Grande Moco

Creativity is an interesting condition… The masses see it as some sort of divine endowment. Many of the afflicted believe it to be a cruel burden. Most are convinced, you either have it or you don’t. I couldn’t say for sure if any of it’s true or not, but I can certainly tell you it has no “off” switch.

For many the need, desire or whatever you may call it to continually create is as much a distracting curse as it is a gift.

For the truly creative, the greatest challenge isn’t to come up with the next project, but to stay focused on the one at hand, when there are at least ten others trying to escape their heads onto the work bench. For builders like Roland Sands the battle is constant and further complicated by a need to design individual components as well as complete bikes. Maybe “need” is the wrong word; perhaps “mandate” is a more fitting term, as product design for Performance Machine is Roland’s primary function. In fact, virtually every gleaming, sinuous piece of machined aluminum in the current PM catalog sprung from the furtive mind of young Mr. Sands. The pressure is constantly on.

Although it would appear having the might of a big-league company like PM at your beck-and-call could make a master builder out of virtually anyone, Roland’s transition from parts designer to bike builder was laden with formidable obstacles. Department management and product design duties initially kept RS out of the shop and in an office where he was relegated to watching the bike building creativity through a four-by-six-foot window.

Being PM’s sole product designer in a time of rapid expansion also meant endless meetings, budget reviews and other soul-crushing obstacles. For several years, detailed and wildly colored drawings of customs littered his desk and were often buried under the drudgery of black-and-white production reports. Unable to contain the myriad of untouched bike designs stacking up in his head and with a willingness to work 60-plus-hour-weeks to make it happen, Roland finally found himself pounding metal instead of keyboards. Initially, building was as much an attempt to show what could be done with his wheels, as it was to create wild bikes, but once the freedom of constructing from the ground up consumed him, no part was left untouched.

The raw talent that has made him one of this industries premier designers was soon translated to complete bikes and the simple English wheel with its hokey “how to” video gave way to frame jigs, TIG welders and tube benders.

With each new construction came crates of confidence and more new ideas. New creations flowed out of the R&D shop with impressive consistency, each one wilder then the last. Now, having the autonomy and tools to create virtually anything, and a Discovery Biker Build Off under his belt, an oddly simple bobber began showing up on his sketch pad.

The final impetus to translate two dimensional illustrations into three dimensional reality came in the form of an unexpected phone call from the folks at the Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse. Seems they had been keeping an eye on young Roland’s creative endeavors and wanted him to participate in their custom bike builder tour. The downside was a brutal deadline that unfortunately coincided with the next round of new product designs for PM. It was soon obvious even 60-hour weeks would not be enough.

Creativity that has a timeline can sometimes use a little bit of adult supervision. Unfortunately after 5:00 PM all the adults connected to the PM R&D department go home and Roland and crew are left to their own devices. Beginning with a case of Rockstar Energy Drink and eventually ending up with a Chopper Guys bobber chassis Roland started cutting metal.

The Hard Rock Roadhouse deal left only 30 days to build the entire bike from scratch and the bulk of it would have to be done late into the evening. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Roland enlisted the help of underground builder Tom Foster, as well as utilizing the PM R&D crew when he could and had the bike mocked up within a week.

Sometime in the middle of the night at the end of that week, Roland wedged a Top Fuel bead-lock drag wheel into the back of the unsuspecting chassis. The project had now taken a very different turn and the more resistance he got from management, the more he liked the look of the bike. If you follow his work, you’ve noticed a penchant for race styling. Most of the RS bikes are sporting some sort of inverted front end, aggressive seating position and when he can, a part from his original GP race bikes. This new build would be no different and soon led off with a set of Ohlins forks held on by his own triple clamp design.

Evolution progressed rapidly and the one-off tank and fender were pounded from scratch to match the now exaggerated lines of the bike. Something with this much rear tire would naturally need a crap-load of motor in front of it, and a 124-inch S&S twin cam A motor was wedged into the raw frame. A Baker right-side-drive tranny had the unfortunate task of connecting the two beasts. Initial prototypes of the wheels Roland designed during the day were peeling of CNC machines and a 21-inch Contour Method was soon inserted into the fork legs.

Naturally, the bike would have awesome stoppers and a 13-inch floating disc would be grabbed by a newly designed 6-piston radial mount caliper up front, while a rear system designed to haul Top Fuel bikes down from 200 MPH was mounted out back.

