A visit with Jay Lajkov of Vintage Customs

Recently, my buddy Sanders and I took a motorbike road trip and paid a visit to the garage of Jason Lajkov, of Vintage Customs, located just outside Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. I always love meeting talented, creative people who are humble. Jay is one of those people. He's a talented graphic artist who turned into a bike builder. He typically sticks to Yamaha XS650's and Honda CB's but his designs are so inspiring and the principles can be applied to vintage British bikes as well.

I got to see the Speedster in person. And it's spectacular. It was drained of fluids so I couldn't hear it in person, but you can see a video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FNu70g5tX8

More pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisbartlett/sets/72157627737333212/

Jay was laid off a last year and decided that what he'd really like to do for a living is take his hobby full-time. He's been doing great with his commissions too. While we were there he showed us a Honda that he was working on for a bike shop in Australia. Apparently down-under, American-made custom bikes sell for four times their normal US asking price. 

Sanders, myself and Jay

I won't give away his secret, but Jay buys 12-15 motors at a time. 

He hand painted this tank in a process that required tons of masking and remasking. Beautiful!

The Copper Devil is a Yamaha XS650 with a totally custom hardtail, fabbed by Jay himself.