| Recently, Brian Jackson and the crew from
Corbin’s Ride On had the chance to travel to Melbourne,
Florida, to see a very special bike and meet its builder.
Stay tuned to meet Billy Lane and his “Psycho Billy
Cadillac.”
Brian spoke with Billy from his shop, Choppers, Inc. and
talked about this bike with its radical, and even physics
defying, “hubless” rear-wheel design. First, Billy
told Brian a bit about how he got started in the business.
Billy said that when he was young he helped his brothers work
on their bikes, and even though his parents forbade him to
have motorcycles (and tattoos as well) he bought a bike while
he was in college and his creativity and talent took over
from there. Billy possesses a degree in mechanical engineering
from Florida State University so the Psycho Billy didn’t
come about by accident, but from painstaking design and care.
This special bike is all handmade and in fact, Billy told
us that legendary bike builder Jesse James built the gas tank
for it! But, what draws the “oohs and aahs” when
someone sees this bike is the “hubless” appearance
of the rear-wheel which Billy tells us isn’t really
hubless at all! What he did was to create and fabricate an
axel almost as big as the rear-wheel and then hollow out the
axel that gives the “hubless” appearance! While
Billy was talking to Brian, he also told us that much of the
credit of the shop’s success goes to his partner Nick,
with whom he has worked for seven years. Billy went on to
say that their it is an ideal partnership in that both understand
the other’s direction and influences when it comes to
building bikes. Finally, we talked Billy into firing up a
second hubless chopper that they had built, and he talked
to us about the bike and its nostalgic design. First of all,
we noticed that the bike sported a stick-shift. Billy told
us that he likes to keep the nostalgic concept and also pay
tribute to builders such as Von Dutch and Big Daddy Ed Roth
whose designs influenced him. He also stated that he likes
the “old-school” feel (such as not running any
front brakes) even if it is a bike with modern technology.
“It’s like a rite of passage,” Billy went
on to say. Lastly, Billy told us that he had been asked about
selling the second hubless bike, and he’s not saying
that he wouldn’t but he didn’t say he was ready
to let go either…you’ll just have to stay tuned.
The crew had a great time visiting in Melbourne, Florida,
and if you would like to see more about the “Psycho
Billy Cadillac” then give Billy and Nick a look on the
web at www.choppersinc.com.
Back to Episode CRN8009
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