October 2006
Neat Freak
by ERIK FALCONER / V-Twin Motorcycles
Rucker Performance Redefines Clean
October 2006 - Bill Rucker has built a lot of motorcycles. As former head honcho at American IronHorse, his hands were on a lot of their bikes in one form or another. So it only seems appropriate that one day he'd spin off and star his own shop. Drum roll please; may we introduce Rucker Performance.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based company is Bill's brainchild and the slammin' blue sled on these fine pages is the culmination of everything he ever wanted to build in a bike. The "Predator," as it is known, is built on a foundation where the requirements are long, lean, low and clean. No excess widgets, cables or lines hanging off in space, no clunky "bolt on" look to the bike, just a smooth tidal wave of hand-formed sheet metal flowing from end to end and all points in between.
While there's a ton of eye grabbing accoutrements on Bill's bike, he says his favorite part of the machine, hands down, is the sheet metal work. It’s all hand-formed, created from lots of metal and even more hours of labor. No, this ain't something you’re gonna get done in 10 days for television, this level of work requires all the time necessary to get the job done right. Notice how the rear tail section blends into the side rails and into the seat pan as though it were poured from liquid. The fuel tank flows down into the frame and around the seat in the same manner, creating a non-stop wave and one sleek line for the eye to follow.
This is not the type of work to simply rush through, because when you do, your painter is likely to come at you with a .44 magnum. Rucker Performance's in-house painters Carl Tyndell and Chris Rice had a smooth, clean slate with the Predator's sheet metal and you can see it in the results. The Toxic Topaz basecoat hasn't a ripple to be seen and the flames sprayed in blue and white lay over the metal with a startling reality. Paint work this good requires not only excellent painters, but damn good sheet metal to boot.
Bill achieved every item on his "to do" list when building the Predator, the most important of which was to build a bike that makes you want to ride it. After all, if you don't build something that grabs you and makes you want to hit the road every day, what good is having the bike in the first place? Couldn't agree more, Bill.
August 8, 2006 11:15 AM | send page | Press Releases