Gangster Choppers

"Don't bring me a picture of a bike somebody else built and ask me to build it," said John Dodson, the soft-spoken Virginian behind Gangster Choppers of Richmond, Virginia. "Get them to build it."

Dodson mixes the skill of a mechanic, the eye of sculptor and the palette of an artist to fashion custom motorcycles with a distinctive style. "I screen my customers like you'd screen a builder," he said, explaining if they want to overpower their chopper with loads of chrome and a rainbow of colors, they've probably come to the wrong shop.

Dodson speaks often of "balance." He recalls that once he suggested a woman customer might prefer painted to chrome exhaust brackets. "What?" she exclaimed. "Take away chrome?" He shrugged, "forget it. You don't get it." Preferring "subtle paint jobs, not ones that jump out at you," Dodson believes too many builders obscure the lines and smother the details of the bikes with an array of garish colors. He said that lavish paint jobs often take the prizes at custom bike shows judged by spectators, but at juried shows the honors go to the bikes with top workmanship and finest detailing. The 2nd Annual Laconia Bike Show at Opechee Park yesterday — featured two of Dodson's creations — Molotov Cocktail and Shady Lady — both of which have been the subject of spreads in national trade magazines.

The "Molotov" began life as a 1999 Harley-Davidson, but after being chopped and raked then fitted with Dodson's signature jockey shift and spiked hand grips and foot pegs, bears little resemblance to its former self. The Gangster Chopper logo, reminiscent of the Grateful Dead's zoot-suited skeleton sashaying along "Shakedown Street," grins mischievously from several parts while Dodson's daughter's initials, machined in Olde Englishe, add a intimate touch.

The "Lady," gowned in cobalt blue, with clean, uncluttered lines, embodies Dodson's vision of balance and simplicity. Like all his bikes, the wiring is hidden, along with the ignition coil, voltage regulator and switches while an internal throttle leaves the handle bars clear.

Not only is this Dodson's first visit to Laconia, but also his furthest venture north of the Mason-Dixon Line. "New Hampshire is not what I expected after New Jersey and New York," he drawled. "It's beautiful, the mountains and the lakes. It's country!"

Dodson, known as the "Head Gangster," said that the shop operates with three full-time and three part-time craftsmen, turning out about seven bikes each year. Gangster Chopper's bikes sell for $40,000 with a bike at $56,000 the priciest to leave the shop. He recently invested in two Computer Numerically Controlled machines at $80,000 apiece and, apart from bikes, produces an array of parts.

Eyeing the bikes arrayed at the show, Dodson said matter of factly, "they're nothing but bikes, built to ride on. They ought to get dinged and dirty," he went on. "It just tears me up when people treat them like museum pieces. Functional art!"