Lifelong rider and shop owner Al Raposo’s take on cleansing doesn’t involve juice; it’s all about oil, rubber, and metal. None of which aids in repairing the damage from years of smoking cigars, guzzling booze, and munching burgers, but all of which are pretty good at fixing a broken bike. You could even say they’re necessary, in fact. Al’s Hot Bike Tour custom came into the world in 1993 as a Harley-Davidson FXR. It would later suffer a tragic wreck that left the bike a mess with a jacked frame—and Al with an opportunity.
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Raposo got the wounded hog from a friend and gave himself the high challenge of not only fixing it in a month but also making it a full-on custom in the process. That’s not such a big deal if you have a ready supply of Red Bull (or stronger, less legal stimulants) and all kinds of free time. Doing it while running a custom shop and actually wanting to sleep is a tad more difficult. Having an understanding family and a great crew made the build possible though, and the shop got the job done.
Repairing the frame was the first task, but once that was done, Al still needed parts and to make the time crunch, he used as many bits and pieces he already had on hand as possible. The bike was a serious team effort completed under the gun, with Jordan De Souza hand polishing much of it in-shop. To top off all that hard work, Taylor Schultz really did the build justice with a sweet melding of blue, silver, and white paint.
Source : Hotbikeweb