A front mounted oil tank and a leather solo seat rounded out the uncommon look. In another late night bout with sleeplessness and creativity, the bike was converted to jockey shift.

The bars were scratch built and only adorned by a throttle and front brake handle. The left side PM mid controls would now serve as clutch actuator and shifting would be done by hand.

About this time a brick of polycarbonate (the same type used for bulletproof glass!) appeared on Roland’s work bench. Twenty pound chunks of plastic are kind of an odd site in the land of aluminum and steel, so it raised quite a few eyebrows. Many of the aforementioned eyebrows were further strained when Roland explained the clear brick was actually going to become rocker box covers. Sure enough, while designing new wheels and controls, Roland had created a complete line of motor covers and was now going to have a couple of them machined out of plastic instead of aluminum (strangely, it works just fine).

Within a few weeks the bike had taken shape and was now ready for a color decision. Untold illustrations hit the circular bin before Roland and Painter Chris Wood of Airtrix finally came up with the layers of green that is, Grande Moco. For those of you who don’t speak the Spanish, that’s Big Booger. Ya see, one of his prior bikes was named (he names them all!) El Borracho, which is the drunk in Spanish and he really liked the theme.

When the green on green paint scheme finally came together, Grande Moco seemed only fitting. A simple black powder coating job was sprayed on the chassis as the rest of the parts went to receive their moco-ness. During the downtime, the crew sent the wheels and other detail parts out for gold anodizing and had the front end (which was gold!) ano’d black.

Reassembly was always the sweetest part of a build and Moco went together over the course of several days with the help of Tom and the PM crew. The custom formed exhaust now tucked across the top of the tranny and the shifter was topped with a grip made of the same bullet proof material as the rocker covers. From the most peculiar collection of handmade parts, the bike somehow began to take shape. The massive Goodyear drag slick almost looked like it belonged there and the now green high bars seemed nearly at home on top of a set of road race forks.

Although, the true test would come when the bike was first fired and ridden.

With only twenty four hours before it had to be on a truck, RS and crew spent the night at the PM compound sorting out the details, wiring the beast and pounding more Rockstars. Like any project with a looming deadline, things went wrong and it wasn’t until 3:00 in the morning before the motor fired to life. All eyes were trained on the see-through rocker covers as the oil pressure built up. Somehow they managed to do the job, but there were more challenges as the bike rolled out onto street.

Roland on Moco at the Roadhouse tent in Daytona.

Turns out, the combination of really short bike and a massive drag slick made for a somewhat demanding ride. Not impossible, but certainly not for the neophyte either. Being a talented rider, Roland quickly adapted as he putted it around and warmed it up. The initial blast down the road immediately demonstrated just how challenging things were going to be. Still fighting the bike’s tendency to unweight the front end and change direction, Roland hastily realized he would have to take a hand off of the handlebars to change gears. Shifting now took on the blurred whirlwind look of a pitchers wind up as he swung his hand off the bars, to the shifter and back onto the bars as both he and the bike disappeared into the inky black night. It’s a damn good thing creativity has no off switch…

David Zemla

All hard work brings reward, right.

Tech Sheet – Grande Moco

Owner: Roland Sands/Performance Machine
Website : rolandsands.com
Address: (Originated In Long Beach, CA )
E Mail: rwsands@performancemachine.com

What kind of bike?
Make: RSD (Roland Sands Design) Original
Year: 05
Model: Grande Moco
Type: Drag Race Inspired Bobber Chop
Fabrication: Roland, Tom Foster M R&D Department
Finish: Black Powder Frame, Super Secret Kandy Green Panels, Gold Leaf
Time: 1 month
Hardware: Stainless Steel By Diamond
Assembly: Roland, Tom, Wink Eller assembled the Motor, PM R&D
Value: Trade for Bentley Convertible
Clutch: PM Contour

ENGINE:
Type: 124-inch S&S twin cam A motor.
Year: ‘05
Assembly: Wink Eller
Horsepower: No Dyno time, but it’s fast as fuck.
Heads: Jimmy Hannan, the master.
Valves: S&S
Valve Covers : RSD – PM Contour Bullet Proof Glass
Ignition cover : RSD – PM Contour Ignition Cover
Pistons:S&S
Cylinders: S&S
Camshaft: S&S
Lifters: S&S
Pushrods: S&S
Carburetor/Injection: S&S Super G /Zippers stage 2.
Air Cleaner: S&S Velocity painted by Chris wood.
Nitrous: Not without a wheelie bar.
Ignition: Twin Tech.
Exhaust: RSD prototype design
Mufflers: Sure.
Finish: Polished Stainless
Fasteners/Hardware: Stainless Everything, Diamond
How Long did it take?: 1 month
Tranny : Baker Right Side Drive billet 6-speed
Primary : PM Contour
Starter : All Balls

