The American International Motorcycle Expo might not be the first place you’d expect to find us, as the event has a whole lot more to do with what’s on dealer floors than the custom scene. That’s not the whole story though, because besides rubbing elbows with industry partners and parts manufacturers, we also had a host of factory concept bikes and customs to hunt down.
See, the big OEs are well aware that modified bikes bring big attention, and partnerships with reputable builders are one of the most effective ways to drum up excitement for their current offerings. And when you have the backing of corporate bucks, big things are possible.
The AIMExpo isn’t open to the public, just industry members and press, so we flashed our credentials and got to hiking around the Las Vegas Convention Center. Wading through the seas of stock bikes and less inspired forms of power sports equipment, these are the five custom motorcycles from the 2025 AIMExpo that commanded our attention.
Seiemmezzo SCR 650 Scrambler by Moto Morini Factory scramblers are some of the most enjoyable bikes to customize and Moto Morini wanted to prove you don’t need to break the bank to get big results. Morini’s After-Sales Manager Cody Spakes’ goal was to show Expo-goers a brutish new side of Seiemmezzo SCR 650, and the result is a real getaway machine.
Spakes started by trimming away at the SCR’s road-compliance bits, like the stock license plate bracket, passenger pegs and fenders. While it looks like a much racier piece, most of the stock tail section remains and still accommodates the original scrambler seat.
Spakes then dug into the parts bin at Moto Morini for a 17-inch rear wheel from the X-Cape ADV and wrapped both wires with beefy Kenda Big Block tires. Crash bars and a monster skid plate up the SCR’s off-road cred and Spakes laughingly reports that the rad guard and headlight grille are inexpensive bits straight off the web.
On the contrary, the polished stainless steel exhaust system was neither cheap nor easy to create. Spakes started with raw tubing and pie cuts and fabricated the 2-into-1 system by hand to match the SCR’s curves. Just the amount of racy bling, we’re sure it emits an aggressive tone from Moto Morini’s 649 cc parallel twin.
Finishing touches on the SCR include motocross-style bars and an urban camo wrap that could pass for forged carbon fiber from a distance. On the thorough usage of orange on the bike, Spakes replies, “Orange can be used by any motorcycle brand.” We hear you loud and clear.
Hooligan Series Harley-Davidson Pan America From the old-school Battle of the Twins to the modern King of the Baggers series, there’s just something we Americans cannot resist about an unlikely V-twin hero. Building off the public interest and innovation bred by the KOTB series, the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship has spawned some equally impressive V-twin racers. Take this track-prepped Pan America for instance.
The Super Hooligan series started as a collaborative effort between MotoAmerica and (arguably) the king of V-twin performance—Roland Sands. Rules stipulate that the frames are stock, street bodywork is shed and engines are limited to 125 hp to keep things at a reasonable level.
Prepping the Pan America for the track starts with a serious diet to get the 569-pound bike down to the minimum allowable weight of 420 pounds. As you’d expect, that includes a liberal application of carbon fiber, including the complete tail section, front fender and other bits. The bars remain above the top clamp per the rules, but custom rear-set pegs and controls (along with Dunlop race rubber) bring the Pan Am’s lean angle to a level HD never imagined.
The Harley’s wheelbase would need to be shortened to make it handle, and a lot of that magic happens in the swingarm. It looks a whole lot like the stock piece with the front third axed off, but the details likely include some serious arithmetic. A custom 2-into-1 stainless exhaust sheds more pounds off the Pan Am’s rear and makes the most of its 150 hp output.
While the bike wasn’t accompanied in the booth, it looks to be the mount of Saddlemen/Harley-Davidson rider Cory West—a frontrunner in the 2024 season.
Royal Enfield 850 Rally by Death Spray Custom When will Royal Enfield make the jump into the large displacement ADV scene? It’s a question that’s been on our mind for years, as both Himalayan models displace less than 500 cc. So imagine the shock of seeing this f-ing awesome retro Dakar rally machine at the AIMExpo, powered by an 850 cc air-cooled twin. So what’s the scoop?
