Three Bikes, Three Riders, One Builder

On a clear stretch of ocean route highway, 3 motorcycles and their 3 riders crack open their throttles and heads turn as the rumble turns to a roar. Hopefully the highway patrol is on a coffee break somewhere and these guys can enjoy the wind, the speed and the feedom of riding their custom-ordered and designed machines.

The 3 motorcycles rocketing down the highway and eventually pulling into a stop for a break and some admiring looks from the coffee crowd, all have one thing in common. They were all built by Al at Whiplash Customs in Saanichton. A coincidence they should all be together in one spot at the same time? Not really. These 3 owners know each other well. The addiction started with the first friend, Chris, who had enlisted Al to design and build a unique, fast and particularly outstanding custom bike for him. When Chris’ friend Matt saw the work on the completed bike, he followed suit by sitting down with Al and coming up with his own plan for the machine he had always dreamed of owning. When his “Copper Chopper” was completed and ready for pick-up, he brought his friend Ben along to help him bring it home from the Whiplash Customs shop.

Ben wandered into the replica 50’s diner at the Whiplash shop while Al and Matt were going over the final paperwork for his bike. Sitting in the middle of the checkerboard floor was the “Gangster” bike – a project Al had built on spec and he loved it so much he had planned on keeping it for his own use. Ben had to have it. Negotiations started, Al relented when he saw it was going to a good home, and instead of one bike leaving the shop that day, the tailights of two Whiplash creations disappeared down the road.

It’s easy for these 3 guys on 3 bikes of the same calibre to feel pretty stoked when they get together for a ride at the same place and the same time. You might say the bikes are kind of related, on a mechanical level. And there’s nothing like family when the road is open, the sun is shining and the sound of big-motor thunder is bouncing off the waves on the ocean route run.