Chica Custom Cycles

With bike builders seemingly dropping from the trees these days, it gets harder and harder to stand out. Chica of Chica Custom Cycles in Huntington Beach, Calif., doesn’t have that problem. His wide array of unique creations is distinctive enough to get noticed, even among the endless displays at the Indy Dealer Expo and Pomona Easyriders Show, where he took a third place for best of show against other West Coast heavyweights.

A few years ago, I saw one of his bikes in a magazine and I was blown away. It was a clean, mean scoot that looked like it meant business.

Chica hails from southern Japan. He started out as a Honda mechanic whose hobby was Harleys. After a few years of turning wrenches for Honda, he started working toward his dream. He and few friends opened up Chica Motorcycle Service. They did mostly service work, not much custom work. But the ideas were brewing and when the opportunity came to move to the States, Chica packed up his wife and kid and moved to Diamond Bar, Calif., where he worked in a friend’s shop. After a year and a half, he decided he could build bikes on his own, bringing his designs to life. It was at that time that Chica met Don Millhouse, who worked for a company that exported aftermarket parts to Japan. Chica built bikes in his garage while Don exported parts from his. They outgrew their garages after six months and opened Chica Custom Cycles in Huntington Beach. That was five years ago.

Chica’s favorite H-D is the original 1946-47 Knucklehead. But his design ideas are pure late ’60’s-1970s with a surreal twist. Most of the bikes he builds are rigids.

He also likes the flat track racer look, like his creation for Chrome Specialties’ Trick.

Both ‘Trick’ and another of Chica’s creations ‘Mighty Quick’ can be seen in Bikernet’s Bike Barn and on the cover of the Chrome Specialties 2001 Catalog.

Chica gets a lot of his ideas from old chopper magazines and experimentation, improving on the old style, adding his own custom-made parts and touches. The swirled glass knob on the jockey shifter of his Lava bike and the radical gas tank and kick-ass pipes on his ‘Mighty Quick’ bike are good examples of that.

It takes a lot of time to create a Chica custom. He’ll put in countless hours creating a part and trying it on a bike, only to toss it on the scrap heap if it doesn’t look just the way he wants.

Then he’ll do “it” all over again. His Bauhaus Bobber Knucklehead springer is a good example of hours of experimenting. He pounded out the raw tanks and fenders himself. They looked rough, but it was the effect he was after. The bike got a lot of notoriety.

Chica has never kept any of the bikes he’s built. It’s hard for him to fall in love with a particular creation because as soon as he finishes one, he’s already onto the next. From hard, mean-looking fat bikes to lean, long springers, Chica’s work runs a wide range.

Chica is a workaholic in love with his work. He has a welder to take care of the welding duties but he does all the design and assembly himself, putting out two to three customs a month. His sales to Japan keep one salesman busy full time.

Chica and company have just about outgrown their 2,400-square-foot shop and are currently on the lookout for new digs. They’re starting to manufacture their line of parts–frames, gas and oil tanks, fenders, springers, etc.–which will be available through Chrome Specialties.

His crew is pretty excited about their latest project, a stretched out, dragster-styled Softail. It has a custom, cradled frame, 200 tire, narrow-glide duel disc front end and PM brakes. All the sheet metal is custom made.

Check out the wild springer in the background.He’s going after a long, low look. But the biggest change about this bike is that he’s using an Evo motor instead of the older Shovels, Pans and Knucks he’s known for.

If you want to see his work in person, Chica will be at Sturgis and the Mikuni show. ‘Trick’ and ‘Mighty Quick’ can be seen at the Chrome Specialties display in Laughlin on April 25-29, in Myrtle Beach on May 14-20, at the Republic of Texas Rally on June 1-3, at the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Rally on June 29-July 1, at Sturgis on Aug. 6-12, at the Four Corners Rally on Aug. 30-Sept. 2, at Street Vibrations on Sept. 20-23, at Biketoberfest on Oct. 18-21, and at the Love Ride on Nov. 11.

Need a Chica custom of your own? Give them a call at (714) 842-9587.

–Crazyhorse

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