words: Mister Cartoon photos: Estevan Oriol
When an out-of-towner thinks of Los Angeles, they picture sunny days, palm trees, surfing, guys playing hacky sack and blonde girls shopping. But when these same people take a wrong turn by the Staples Center and end their ass up on Western and 54th—that’s if they get past the crack heads, the gang members, and the crooked LAP D officers—one might be lucky enough to run into Big Punchie of the Rare Breed Motorcycle Club. Punchie and his crew build some of the most beautiful baggers in the world. Pulling up to their shop looks like God spilled a handful of life size
Skittles everywhere. Their candy and pearl paint jobs are so bright and vivid they bring light to a dark and grimy neighborhood.
This bike was built by Big Punchie of Los Angeles for one of his homies who wishes to remain anonymous. Days of low riding and hitting back bumpers shapes Punchie’s attitude when building bikes now. Punchie told me that it’s so hard to cruise low riders nowadays because the cops issue such expensive tickets. It’s much easier to throw a park in a candy painted Harley. You have to see this bike in person to believe it, the attention to detail is sickening. First Punchie sends the bike to Val’s Custom Colors in Stanton, where it took two months to get it purled out with these mind bending patterns. These paint jobs are not cheap and can hit double digits. Then while assembling the bike, Punchie makes sure every bolt is chromed and detailed. These are some of the fastest bikes on the streets. And he needs big motors because he’s known to 12 o’clock a Road King and wheelie down Western Avenue. You can hear one coming not only from the overbearing exhaust, but from the ear bleeding bumping music. The system, Alpine radios and amps, with Infinity 6×9-inch speakers, are,installed by lil’ brother LJ from the Candy Shop.
These bright and flashy art pieces on wheels have hand-crafted seats made out of genuine handdyed alligator, hand stitched to perfection, which can can cost up to $3,000. Painting the rims gives the bike class and these have been spoiled by using Performance Machine and Arlen Ness hardware to make them shine. Going to the shop, I couldn’t believe that I saw 25 other bikes of similar quality that we could feature from Punchie’s club for the next couple of years. In the hood, with owners that rock crispy white T’s, Air Force 1’s and icy jewelry, these bikes are a ghetto sport that has to be seen to be believed.
