Kim Coates or as you may know him as the infamous TIG of ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ wearing custom made cuffs by VICTORIOUS 22 for the new season!

BORN FREE 4 Motorcycle show was bigger than ever this year, I would say about twice as many people as last year, there were some amazing bikes all the cool people were there, like CYCLE ZOMBIES and BELL HELMETS, the people watching was better than ever! From the 1% all the way to the most extreme of hipsters, we hung around for about 3 hours at the Bell Booth with our buddy SCRATCH and friends, then dipped out but if you missed this show, make sure you make it next year! I highly recommend it to any bike enthusiast!

Hey you!!! YEAH YOU!!! This is going to be one “HELLUVA” Show!! If you dont’ go for the cars and bikes, or for the cool bands including my personal friend “Big Sandy”, then you should go and show your support for the “ST. JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL” who do a ton of great work for our youngins!! This will be one amazing rockin’ show and best of all it’s for an amazing cause!!! So mark your calendar and save the date: September 24th, 2011 @ Del Mar Fair Grounds 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar CA 11:00am

On a particularly dreary Saturday afternoon in June, we took a trip down to Orange County to meet up with Joe Magliato of “Big Iron Customs” whom you may remember from the show ‘Build Or Bust’. My first impressions upon meeting this mild mannered Italian bike builder were that he was as cool as he was talented, his demeanor was that of an artist more than a bike builder, he was surprisingly modest and genuinely warm and friendly. His shop was strewn with a vast array of art and beautiful accoutrements for the home fashioned out of various metals, mostly copper, and iron. Of course, there were the piece de resistance in the middle of his vast work space, his pride and joy…..his bike which has a “Godfather” theme and another bike which blew my mind that he has built for the gun manufacturer “Smith and Wesson” (blog posted on our site), both of which are like no other bikes I have ever seen prior to this day, both equally impressive as it’s predecessor and Joe was happy to walk us through the making of both bikes. Joe is pleasantly humble, he speaks enthusiastically to you, but not AT you, it is obvious that he loves what he does, and he does it with passion, he is very much an artist and a creator, he is meticulous and pays great attention to detail when creating any piece, whether it be a custom tank or a gothic style mansion door, Joe does what he does out love of the craft, and it shows. Interestingly, Joe first picked up a torch in junior high during a shop class, and then again in High School, with no real formal training, he then went on to Major in Architecture where he landed a job in a firm, working in an office, at a desk, shuffling paper and pushing pens, but whenever a company truck would need welding, they would ask Joe to come down and fix it, as this continued, and Joe realized that he was making more money welding the trucks than he was sitting at his desk he left his 9-5 office job and never looked back, he honed his skills and the rest is history. If you would like to see more of Joe’s work, go to www.bigironart.com and you can also find him on facebook!!!