SVENMEISTER WHO?
Text by Logan Boland
Even from the beginning, the Svenmeister wasn't satisfied with the look of stock anything- from his first set of Hot Wheels to his first bicycle. Nothing would stay run of the mill longer than a day or two before it was kustomized and hardly recognizable from its original form. By age 13, he was cruising the streets of Switzerland on a moped that was no longer street legal. This begun his fascination with speed and raw, attention grabbing design.
Always one to take the road less traveled, Svenmeister refused to follow family tradition when at age 18 he preferred to drive European automobiles rather than the motorcycles he cleaned and worked on at his father's Harley dealership. Instead of obtaining his motorcycle license, he opted for comfort and warmth as there are only about three to four months a year of enjoyable weather. He also thought that these larger vehicles would offer him more opportunity to express his creativity and hone his craft. But in order to afford the materials and tools necessary to perfect his skills, he had to place his dreams of automobile kustomization on the back burner while he focused his attention on earning capital.
The Svenmeister spent his days working odd jobs in various trades; however, time and energy were not wasted during this period as he was later able to draw upon the skills he learned while at these positions when he was finally able to open his own body shop in 1996. Although now able to concentrate his attention on styling kustom, functional pieces of automobile art, he found he was still feeling restricted in his ability to fully create the designs he was dreaming up in his head. Due to an extremely restrictive market and punitive business regulations and requirements, the Svenmeister was limited to kustomizing vintage VW's. Not accustomed to living with boundaries, the Svenmeister instead began to be captivated by the promise and call of America. By 1998, he heeded the call and boarded a plane to America.
Always the entrepreneur and one able to capitalize on resourcefulness and finally freedom, the Svenmeister began his life in the US by utilizing the skills he learned earlier in life while completing general labor jobs. At this time, he supplemented his income by buying and selling vintage VW's after making some slight modifications in order to maximize profits. Eventually, he became a self-employed general contractor who made a name for himself "pimpin'" homes throughout the SoCal area. Though this business consumed all of his time, he found that he was never entirely happy customizing only bathrooms and dreamt of a time that he could again concentrate his energies forming metal and altering a vehicle's mechanics.
His motivation to return to his roots came to a head after being one among millions to become enthralled with America's motorcycle culture after watching Jesse James' first movie, Motorcycle Mania. He finally realized what attracted his father to these machines and began to long for the freedom experienced when riding on two wheels without the restriction of a roof and doors. The Svenmeister promptly bought himself a frame, the largest engine he could kickstart without breaking a leg, and began kustomizing his first bike in the spare hours he had after his workday.
In keeping with his hardcore influences and auto design styles, the Svenmeister thought to build this bike to be eye catching yet different from all other bikes on the road at the time. Though he worked obsessively on this bike for one year, it was only just near completion when he was forced to place it on ebay in order to cover the costs of his divorce lawyer's fees. Not willing to be dissuaded from his dream to own a business in the US that kustomizes vehicles- now motorcycles -the Svenmeister chucked his lucrative contracting business, left his life in the SoCal area, and relocated to South where Svenmeister Hardcore Kustoms was born.
Working out of a small garage in Wilmington, NC, the Svenmeister began creation of the Daytona Special out of a 1980 Honda CM 200. Complete with flat black paint, lowered frame, and flame throwers, this bike stood out from all others present at the 2006 Daytona Bike Week. Turning heads wherever it was ridden and parked, this bike astounded contest judges and main street viewers. This attention and acceptance of his hardcore style further motivated the Svenmeister to initiate another build; however, yet again he found that his creativity was restricted by the unavailability of parts, supplies, and resources. By 2006, he determined that SHK would have to relocate its shop in order to improve his ability to offer kustomized bikes.
Since moving his shop to a two car garage in Denver, CO, the Svenmeister has been able to amp up production of one cool bike after another. Through these recent creations, he has even begun to gain access to national and international media with magazine submissions and a new webstore. With additional attention and orders for bikes coming in, the next step in the Svenmeister's career will be to open an official shop and to expand SHK to new heights of inspired, kustomized production.