Dubbed ‘Wildfire,’ the bike results from a three-year collaboration with David Gwyther of Death Spray Custom, whose eye-popping liveries have been made famous in Ken Block’s Gymkhana series, partnerships with Bell helmets and more. Gwyther took inspiration from the 1990s Paris-Dakar Rally machines he grew up watching and envisioned a similarly capable machine based on modern running gear.
Wildfire runs an 850 cc version of Royal’s 650 used in the Bear and INT models. Big bore kits are widely available for these engines, bringing output up from 47 hp to 75 hp (if you opt for the 865 cc displacement). What we can see of the chassis looks to be derived from 650 INT, but the suspension has been upgraded in a big way with a Showa USD fork and a Harris Performance swingarm.
For all its mechanical savviness, it’s impossible to overlook the retro rally bodywork. It was a complete custom job from tip to tail, which perfectly captures the vibe of Dakar in the ’90s, but was also executed in a trail-side serviceable manner. The colorway is nearly as cool now as it would have been back in the day, and even makes use of era-correct sponsorship decals.
For now, Royal Enfield isn’t touting Wildfire as anything more than a custom concept but admits that a larger displacement ADV is their most frequently requested offering. So it’s at least on their radar, and when it does materialize, let’s hope it’s at least half this rad.
Russell Hacker’s 2010 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Turn 14 Distribution may not be a household name, but if you’re any bit invested in the motorcycle, automotive or 4×4 scene, odds are they back a bunch of your favorite brands. Beyond that, they back their employees as well, boasting that 90% of their staff are enthusiasts in the industries they support. That makes things easier when you need a couple of bikes to fill your booth at the AIMExpo, and Turn 14 Sales Specialist Russell Hacker stepped up to the plate with this 2010 Harley Heritage Classic.
Hacker’s Twin Cam is loaded with custom HD styling cues and made quite a statement on the show floor, but the long list of go-fast goodies reveals he has more than display in mind. The Softail was torn down to the bare chassis, which was shaved and boxed for all the wiring to be run internally. The rear was dropped 2” with parts from Progressive Suspension and the HD springer runs a Burly fork lowering kit. Performance Machine supplied the high-impact Heathen wheels, sized 21” front and 18” rear, and they’re shod in Dunlop Elite 3 Tires.
With the handmade fuel tank, headlight and oil bag handling cosmetics, the Softail relies on a suite of hop-up parts (predominantly from the companies Turn 14 represents) to make sure the bite matches its bark. New pistons were sourced from CP, along with a chain-drive camshaft kit from S&S. Performance Machine supplied the velocity stack intake and a Vance & Hines FP3 fuel tuner keeps the gasoline flowing.
As tricked out of a Softail as you’ll find, details like the custom paint, brass oil lines and solid brass grips are lost in the whole, not to mention the custom suede saddle with oil-valved seat shocks. Hacker reports that the bike is awesome to ride, and we couldn’t imagine a more fitting piece for Turn 14’s booth.
Royal Enfield 650 by Sosa Metalworks Royal Enfield probably has one of the best custom builder programs in the biz right now, as the latest models regularly get worked over by some of the best names in the industry and shown worldwide. For a modern mill, Royal’s 650 has loads of classic charm, but still, I’m sure no one could have predicted how far Christian Sosa would take it.
Sosa’s name became synonymous with high-end metal fab more than a decade ago during his time as lead fabricator on the Discovery Channel’s Counting Cars series. He opened Sosa Metalworks in 2012, specializing in vintage cars and motorcycles, but it’s imaginative classic bikes like this Enfield that define his style.
If anyone was looking for spares, the cast-offs from Sosa’s build would have been a one-stop shop, as the engine and induction system looks to be the only OE equipment remaining. Used in the INT and Bear 650 models, the air/oil-cooled parallel twin produces 47 hp stock, and Sosa has proven just how rideable the bike is on screen several times.
It’s easier to list the pieces of Sosa’s bike that aren’t hand fabricated than the ones that are, as the frame sections, fuel tank and girder front end were all TIG welded and metal finished—with the level of talent that went into each piece on full display.
The bike rides on a pair of 21 wheels with Firestone tires with a single BYBRE disc brake in the rear for practicality. Manufactured in India for Brembo, the caliper and disc look to be the stock setup off the front of the 650 INT. How convenient.
AIMExpo | Photos by Tom Gosselin
