The Valley has a new destination for riders — Death Row Motorcycles. Open since October of 2007 in their new location on Route 309 in Drums, Death Row wants to be the destination for bikers in this area and those just passing through. Frank Stancato, the president of the company, says, “Look at some of the older guys [builders] like Denver Bikes. We want to be like that.” a
At this new location, that dream is certainly close to becoming a reality. As they say in the real estate field, “location, location, location,” and this site sure has it. It’s so easy to find that you won’t even need your GPS locator.
“The goal is for people to head out and come see us,” Frank says. “If they need an oil change or they blow a tire, we want them to think of us. We are also a licensed inspection station.”
Frank really wants people to stop in if they are in the area.
The shop itself is a transformed Fiat dealer and office building in a past life. They are working on a clothing area for leathers and shirts, and I was there when Dave got his brand new tattoo sign to hang in the window for Dave’s Original’s tattoo art. If you’ve got great art on your bike, you are probably going to want to have some art on your body, too.
I was curious about the whole culture of the custom bike, and Frank and Greg Stauffer both agreed that the rage can trace its roots back “to the ’60s and ’70s when guys started chopping their bikes.” The obvious question is, of course, why? Greg’s opinion is that “you want to be able to ride your bike but make it your own. It’s what the whole culture is about.”
Frank believes that there are really two types of people who customize their bikes.
“There are the guys that can afford to buy two or three bikes — the Harley and the custom — or the guy that wants just the custom so he doesn’t see himself 6,000 times at Daytona.”
The guys also tell me that there is a difference between customizing and accessorizing. Accessorizing is more like adding cool mirrors or some chrome stuff. With customizing, it involves more work to do things like “raking the neck or lowering the back end.” One of the bikes that they were working on with the large “ape hangers” had about $25,000 worth of work done to it. Customizing involves using what are called “after market” parts. After market translates into those things you can buy to modify your bike from the original stock parts it was born with in the factory.
So how does all of this affect the safety of a motorcycle? You see all kinds of customizations around like adding fat tires and the above-mentioned ape hangers. Frank says that “safety is an issue. If the mechanics don’t know what they’re doing, there’s a safety issue. That’s why we’re here.” It should also be added that if the rider isn’t ready for the additional horsepower or change in steering ability from these modifications then there are safety issues to consider.
So what about those fat tires? According to Frank, the fat tire phase was “big from 2006-2007 when the trend was for the really fat tires like the 330s and 360s, but that is changing and more riders are moving back to the 240s and 280s.” He continues with the comment that “the 330-360s are not as reliable or rideable. If someone asks me to put on a 360, I tell them I’m against it, but we’ll put it on if that is what the customer wants. Old-school bobbers and the rat bike are coming back.”
How about women riders customizing their bikes? Frank admits that “there aren’t as many as we’d like.” Greg says that the trend is that “women are buying more bikes, taking baby steps.” You really have to move up slowly from a lower powered bike (like a scooter) to something more powerful like a custom. The custom bikes are really worked to get more power and move a lot faster.
The engine and the body are separate areas that can be customized. For the engines, you bore out the cylinders and add kits or polish or paint. Death Row can do all of this in-house. Greg tells me that this is rare.
Death Row is having their grand opening on June 7. As mentioned, it’s an easy place to find. As Frank says “people are into their rides, no doubt about that.” So take your ride, and make Death Row your ride’s destination one of these days.
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