Billy Lane started his career as a bike builder before the chopper scene was big like it is today. Billy was born and raised in Miami where his father got him interested in cars and hot rods early on in his life. Billy attended Florida State University and holds a Associates of Science degree as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. Thru his fathers influence he had quite a bit of mechanical knowledge before getting his mechanical engineering degrees.
He bought his first bike back in 1989 while attending College. The thing was in pieces so he had to learn how to put it back together. With the help of some old timers he learned a lot about bikes and got it back together. After getting done with College Billy Lane started working on bikes wit his brother and shortly went out and started working on bikes on his own.
Billy First started making custom parts for his friends instead of giving them gifts back when he had no money to buy gifts. Over time his custom parts became popular outside of his group of friends which led to the formation of Choppers Inc. in 1995. His six gun parts are now well known in the custom chopper circles world wide. Billy holds 7 patents for some of these parts, Six Gun Handlebar Riser Clamps, Six Gun Shift Knob, Six Gun Oil Cap and Six Gun Foot Peg, Six Gun Handlebar, Tumbling Dice Light and Loaded Dice Shift Knob. Billy Lane's bike parts have grown so famous that they have been featured in several bike magazines like Street Chopper, Hot Bike and Easyriders.
Not only does Billy Lane make exceptionally trick motorcycle parts he is also an author with two published books under his belt. His first book which is published by MBI Publishing is Chop Fiction – It’s Not a Motorcycle Baby, It’s a Chopper. This book was first available during the Holiday season of 2004. His second book called How To Build Old School Choppers and Bobbers was released during the holiday season of 2005. He also now has a DVD which came out in 2006 called Billy Lane's Blood Sweat and Gears Tour.
Billy Lane has also been featured on several of the Discovery chanel's gear head shows like Monster Garage and the Great Biker Build Off. The Discovery Chanel also did a special on Billy's Blood Sweat and Gears Tour back in October of 2005.
So that's a little about Billy Lane the Bike Builder and his ever growing line of products. He has now branched out and merchandised himself rather well. Not only can you get Billy Lane custom parts or a custom chopper but also T-shirts, shoes and hats.
This article was published on Thursday 11 October, 2007.
