2007 Custom Built Motorcycles Majesty on 2040-motos

My name is Eric, and I’m a videogame/fandom modder and I work under the name DrX on all of my art.

I’ve created this ebay account specifically to sell my Rebel 1 bike. Since I cannot have a 3 letter name on eBay I came up with the super snazzy name  Modder-DrX. Since I’m new to eBay I will use it to test the waters if I want to use it for some of my art including my popular cosplay props.

I’m going to give information overload on the hows and whys if you want to buy it cool, if you like the design and just want to give it a nod that cool too. I work with a lot of gamers who dig the art but don’t have the money, doesn’t hurt me one bit to chat up something I modded.

For the tldr crowd that just wants to see the build you can scroll on past the boring wordy parts I only talk about the bike in poor salesmanship full disclosure style.

History

So this bike belonged to my brother-in-law, and it was his daily driver to work, grocery store etc. He rode it for about 36k and one day it was raining, he was in the center of the lane on a crowned road, and laid it down.

This was his affordable means to work rain or shine and there wasn’t another one like it in the Carolinas at the time so we bought the same bike, I trailered it down to South Carolina, and trailered this one back to Minnesota to repair it.

Damage

While the bike was laid down, it didn’t take a heck of a lot of damage. This bike only saw in town miles and he was probably going all of a sniff of 20 when it happened. This is all it did.

I know to the average mammal this isn’t the end all be all of damage, but this was over the top driving me bonkers.

Now I didnt look, but I'm reasonably sure his butt didnt have teeth, however the seat was well past the delicate touchey phase of life and well into the sink sponge phase of life.

Some people dig that sort of thing, it's not our place to judge folks.

But I totally judged the hell out of this one.

One of my buddies was being re-based and I found out at the worst time ever, half a second before he was to be gone. To be honest the thing that made me want to keep the bike was that. I needed a motorcycle for our little meet, however I just financed one so buying a bike was off the table. I thought that I’d ride this one however when I throttled it back, words like “death trap” and “religious personal proof of concept” rattle around in my braincan.

It would take a tactical insurgence team to make me ride this sucker more than 5 feet.

I didn’t make the motorcycle trip before his unit was deployed. So my wife and I went 6 hours out of route to text him a pic of it at the arc.

As you can see by the pics I took it to the Arc… then once I was back in Minnesota I struck a devil deal with my wife… she said I could mod the bike, but I had to sell it when it’s complete.

I call it a devil deal because at the time I was blinded by the notion of the fun to take it apart, repair it, rebuild it from the frame up and tediously paint every little bit I could… now that it’s done and I’ve ridden it, I want to keep it.

She won’t let me.

Even though it was laid down with the aggressive vigor of the Zamboni death scene in Deadpool, it was her brother who laid it down, so she has the bad ju-ju vibe and I did make the agreement. DAMMN YOU PAST ERIC!!! I should have bedded in a loophole like a lawyer or something.

Rolling back before the temporal self loathing and butthurt, I started the mod like I would any other… with wreckless abandon, only an idea of what I want and let the project dictate where it needs to go.

But before I could start I had to take the bike to Motoprimo to have a million dollars in mechanical repairs performed... like new forks, and my sobs of sorrow when I wiped out my art project money and savings account. They do fantastic work, and it needed some expensive repairs, they kept it at the quote so I can't boo-hoo too bad.

Repairs completed, time to mod this sucker!

This mod employed one of lifes best little tools, the sharpie and xacto knife… which I used the sharpie to scribble out the rebel logo, and the xacto knife to whittle it out. This took time, caffeine, and a Star Wars marathon playing in the background for ugh… research.

Next I sanded it for what felt like an eternity and then I painted it flat black.

I cut out lines and shapes with the xacto and a metal ruler. I used the shapes of the Star Wars ships as inspiration.

Fun Fact, Minnesota is not known for its tropical heat in the winter

Another fun fact... my house is about the size of a postage stamp... if said postage stamp was actually a Shrinky-Dink and left in the oven too long.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, my backyard is a cliff so the bike spent a lot of time in the kitchen. This proves two things… my wife is more tolerant than most humans on the planet, and I had to come up with a solution quick because quite frankly she’s well armed and made Annie Oakley look like an amateur shot.

So I had to lower the bike on the trailer down the cliff using my truck, knock a wall out of my tiny shop, move the bike inside, put the wall back up and work within a sniff of space that makes claustrophobics cringe.

For the observant... yes, I paint, draw and put stickers all over my walls like a teen :)

Please note the color I originally chose for the base was red.

All the painted parts were sanded down one by one, primed, coated, cured, then coated again.

I'm going to bore you with a billion pics of me painting every little piece. But hey if you really really want to see, and want to love and cherish all of them like they are precious little gems... no, not even then. It's boring.

I'll skip ahead to the part where I took each painted bit...

Sanded each and every one

Then painted them all flat black

Then spent hours sanding away parts of the flat black until I thought my hands were going to cramp into oblivion

Below is what one of those bits looked like

Kudos for those of you who picked up that I said that in past tense!

It seems like every time I am interviewed the same question pops up… what’s the one thing I like about the piece.

So through the magic of the one sided auction, to the right is that very piece!

If you have ever ridden a bicycle, you need hydration! Oh yes, your throat turns to sandpaper and there’s nothing that can bring you joy more than a pull from that luke warm bottle of plastic tasting water that’s been sloshing around in the hot sun for far too long.

