Roots
by: 929_Adam

Since before I can remember, I've been fascinated by motor vehicles.This love for performance machines gripped me when I was very young. My pops had an old school turbo corvair that he LOVED very much, we used to go on cruises throughout the country all the time. The car was painted a beautiful shade of maroon, contrasted with white leather bench seats, and maybe an exhaust system...it was a masterpiece in my mind. He also had a early to mid 70's Suzuki 'Water Buffalo'  GT750 that we would take rides through the valleys and other less traveled roads. Most of my earliest memories seem to take place on or in one of the vehicles. We'd go for long cruises to see sights in the country, or he'd take me to see our national monument (Mt. Rushmore). I was virtually raised riding on bikes.

As I grew up and was finally able to transport myself instead of nagging my parents to death to bring me somewhere, I took a liking to the german cars: Volkswagen, Audi, and BMW. I had dirtbikes throughout my teens, but never got into my own streetbike until I was in my 20's. By that point I'd had about 4 Volkswagens, and had become a serious Vee Dub enthusiast. Around the time I finished building my first jetta, a friend of mine got a 929. Now, I'd been on bikes, been in quick cars, even an exotic or two, but when he let me ride that 929,  I instantly knew what I'd been missing in my life. My constant pursuit of speed and handling had been wrapped up into this tiny little 400 pound machine, and answered all my prayers for true SPEED! I no longer cared to try and make my car fast...that was just a lost cause, especially on a kids budget. Speed had new meaning to me and it became very clear to me that it can be a very relative term.  I now knew the true meaning of fast, and saw new levels of things blurring by me.

very nice cars all of them american muscle. Through his teens, dad used to run around in Gram's cars acting cool, putting temporary decals on them feeling like the baddest kid on the block. He, as we all do, eventually got his own cars and had some pretty unusual vehicles throughout his time. He had many cool cars, from an Austin Healey convertible to a 3 speed Saab hatchback to a turbo Corvair 2 door, and even an old Dodge RamCharger painted camo with wooden windows. He had an assortment of bikes before my time, but I think having the kids limited his 'toy budget'. The last bike he bought was a mint condition 82 Kz1000, which I eventually learned to ride street on. I also got my first motorcycle Driving To Endanger charge on it, and that was the end of me riding it.

On the other side of my family is my mother with 3 brothers, one of whom has raced for the duration of my life. He races sprints, mini f1's, dirt track, road bikes, I think he even raced boats! He's had more broken bones than I've had birthdays, and he's still out there doing it on a regular basis. WHY?? Becuase he's sick. . . sick with love for speed! So it seems clear to me that this 'disease', this LOVE for all things fast and technologically advanced was passed along to me from my ancestors, and I too will pass it along.
We're doing our part here at CustomFighters to breed a new ground of gear heads who think outside the box. We're innovators in the motorcycle world. Never before would I have thought that I could start pulling apart my machine and replacing them with parts off of a

completely different bike. Streetfighters let me out of the box, hence the reason I'm trying to spread the love for them. I now have a new element to add to the sickness that I'll pass along to my little ones, or at least younger kids who look up to me. Next thing you know I'm gonna have streetfighter pedal bikes rolling up on Customfighters.