THE EVOLUTION TO A 'CUSTOM' BIKE, FROM BOG STOCK TO KILLER CHOP . . . . IN 2010 THE BAR + SHEILD MOB RELEASED THE 'FORTY-EIGHT' SKIRTSTER, IT WAS INSTANTLY SHITCANNED BY THE HARDCORE COGNOSCENTI AS A HIPSTER TOOL . . . . I SAW IT AND HAD MY EPIPHANY OF HOW I'D MODIFY IT . . . . AND EVEN NOW IT'S DONE, IT'S STILL JUST A MODIFIED STOCK BIKE.

The constant misuse of the term 'custom' these days shits me to the point of bleeding from the arse, "man, I've got a custom Harley" or "I drive a custom car" . . . well, no you haven't and no you don't . . . you ride a slightly modified standard bike and you're driving a stock car with some aftermarket bits thrown at it. That doesn't make them a custom fucking anything, merely a nominally altered stock machine.

To illustrate my point, I give you an original, pretty sad, bog stock '48', exactly as mine was when I took delivery of it back in November 2010, my previously mentioned aesthetically modified version, the one and only Purple Penis and, probably my most admired contemporary builder, Scott T-Bone Jones' perfectly chopped, hand built interpretation of the same platform. 

Be real, don't deceive yourself and try to fool others, who'll know you're talking shit straight away if they've got half a clue, by dumbing down the real meaning of the term, one approach is a slight evolution, the other, well that is all revolution . . . end lesson.