Frame:
Type: Custom Chopper Guys bobber for 250 tire
Year: ‘05
Stretch: None
Rake: De-raked –2 degrees
Modifications : Drilled and lightened everywhere. Custom mounts for everything we put on bike. Tom and Roland drilled a lot of holes in this bitch.
Finish : Black Powder Coat

Forks:
Type: Ohlins, Radial Mounts. Black Ano’d.
Year: ‘05
Triple Trees: RSD design by PM.

Wheels Front:
Rim: RSD – PM Method Contour
Size: 21 x 2.15
Finish: Gold Anodized
Fender: nope
Tire: metzler 21 – 90/90
Brake: RSD – PM Contour Radial Mount, 13-inch Method Rotor

Wheels Rear:
Rim: RSD – PM 15 X 7-inch Top Fuel Bead Lock Racing Wheel,
Finish: Gold ano and Polished
Brake: PM 200 + Drag race brake and disc
Fender: Roland
Tire: Goodyear 15 x 9-inch Drag Slick.

What Connects you to the bike:
Handlebars: Roland
Risers: none
Headlights: Headwinds, Chris Wood Paint
Tailight: Soon.
Turn Signals F/R: fuck no
Speedometer: fell off
Tachometer: tach who….
Gauges: Nawdude.
Electrics: Wink Eller, PM R&D
Seat: Roland pan and mount, Mauricio leather, Exile shock
Hand Controls : PM Contour
Foot Controls : RSD – PM Contour Mid Controls
Clutch Slave : RSD – PM Contour Right side drive slave
Oil Tank: Moon – Tom Foster mount
Fuel Tank : Roland Shaped. Belt by Mauricio.
Battery box : Leather by Mauricio at Azteka

Paint, Chrome, and other F/X’s:
Colors: Green, green and more green.
Type: PPG
Special Paint: Gold leaf lettering and pimp-ass pinstripping by Chris Wood
The Painter: Chris Wood, Airtrix
Address: Santa Barbra, Ca. www.airtrix.com
Powder Coating: Warco in Cali
Color: Black

Anything Extra?

”The Hard Rock bike project was a tough one,” Roland said. “I had banked on a frame that wasn’t right, so I was forced to go with a Standard Bobber frame from Chopper Guys. Tough choice, after all it was the Hard Rock Tour and the bike had to be sick. The tour consists of myself and a couple of my good friends, Johnny Chop and Jesse Rooke. I knew they would both bring heat, so the bike had to be way different to get some attention. The frame choice ended up being a good one. The standard geometry really can set a bike apart from all the crazy geometry everyone’s running now. And I wanted the bike to wheelie…. so I decided to go overboard and build a special 15 x 7-inch bead-lock drag racing wheel to give the project it’s steam and traction. The rest of the bike followed. I built a bike called ‘Borracho’ and the name ‘Moco Grande’ was kind of derived from that bike, ‘Moco’ is like ‘Borracho’s’ crack head cousin, way over the top. So I did all the sheet metal work and gas tank mounts. Tom Foster did a bunch of mounts and stuff and the bike came together in a month.”

”The color was pinched off a 70’s drag car, the Bob Banning Dodge Charger. Chris Wood murdered the paint job. It is one of the cleanest I’ve ever seen, ‘70s funk perfection with the Gold Leaf Lettering. Thanks to all the homeys who helped on this project: Tom “Gimley” Foster, Brett Marshal, James Crosby, the Great Lyndelski and Wink Eller.”

Cool details :

Bullet proof glass rocker box covers
Bullet proof glass shift nob
PM Contour Finned ignition cover (Available soon)
Front mounted moon oil bag.
Shock spring seat
Ohlins roadracing forks
SilverSmith Fin pushrod badges. With RSD logo
Leather by Mauricio at Azteka custom cars
PM Contour Primary and Mid Controls
PM Contour Method front wheel (gold Ano)
15 x 9-inch drag slick and bead lock wheel

For more info contact David Zemla. 714 228-8409dzemla@performancemachine.com