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Long Beach Show: Roland Sands-A-Go-Go

A smorgasbord of the custom builder’s tasty creations.

December 9, 2007

Custom builder Roland Sands' presence at the Long Beach Cycle World International Motorcycle Show was palpable. He had bikes in the Ducati booth, the CW booth, with Toyota Trucks and at his own stand in the huge arena adjoining the Long Beach Convention Center. There, Roland placed all his favorite bikes he's built in the last few years, and we've placed them in our gallery for you to check out!

Out of a crashed 2003 Harley Softail came the "Glory Stomper," which competed in the 2005 Discovery Channel program "Biker Build-Off" against Arlen Ness.

The "Hardway" was inspired by top-fuel dragsters from the ?70s. It uses a Jesse Rooke frame and a Harley-Davidson powerplant. Far out!

Roland calls this 2002 Harley Softail "The Stocker," even though it has about every component customized. He actually put knobbies on it and took the bike to the Orange County Flat-Track races and "rode the piss out of it."

What would King Kenny ride to his local watering hole? It would probably have a V-Five motor, make 200 hp and weigh about 300 pounds. Sounds like this KRV5, the only custom we?ve seen with a MotoGP powerplant.

"El Borracho" means ?The Drunkard.? Roland describes the build process: "Take a brand-new 2003 Softail 100th Anniversary bike and destroy it..."

This 2005 Yamaha YZF-R1 was done up in this tasty Roberts Replica livery and graced the cover of Performance Machine?s catalog.

This 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa is Roland?s take on the sportbike customizing craze.

"No Regrets" was the favorite motto of Roland?s friend Johnny Chop, who passed away during the building of this bike. It went on to win the 2006 "Biker Build-Off" on the Discovery Channel.