ThunderPress West

TPW-JAN16

Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/617259

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 35 of 83

36 nJanuary 2016n www.thunderpress.net by Jon DeMaria ANAHEIM, CALIF., DEC. 10— Anyone who knows me knows that meeting deadlines is not exactly my strongest suit. This month was no dif- ferent. After facing some personal challenges, followed by a nasty cold, even after being granted the usual deadline extension by my generous editor, the likelihood of producing my monthly article for Thunder Press was looking improbable if not impos- sible. Although I may not always be on time, I'm defi nitely not a quitter. So in the 11th hour, while scrambling for any type of event or ride to cover and coming up empty handed, an idea hit me. Why not fi nd someone interesting who's active in the motorcycling com- munity to conduct an interview with them? And who's more interesting than Hell's Angel, actor, musician, and custom bike builder Rusty Coones? I fi rst met Rusty a few years back while covering a ride to benefi t the Boot Campaign. The ride from San Pedro to Hollywood was led by the main cast of the television show Sons of Anarchy. Prior to the ride, the press was given the opportunity to meet with the cast at a secret location for photos and interviews. Coones is a big guy standing at around 6' 5" with arms as big around as most people's legs, but it was his intensity that set him apart from the rest of the cast. I approached Rusty and introduced myself, shot a photo or two and talked with him for a bit before heading out for the ride. I would later fi nd out that his character in the show, Rane Quinn, wasn't a far stretch from his real life. A member of the infamous Hell's Angels for around 20 years, being in and out of prison, Rusty is the real deal. I touched base with Rusty late on a Wednesday night and tossed up the idea of getting together for an interview. The next day I rolled up to his shop to check out a build he had recently completed at his new loca- tion in Anaheim. Rusty combined his Illusion Cycles resources with those of Eightball Rods & Choppers in a 12,000-square-foot facility. As I was waiting for Rusty, Eightball owner Stefan Amann pulled the bike around. It was an incredible customized black Victory Vision. Right about then Rusty came rolling in and said, "Let's do this; let's fi ll this place with some smoke," as he proceeded to hop on the bike and perform a burnout right in the middle of the shop in true Rusty fashion. He lit that tire up, engine roaring, with a huge smile on his face. Afterward, we were all just standing there laughing. It was awesome! After the smoke settled a bit Rusty and I headed into the new showroom to talk. I asked him about the bike he had just rumbled the shop with. "The bike was a Victory Vision, but it's not a Victory Vision anymore! It's got a modifi ed Road Glide front fairing cover on it and a set of Dirty Bird Concepts bags on the back and fenders that have been modifi ed to fi t a Victory. Its handmade gas tank holds six gallons. What I wanted to do was to still have the electric windshield, but I cut it way down and I narrowed it. A stock Vision windshield is 24" wide and probably 10 or more inches tall; this windshield is 17" wide and about 6" or more tall at the most. It's really cool because while you're rid- ing you can hit the button with your left thumb and you can raise the windshield 3 ½" up so you get it just where you want it. I also took the substructure that mounts all the fair- ing in the front and I raised it up 2" so the dash gauges and everything are 2" higher than stock and I took all the stock seat and everything out, scooped everything down, I've got a custom seat that's 2" lower so I've got 4" that are set into it like sitting on a chop- per. I put 17" custom-made T-Bars on it so when you sit on that thing it's really comfortable. I also lowered the fl oorboards 2" in the front and an inch and a half on the back. Oh, and I put a Lloydz Supercharger kit on it. It's been dynoed and the clutch was slipping at 171 hp to the shaft so we got that fi xed. We actually had 3/8 of an inch of clutch adjustment in it so it wasn't even engaging fully plus the rpms were only set at 6000 and I'm going to turn the rpms up to 7500. It should be closer to 200 hp when it's all done. With its really cool supercharger cams, the profi le of the motor wants to be at higher rpms. When I was doing that burnout I was hitting the rev limiter at 6000 and it didn't even feel like it was doing 6000 rpm; the motor wasn't even working. So that's the fun one right there. I love that bike." I asked Rusty a little bit about his past. Born in Sacramento, his father was a crop duster so they wound up in the agricultural town of Madera for 18 years. Rusty learned to fl y planes at a young age. "As I was growing up I got into minibikes, go-karts, dirt bikes, racing motocross, riding enduros, I got into cars, and when I was 19, I got my fi rst Harley. About two or three months after I got the bike I was hit in an intersection by a girl who wasn't paying attention, so my dad said if I get another motorcycle he'd fi re me and kick me out of the house. As soon as I got that insurance check, the same day I went out and bought a new bike. I rode the bike home and he was wait- ing at the door for me. He said, 'Nope you ain't coming in. I told you if you buy another bike you're fi red and you're kicked out.' I said, 'Alright; see ya.' I rode down to Southern California and it's the best thing that ever happened to me." See "Rusty Coones," page 38, column 1 RUSTY COONES INTERVIEW Talking bikes and life A multi-faceted and inspirational man (L.–r.) Rusty Coones, Stefan Amann, Jimmy (Floppy) and Steve Schuster after the big burnout

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of ThunderPress West - TPW-JAN16