In a world gone insane with new tech and import parts, there are still builders who create true works of art the old school way. A couple of years ago, a handful of us, including Billy Lane, Jeremiah Soto, and the boss of Sucker Punch Sally, rode north to Half Moon Bay from Los Angeles. Along the way we stopped in Oxnard at a shop, Top Dead Center.
Inside, in the back, we discovered the only guy left in the world who makes complete custom frames with twisted and polished solid stock. Seth has since hit the road on his own. He calls his shop Hand Crafted by Seth and he is still the only guy on the planet who makes these components by hand. He’s turned twisting solid rod into a fine art.
Bikernet recently featured Quentin Guttierrez’s third twisted creation. “Quentin keeps me going,” said Seth.
http://www.bikernet.com/pages/THE_ULTIMATE_IN_TWISTED_FEATURES.aspx
By trade, Seth is a boiler maker, ironworker, and hired gun. He let his union gig go when he left the industry to chase the custom motorcycle world, but since the economy tanked along with the custom industry, he returned to the iron working ranks, which drags him away from his young family to refineries in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and Utah.
“I have two kids now, ten and seven,” Seth said. “I play with my seven-year-old son every day. I need to be with him.” But he’s looking at closing his shop due to the slow business. “My life is totally different once I had kids.”
In over 40 years in this business I have only witnessed this level of talent a handful of times. Someday, Seth will be recognized alongside Ron Finch and Jeff Decker. He’s one of a kind, and it’s not easy in any respects.
This bike was his scrap project build with pieces and parts from other builds, so each twist isn’t perfectly matched. To stay within budget, he painted the frame black instead of spending thousands on chrome.
Get this – each and every twist is carefully polished before he even sends it out for plating. Take, for instance, the VL styled neck area on this bike. He machined the neck, twisted the metal, welded it, blended the welds, worked out any imperfections, and then polished every element. In this case, he painted the frame himself. Can you imagine priming and sanding each and every twist, curve, and ledge, and then adding the topcoat? Since the details of the frame disappeared, he decided to sand the twisted edges, to enforce the details, but that didn’t work since he was using scrap chunks and all the twists didn’t match.
“It needs to be plated to do the frame justice,” Seth said, and we may see this bike again with a plated frame and a Knucklehead engine. “This is the first frame I ever painted.”
We hope to bring you a tech on his frame-making techniques in the very near future. Quentin displayed one of his bikes at the IMS Ultimate Builder Show last year and I picked it to be the Editor’s Choice winner for Bikernet.
He hopes to have three bikes featured at the Long Beach Show next year, and a bare bike or frame so you can see first-hand how these frames are manufactured. They are not for everyone, with their heavy solid construction, and hand-twisted forms, like twisted spoke wheels. But each creation is unique. Each frame is numbered and he is only up to number nine.
With his bike, he used lots of scraps, including the gas caps he found in an electrical scrap yard. His tanks are set up VL style with gas in one and oil in the other. He used a cowpie transmission on purpose for the details on the tranny top, since the area is open.
Seth refused to install a late 5-speed and electric start. “I couldn’t capture the look I was after with the late stuff sticking out,” he said. “I wanted the open area around the trans.”
He made the complete neck and used the vintage frame castings from V-twin for the rear axle, and dug up a casting for the rear motor-mount and front transmission mount.
The latest creation contains another process, texture, with ball peening every surface of the frame. This is another build for Quentin, and it may hit the bike show circuit this year.
RECENT PROJECT:
“Here’s a few pics of the twisted 1940 Knucklehead I just finished.” Seth said. “Bad ass bike Robert Pradke did the paint. I’m gonna bring this one, and two, maybe three new bikes to the Ultimate Builder Show…if I can finish them in time.
“I threw in a few of it in raw metal. They are my babies while raw. I like to keep ‘em that way.”
GENERAL
Owner: SETH SLAGIEL
Address: 666 TWISTED DR
City OXNARD
State/ Zip CA
Phone: 805 248 8073
Website: facebook.com/handcraftbyseth
E-Mail:handcraftbyseth@gmail.com
Make: HANDCRAFTBYSETH#4
Year: 2012
Model: SPEEDY
Type: #4
Fabrication: ALL BY SETH
Finish: PAINT, POWDERCOAT
Time: TOO LONG
Hardware: YES
Assembly: SETH
Assembler: SETH
Value: FOR SALE, MAKE OFFER
Clutch: HARLEY
ENGINE:
Type: S&S SHOVELHEAD
Displacement: 74-inch
Year: 2012
Horsepower: NOT A LOT
Heads: ‘66 HARLEY
Valves: S&S
Pistons: S&S
Cylinders: HARLEY
Camshaft: JIMS
Ignition: CRANE
Lifters: JIMS
Pushrods: JIMS
Carburetor/Injection: S&S B
Air Cleaner: HORN OF A FORKLIFT I THINK
Exhaust: SETH
Mufflers: NO
Finish: STAINLESS
Fasteners/Hardware: CHROME
TRANSMISSION
Brand: VTWIN & HARLEY
FRAME
Type TWISTED VL STYLE , HANDCRAFT
Year: 2012
Builder: SETH
Stretch: NO
Rake: 30 degrees
Swing Arm: NO
Shocks: ARE FOR GIRLS
Modifications: EVERYTHING THAT WAS SOMETHING, AND THE
REST WAS BUILT BY HAND
PAINT
Colors: I ASKED FOR THE UGLIEST RED THEY HAD
FORKS
Brand: VL
Type: HARLEY
Year: ‘30s
Builder: SETH
Finish: POWDERCOAT
Triple Trees: HARLEY
Modifications: 1-inch STEM, 5/8-inch ROCKERS
WHEELS
Front:
Rim: SPOOL
Size: 21-inch
Hub: SPOOL
Builder: VTWIN
Finish: CHROME & POWDERCOAT
Fender: NO
Tire: SPEEDSTER
Brake: NO
Rear:
Rim: HARLEY
Size: 18
Brake: SPROCKET ROTOR
Builder: VTWIN
Finish: CHROME & POWDERCOAT
Tire: COKER
Hub: HARLEY
CONTROLS
Handlebars: PANHEAD INTERNALS
Foot: GSXR
Shifter: Brass faucet knob
ELECTRICAL
Headlights: BRASS SPOTLIGHT
Taillights: NOT SURE, BUT ITS COOL
Turn Signals F/R: HANDS
Speedometer: JUST GO FASTER
Tachometer: EARS
Gauges: DON’T NEED THEM
Electric’s: ONLY A FEW WIRES
WHAT ELSE?
Seat: ALIGATOR
Backrest?: NO
Fender: WEST EAGLE
Oil Tank: LEFT SIDE OF GASTANK
Fuel Tank(s): SETH ….WITH SPEEDY CAPS