Well I’m a lazy bastard, and water is for deer.

Monster and Starbucks are for the upper echelon of the food chain, and I demand only the best trappings that safety will allow on a roving two wheeled death machine.

So I made a cup holder out of a plastic Starbucks shopping cart cup holder donated to the cause by my all heart barista at my local Target. She speaks nerd, plays xbox, and understands the need for an ice cold frappachino on the go.

For the lucky person who wins the bid... you my friend have a custom cup holder that will bring you hours of joy, unless you take your eyes off the road and get killed, then those hours will be much much shorter and less enjoyable.

Yeah, this is what I'm proud of. Not the umteen hours sanding, hand painting, airbrushing, blah blah.

Cup Holder

Love it because it's full of win and awesome.

While I still had sunshine and lollipops I took the seats down

With the bitter winter rays upon me... I sat in my basement shop wrapped up in cold weather clothes and started the electronics and wiring

When the frosty air in my shop was too much for my delicate nature, I tested the bonds of marriage by hand painting parts in the living room and piling them up in the middle of the floor on her beloved rug, until she gave me the eye of Sauron gaze that every man knows as “she’s going to brutally murder me in my sleep if I don’t knock this crap off”

You have to weaponize a box of Dove chocolate truffles with a cyclic rate seconded only to a mini-gun to get away with this kind of intrusion fellows.

Through the wonderment that is plastic folding table technology, I managed to further intrude on our McNugget of living space and re upholster the seat... how is it I'm a keeper I quietly wonder to myself...

Anyways, I used the neat off road butt cover that my brother-in-law had on it, well the foamy bits under the bits.

I had to replace most of the dish sponge foam because it was just nasty.

Working under the motto “SAFETY SECOND!” I sanded down all the lights to a dull as the speech lineup at a ball bearing convention, and then spray painted them black and distressed it back down to where the slightest hint of light can eep on through.

At full shine in the middle of the day they are about as bright as my sisters X who was about the dumbest thing god ever stretched a patch of skin over.

But they look cool! As an artist I appreciate the aesthetics, as a motorist I’m sure that it would be middle finger technology all the way during the daytime. They shine nice at night

The lights do work great, but they are dim in the day. In fairness they were dim before. I added in a ton of LEDs and that didnt help.

Speaking of safety items that are completely pointless with this bike… I decided that a matching helmet was the way to go.

I took a new helmet, gutted it, painted it to match the theme and put it back together, then distressed it.

In the event of a crash I’m sure it would be about as safe as jumping into a den of hungry lions wearing a coat made of steaks, but it sure looks cool, and when your life is on the line… isn’t that what’s important?

Here’s part of the “helmet only by appearance, not by safety” build pics

The helmet comes with the bike, because it's cool and you should have it to proudly display on your shelf, or gravestone if you trust the lux level of the brake lights and turn signals.

Honestly I dont know what the safety rating is if you take a helmet apart, but I'm going with non-existent.

The rebel logo on the side lights up when you start the bike, and gets brighter when you hit the brakes. There was a level of complexity to it that would make Wyle-E-Coyote proud

So here’s what my vision looked like raw and unmolested by the critiques of people. Over a year of effort… EASILY over a hundred hours of work, and a bookoo of bucks and apologies to my wife for the intrusion.

Here it is…

Subtle lines that give a nod to the panels on ships, and the distressed red from space travel, and you don’t know it’s part of the rebels until you fire it up and the logo shines as brightly as the hearts of the fans when they hear the opening instrumentals. I had a grin on my face you couldn’t wipe off with a jackhammer…

Until I rode it to Target to get a victory frappachino and peruse the video game selections and I got off and this mom points at it and says “look honey!” and this adorable 6 year old looks up and gives that joyful OH! Face that only cute children can muster… the payoff is here! That moment of acknowledgement that is like throwing hundreds in the air and saying “MAKE IT RAIN!!” I begin to smile… when she follows it up with “ITS SPIDERMAN!!”

The rain of hundreds was instantly replaced by pennies that trounced down on my dome like needles of irritation.

So all that effort on all of those panels, waste of time. The truth in critiques comes best from children, strangers, and people who hate your guts. Everyone else is usually lying to spare your feelings not realizing they are making it worse.

It all had to go.

The images you  see of the bike now with all the lettering, rebel logos and most of all of the red (save for the seat and the bottom side) were after thoughts where I simply hit the red with some flat black paint to cover up the spiderman look… I have to admit it actually looks better (dammnit).

Also count on the miles to be like 40K, I'm sure in the 6 days this sucker is up on eBay I'll run it up to that.

Pricing & Pickup

For those of you who actually skimmed all that and you’re actually interested in placing a bid on this wonderful machine, here’s the numbers.

I’m listing the bike starting at $2500, and I’ll be more than happy to meet you at the Mall of America etc to hand you the keys and title once the cash is in my outstretched grabby paws.

I’ll accept cash, a US bank issued cashiers check (like wells fargo), or a bank issued money order. I will not take personal checks, or paypal.

If you want it delivered somewhere or some shipping scenario, I have no clue how to go about that, it will be up to you the buyer to figure that bit out and to cover all costs for it out of your own pocket. I’m happy to run it over to a local place here in the twin cities, but that’s after money has graced my hands.

For those of you who just wanted to look at the bike, I hope you enjoyed the build pics and are inspired to mod your own ride!

~DrX