Yellow Jello Bellow

A ride that’s smooth, sweet and – loud!

In the heady world of New York’s Madison Avenue and the big-dollar ad agencies lining that street of dreams, there’s a concept called “chocolate cake”. It’s basically advertising that’s supposed to evoke --and invoke -- luxury, comfort and a money-is-no-object mindset in the brains of the target audience. To that end, “chocolate cake” is, by definition, populated with the rich dark tones and images of brown, burnt sienna and burgundy that often connote the finer, quieter, things in life: charcoal-seared sirloin, tung-oil finished mahogany, corinthian leather, seventy-year old scotch.

Herewith we present the answer to chocolate cake --- by motorcycledom in general, and by Dave Perewitz’s Cycle Fabrications in particular. And as much as bittersweet chocolate lulls, so does this bright yellow lemon tart arrest, alert, awake. Two-wheeled, tangy and tasty, it’s representative of the brighter, louder, and more fluid things in life – like sunny mornings, ignition sparks, english custard, bikini’d blondes, rocket exhaust, lemonade.

Now, colors that are cousins of canary, chartreuse and Pantone #106 don’t generally find their way onto Big Twin skins. But by all the appearances on these pages, Cycle Fab shows it has the savvy to pull it off. It looks right -- from the tip of its tight tolerance front fender, to the matching teardrops of tank and aircleaner, to the raffish sweep of the oil tank. Key to the effect is a Dave Perewitz designed frame with just a judicious amount of stretch, plus all the niceties – pre-drilled for internal electrics, set-up for hidden hydraulics and an extra-wide softail for concurrent rear drive belt and 200 section tire. Having 96 inches of motivation on tap doesn’t hurt the image either. Particularly when they announce their presence through a set of Bub exhausts that – how can we put this circumspectly - have had their internals just slightly reworked for euphonic enhancement by Cycle Fab. One twist of the wick makes all those subtle saffron suggestions loud and real. Last but not least is a surface finish with a gloss that’s indescribable - like smooth, sweet yellow jello.

So if color of this example is any measure, then you can keep the dulcet tones of chocolate cake in drawing room where they belong. In the garage and on the highway, tend toward tawny, go for gold, sidle up to sienna, or shack-up with chartreuse!

-- Jake, Easyriders, 1997