Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/703695
10 nAugust 2016n www.thunderpress.net THUNDER PRESS by "Rambler" Steve Austin MANTECA, CALIF., JUNE 2–3—Over the last 17 years the little white building with orange fl ames has become one of the most famous build- ings in downtown Manteca. Thanks to the efforts of Paul Binford and his reputation for building the "baddest bikes around" and the Discovery Channel there aren't a lot of bikers in the country who haven't seen the building at least once, if only on TV or in a motorcycle magazine. Although the Discovery Channel pointed out that Paul had 2,000 square feet of workspace, only 900 of it was inside. The rest was under a carport awning outside the building. Somehow it just looked bigger on TV. Paul moved his shop and his signature big-wheeled, loud, long, raked,glitter-adorned bad-ass baggers to 1297 North Main Street, a little over a mile from the original location. As any biker knows the best way to celebrate such an accomplishment is to throw a party, hence Binford's Big Ass Grand Re-Opening Bash. There was a bike show featuring 21 customer bikes with custom-made trophies donated by John Shope of Dirty Bird Concepts, Belitsos of TOL Designs, Corey Ness of Arlen Ness Motorcycles and Joe Gschweng of Kewl Metal Inc. Paul provided the free food and drink and Jason Pullen was on hand per- forming his motorcycle stunts. There was a DJ on hand spinning out some tunes but the best music came from Bay Area band Suicide Shift as they cranked out some great classic rock and blues. There were a number of vendors including MotorcyleRow Care Products, Biker's Choice Motorcycle Parts, Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys, Drag Specialties and Sinister Wheels, who Binford's still contracts with to make all those big shiny front wheels. Today's event wasn't just a grand re-opening; it was a celebration. With everything going on you'd think that Paul would be partying it up with everyone else but that was not the case. Paul was where he always is when he isn't building motorcycles, behind the counter helping customers. Paul got his start in the business like so many other bike builders. He received his love of Harleys from his dad and quickly started working on them. He worked on his own bikes and then his friends started asking him to work on theirs. Seeing their custom potential, Paul started building his own custom Harleys. In the late 90's Paul had to move his business out of his garage to a small shop located in the center of old downtown. Over the years Paul's custom bikes have won numerous competitions and awards. Binford's Custom Cycles is a full- service Harley and V-twin shop. They cover everything from basic service to complete custom builds and are well known for their custom paint and ground-shaking sound systems. Paul said that it quickly became obvious he needed more room than the 900-square-foot building offered. Portions of the bike builds he did had to be constructed offsite and brought in for fi nal assembly. When the bikes were completed there was just no way he could house them and the parts he sold all in the shop, but he made it work. His new shop was an old rundown Mexican meat market whose yard served as a place for the homeless to sleep. When the old pink building came up for sale, Paul saw its potential as a new home for Binford's Custom Cycles and he bought it. After fi ve months of renovation and permit nego- tiations he was fi nally able to make the move and open the new store. With almost 7,000 square feet of building space and at least that much in park- ing Paul said, "Our paint, fabrication, repairs and builds, everything can now be done in house and I've got room to display the fi nished bikes." Sinister Wheels of nearby Turlock continues to be the sole supplier of custom wheels for his custom bikes and is the only part not done in house. Walking through the front doors the fi rst bike you notice is a low-slung bike named "The Panty Dropper," a beautiful custom scratch built on a Discovery Channel show. It's an FXR-based rubber-mounted Panhead. The Urban Dictionary defi nes a panty dropper as "a guy who is so good looking, or has so much money, or some other such quality, that women BINFORD'S BIG ASS GRAND REOPENING BASH The baddest bikes around have a new home Big wheels keep on turning See "Binford's," page 42, column 1 Johnny Ford of Yuba City, with his son, took Best of Show with his 2002 Road Glide The popular Bay Area band Suicide Shift provided the Classic Rock for the event