL bullets. i went bullet shopping for this seat and found these beautiful babies. it makes me want to buy a 44 just so i can use them. They're chrome plated split top hollowpoints. I didn't even know you could buy hollow-points in this state!
This was made on a stock style softail seatpan that was fitted to a custom softail bike. The pan was re-foamed with high density memory foam for much more comfort and sleeker style.
The tooling is skulls on flame backgrounds, and then the “DEADMAN'S HAND” banner that wraps around the deadman hand (Ace's and Eights) all accented in a deep gunmetal metallic silver. If you don't know the story, it comes from the wild west. This is the hand that Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot and murdered, the last card is face down because he was shot before the last card was dealt... dead mans hand.
I picked the alligator side panels because they just look so frickin' nice on an all black tooled seat. The black lacing with chrome eyelets just accents perfect with the bright chrome bullets.
Enjoy,
SPiKE
“JackAss” Jack Daniels Custom Bobber Seat and Solo Sidebag
“JackAss” Custom Bobber Seat and Solo Sidebag
This was a fun project i just finished up in October of '08. It's a seat and solo sidebag for a custom chopper that was done in a "Jack Daniel's" theme. It all came out very nice.
This seat was a bit of a departure for me, because there was no black material on it. It was a quick change of pace, as i get a lot of "all black" tooling seats, or seats with a lot of black in them because all black seats are something that not many seat builders can make look good. Like in paint, black shows every mistake.
It also challenged my design ability... how to make a donkey look cool. 
The matching bag came out very well.
I ran aluminum bar around the inside to give the bag support and keep it from loosing shape when it was empty, and keep it from sagging or flopping when it was full.
Heavy duty straps tie everything together (1/4" thick leather) so they won't wear out, tear, or break no matter what. I made it so that it will fit most all softails and custom hardtails.
Enjoy,
SPiKE
Custom Metallic Flame & Pinstripe Seat for a Softail
Hey folks.
You know, sometimes i just want to be a better photographer. Taking pictures of this seat is one of those times. I just couldn't figure out the lighting/camera settings to make the metallic colors pop out... instead they just look lighter or like they're reflecting light...
This is a seat a made for a custom softail. I matched the colors and design to the paint job itself, which happened to be a metallic flake paint. The really cool part of this seat is that when i color matched the paints, i also matched the metallic. Since i end up mixing almost all of my own colors, i can mix in stuff like metallics and pearl.
I asked for a paint swatch or painted test panel with the colors of his bike on them, so that I could colormatch... Instead he sent me his whole finished and painted fender, so that I could not only color match the seat, but also match the flame design and bright blue pinstripe from his paint job.
After tooling and dying, the super shiny tooled leather got paired with alligator panels, and lacing to make one very nice custom seat. The blue pinstripes were no easy trick to pull off, either. Since leather is already browish color, non-opaque colors like blonde, yellows, and blues are very tricky to mix and color correctly so that they come out how you want them too on the seat.
Enjoy the Pics,
SPiKE
