Conte Kustoms Open House and Grand Opening!

There's a new shop in my area and I was lucky enough to make it out for their Grand Opening Party. The shop is called Conte Kustoms and they are building some damn nice bikes. We all know my first true love is Harley, but after getting 67,000 trouble free miles from my old Shadow ACE 750 I have a soft spot for some of these bikes. Also, they are one of the most economical ways for younger guys to get into custom bikes without needing a ton of cash and a full tool box full of Snap-On's best. What they do is take late model metrics such as the previously mentioned ACE or Honda VLX 600's as well as Marauders and Aero's and any other suitable donor, strip them down and make them look a helluva lot better than the factory ever did. These bikes are a lot of fun and will let the newer guys and even some older ones get out on the road and enjoy riding a custom bike while they learn the ropes of maintaining their own ride. I've always said the last thing a new rider wants is a damn old Ironhead Sportster if you expect them to still be riding in a few years. And of course for a couple of grand the only Harley you'll find is an old mistreated Sporty. I LOVE ironheads, but most of them have been neglected and jury-rigged to the point of needing a LOT of TLC to be ridden regularly. These metrics take that pressure of the young guy and lets him enjoy the bike and the ride. I took a bunch of pics of their bikes, but I'm not happy with most of the shots so I plan to get back by and reshoot most of them. A few pics DID come out pretty good so I'll share those with you. If you want to see more in the meantime check out their website Conte Kustoms or their Blog.  I have a feeling you'll be seeing more of their work on these pages in the future.

Hanging out and enjoying the free beer and food.

The band was set up inside the shop near the beer coolers of course. They had a nice little crowd that filtered in and out all day. Not a bad turnout for a new shop without a large marketing budget.

The Honda ACE I talked about earlier. It's done right, they mounted a flat rear fender with a slight lip on the rear to keep it interesting. The fender is mounted to the swing arm so that it sits down nice and tight on the wheel. The pipes are stock head pipes with custom ends done in the same way that I had done my own. The VW bus is a friend of theirs that stopped by. It looked cool so I snuck it into the picture.

Nice little VLX with the rear fender mounted in a similar way to the ACE, the paint is a beautiful House of Kolor Silver metallic. It also has custom exhaust and a cool looking air cleaner to help bring out the lines of the engine, the sissy bar is handmade and really works with the p-pad seat combo.

This is the rear fender on a Marauder, I've always liked this style of fender mounted on the rear like this. It sits up at a nice angle and really sets off the rear of the bike.

Give these guys a call if you're interested in their work. They'd love to hear from you.
Conte Kustoms  (205) 757-7238
643-A Stuart Lane, Pelham, AL 35124
www.contekustoms.com