“The bike was originally going to be called ‘the transient’ with a bunch of hand painted homeless dudes painted on a super narrow stretched tank,” says Andy Carter from Pangea Speed.  “After staring at it for a long time I started to change my mind on it and want to do something a little more out there. I started sketching some wild looking stuff, this is what I came up with.”

Wild is right. The Zion Express blows the archetypal chopper formula out of the water by juxtaposing art deco bodywork with traditionally narrow, stretched proportions. This is Andy’s personal bike and, yes, he does ride it.

“I like to call it a mans bike, continues Andy. “14-inch-wide bars, foot clutch, hand shift, no front brake. It’s a wild ride but when you get it rollin, you feel like you are surfing or something. I actually just built some lower/wider bars for it because it wouldn't fit in my van with those on it.”

“I am really into art deco, streamliner trains and coach built speedsters of the ‘30s-40s, so I wanted to build a bike that kind of incorporated elements of all of these things. I also had been wanting to cut the transmission off of an iron head for a long time so this was a good project to do that on.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idhUVnlsINg

Chop Cult put this video together.

“I wanted to do a Harley because I really didn't have much experience with H.D. platforms at this point. I wanted a bike that was fun to ride longer distances on and that was a little more chopperish. I basically just started throwing parts in a pile in the corner of the shop.  After a while, I had a motor, trans, front end, tank, fender. Since it is my personal bike I would just work on it at night, there were a lot of late nights.”

“We like to ride a lot out here in Salt Lake City, since we are 700 miles from everything it makes for some long days riding. Remember the original name ‘the transient.’ Well, I wanted to have something you could strap some gear to when you hit the road. If you look at the way the sissy and flat topped fender work it forms a nice shelf on the back for packing gear.”

Custom: Pangea Speed Zion Express

“Can’t wait to ride the shit out of this thing this summer! That's what they are for right? Whats the point of having a motorcycle if you don't ride it?”

Pangea Speed

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