Biketoberfest, Daytona, 1998. Greg Rice, motorcycle master-builder, and his partner Wayne decide to break up a four-year partnership. Their shop, A1 Custom Cycle of Westville, New Jersey, stays in Wayne's Hands, Greg goes. Differences of opinion-personal objectives have diverged.

Greg's life had changed too. He just met beautiful Dawn who swept him off his feet on the spot. But the lady was a New Jersey State Barrel racing champion in wester riding. "I was not to let myself be impressed by anybody," says Dawn. "That he was a good-looking man meant nothing to me." Greg's courtship lasted for many months they hitched the ride, and eventually married in 1995.

Dawn took to ion-horse riding early in their marriage, and on Christmas 1996 Greg offered her a Harley Davidson Sportster 883, which she used as her daily commuter. "I had Greg soup up the motor as male riders in the neighborhood were leaving me behind, which was frustrating," recalls Dawn. "So he worked his magic in my bikes motor, and I soon was drawing circles around the other guys' bikes. I even beat one particularly nasty fellow on the drag strip one day."

When Greg and his ex-partner split, he and Dawn chose to settle down in Florida. A very bold move for Dawn, who had built a faithful clientele at Frank's Barbershop in Haddenfield over a period of 15 years. "It was like leaving my family, I had worked with them so long. And I was actually leaving my family behind too, which made it twice as hard on me," recalls Dawn.

Starting all over in Clearwater Florida was rough. Greg opened a new bike shop; Dawn had to rebuild a clientele. Making ends meet was a daily concern. A true supportive soul mate, Dawn sold her sportster, and offered her husband the money to crank up the business. He swore to build her a special bike to thank her for the generous gesture. It would be several years of herd work before he could get to tackle the project.

This is the genesis of Dawn's Chopper-a bike made out of true love.

The development of the bike took a year. "I wanted a chopper with a long front-end." says Dawn, "I always wanted that, and I wouldn't have anything else." This wish required quite a bit of thinking on Greg's part since his wife is 5'1" and weighs only 115 pounds. Long front-ends are harder to handle, and not very agile in the turns.

Moreover, Dawn had asked for a motor she could count on when passing cars. The bigger the motor, the heavier the bike-more engineering headaches for the master builder.

Lastly, Dawn and Greg really aimed at avoiding the "cookie-cutter chopper look" with the high rail-mounted tank. Greg worked on many designs before the right balance of roadworthiness, looks, and uniqueness was struck.

"I participated in every step of the development and building process," Dawn comments. "This chopper is built exactly to my measures. It is like a tailor-made suit. The tank is peaking at the right height, the controls and the handlebar extend just where they should, and the distance between the seat and the footpegs matches exactly my leg length. Im very comfortable on it"

Dawn's Chopper is a shopper-stopper. It draws large crowds at any bike show where it is exhibited, small or big. "It's funny to see the reactions of the crowd," Dawn says. "We were at the Quaker Steak and Lube bike show in St. Petersburg, Florida, in early December, and we received so many good comments, I was very happy wiht it. My bike is so unique and so different in style and looks from today's choppers. That's what makes such an impression on many people.

Greg readily offers explanations as to the technical innovations he came up with to keep the bike a clean look: "I wanted to have all the new technology and the bells and whistles on this bike, without the bulkiness usually associated with them. "I hid a lot of the electronic components underneath the tank and the seat to unclutter the frame."

About safety issues, Greg explains that he "was obviously concerned by his wife's safety on the road, especially since she sits so low, and people in Florida don't pay enough attention to bikers. So I mounted four very bright LED lights into the frame of the bike. When Dawn brakes, the rear is all lit up like Christmas tree. I mounted three HID lights on the front-end, which gives my wife all the visibility she needs at night."

From the standpoint of comfort, Dawn's Chopper is no slouch either. The seat is padded with a two-inch-thick memory foam. "Memory foam offers a better padding than the thin foam used on production line choppers," says Greg. "The seat of a chopper is too hard for a lady to ride comfortably. Memory foam doesn't make Dawn's Chopper into a Honda Goldwing, but she definitely can ride it without hurting after 100 miles!"

Dawn's bike features an uncommon fully adjustable air suspension, front and rear. This rather sophisticated solution allows Dawn to adjust her ride in height and stiffness. "When I want my bike to cushion road bumps better," Dawn explains, "I depress a tiny button mounted on the handlebar. And when I cruise on Highway slabs, I can stiffen my ride by pressing on another tiny button. All this with the flick of the thumb, while I'm riding. I don't need to come off the bike, and adjust my suspension with a wrench like if I were on a softail.

Looks were a prime wish in Dawn's Mind. "I find all the cabling and wiring unsightly on a bike," says Dawn, "and I asked Greg if he could avoid that clutter on mine. I knew he had done just that for his high dollar clients, and I figured 'Hey, I could have that myself, couldn't I?' So I asked him, and he hid everything in the handlebar" Greg confirms adding: "Hiding the wiring and the lines meant designing a new system to channel everything discreetly inside the tubing. That's why you can't see anything in the front."

Adorning the rear-end of the bike with a 280 mm tire was a decision which took some haggling between the two. "Greg originally wanted to mount a 240 mm on my bike. I wanted a 250" says Dawn, "but he didn't like the way the 250 handled because of the flat patch feel in the center of the tire. So he offered a 280 mm metzler, which I was not convinced about at first. But then I rode it, and felt good with it."

The rear fender flares on the sides, and features a deep cut at the center. "The cut allows the big 280 to show well enough without dwarfing the fender itself," Greg comments. "The flare and the piping on each side steer the fender design away from other builders' designs. It's kind of a unique detail."

The paint job was of course the lady's preserve. Dawn was adamant about having her bike in vivid black, H-D code: "I really, really like black. It's elegant it's traditional yet bold, it contrasts with the chrome of the engine, the accent piece on the front-end, and the rockers at the bottom of the fork tubes."

Greg's shop went crazy on the paint: the bike's frame and front end received four coats of vivid black base, and five coats of high solids urethane clear.

Then, Dawn had Greg working on a series of test panels to prepare the devil-tail graphics. "I really wasn't decided as to the colors I wanted applied over the black," says Dawn. "I had him test six different reds, several shades of green, yellow and gold, four shades of blue, silver, and purple. I would have liked a hot pink, but we tried and it wouldn't compliment the black the right way. So we started the graphics with a gold mini flake base. On part of the graphics we applied a candy apple red coat, outlined with a dark magenta. The other portion of the graphics was kept in gold and outlined with green mica. Last but not least, I asked Greg to have ghosted skulls discreetly airbrushed into the black. I find that funny because people attending the bike shows tend to notice the skulls last."

And so on this 13th of December 2004, after they worked together for months on this project, Dawn's Chopper came out of Greg's shop and Dawn could take her first street ride on it. "It was thrilling. The bike is such a tight fit. Everything is handy, and tailor-made. I'm amazed at how easy it rides for such a big massive chopper!"