Born Free 4

Since moving to the west coast, there was no way we were going to miss the fourth year of the ever-growing “BORN FREE” custom motorcycle show.  This year the show was held in Oak Canyon Ranch in the remote town of Silverado, California.  With as many as 15,000 enthusiasts on hand, it was sure to be a show not to miss.  We headed out from Hollywood, CA, at 4am the morning of the show to catch the sunrise at the Born Free campsite outside oak canyon.

Wandering the campground with our cameras in hand, we met up with Backstreet Buckets‘ founder Scott Hoepker who rode in from Texas on his custom Night Train Harley. Check out his vintage full-face moto helmet and matching tank…

After we wandered the campgrounds and and met riders from all over, the sun made its way across the sky and the day had started. It was off to Oak Canyon about 9 miles down the road to the site of the show.

Minimal signage became deceiving as we descended on the show site to find rows and rows of custom bikes, great vendors, and a shit-ton of people.  The first bike to catch our eye was this incredibly clean-lined Harley bobber by Jesse Bassett at The Gas Box in Cleveland.

On the way to the show Matt realized he lost two rocker caps off the left side of his 500cc T100c.  Luckily, these two just happened to be selling a matching set of four and all was sorted.  Check out the pair of custom Triumphs they came with.

Stars and striped vintage lids…

priorities…

SonnyBoy Custom Painter showed off some skills throughout the show.

Kiyo of Garage Company starting up one of his customs entered into the builder class.

Custom double Triumph Bonneville street sled built by Tyler Malinky of LowBrow Customs

Tyler Lepore’s BF 4 Triumph Build

We were able to stop Born Free co-founder, Grant Peterson, just long enough to get a candid photo op.  Always in good spirits, Grant was constantly making sure the venders and staff got every thing they needed throughout the day.

One person we were excited to stop for a photo and see some of his work first-hand was motorcycle sculptor, Jeff Decker of Hippodrome. Jeff’s classic styled sculptures capture the spirit of the history of motorcycling with the detailed craftsmanship worthy of a cherished Remington.

Custom Harley by Biltwell Inc.  Matt nabbed a set of their new fog-less goggles during the show after our run-in with the early morning dew.

Why not…?

“If you don’t limp, you ain’t shit.” Well said, friend

Born Free lived up to all the hype and we got to see a ton of great builds as well as show goers’ rides.  For more info on the sponsored builders, check out the born free site http://bornfreeshow.blogspot.com/

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