I have become pretty good friends with Michael Schrickel from Chop Machine over the last couple of years. He randomly called me one day last April and said, “Maaannn, you got check out this bike I have been working on. It’s killer and we need to shoot it soon.”

Naturally, I said yes after seeing a little snippet of the gas tank and frame. I knew this bike was going to be something special. I have wanted to shoot a bike with a female model for a while, but never found the opportune time till that moment. I hit up my friend Casie Baun. She is a super pretty girl that’s a total nerd when it comes to Star Wars, cartoons, and super hero kind of stuff. I knew she would be a great fit with the theme of this bike: Heavy Metal. At first, everyone’s schedules conflicted, but finally we did get together on an amazing day in the middle of June to do the shoot.

The shoot itself was way different from most I do, but for the most part I really enjoyed it. We shot at a few different places with Casie and a bunch of riding shots all over Toledo. The biggest difference from the normal shoots I do was that I had to ride in the Chop Machine van to do the riding shots. I had offered to drive Casie and her huge trunk of outfits to Toledo as a thank you for doing the shoot, so I was without my motorcycle. Riding in a van proved to have its positives and negatives. We strapped the side door open and I was literally hanging out of the van most of the time to keep the van door out of my shots. A lot of people in cars and on the street were pointing fingers at me and shaking their heads in disbelief. It made me laugh. When riding my bike, I can get a lot more angles of the bike I am shooting and from both sides, so that was a definite negative for me. On the positive side, I could keep the camera a little more still and get some really good high-end aperture shots with blur. Shooting from the van also allowed me to focus in a little more than I normally am able to do on the motorcycle.

The most memorable thing about the day was shooting in front of the three old smoke stack towers that are now extinct. It was a small landmark in Toledo, Ohio for some and it was really cool to get a few shots in front of them before they got demolished. Our friend Shane took it upon himself to do some epic burnouts in the abandoned building next to the three towers while we were setting up. To be honest, he was ripping it up all day long, all over the sidewalks of Toledo and gave not one care in the world. It made for some good excitement throughout the day. The cat calls Casie got from the streets were pretty hilarious too. Toledo is an interesting place and care free when it comes to pretty much everything. The shoot went pretty flawless that day. I am so glad we got to shoot the bike called Heavy Metal and share it with The Horse.

Owner and Location: Michael Schrickel, Toledo, Ohio

Model: 1200 Harley-Davidson Sportster

Fabrication: Chop Machine and Led Sled Customs

Assembly by: Michael Schrickel

Forks: HD 6 Over Smoothed Lower Legs and Trees (Polished)

Tires: Front Avon Speed Master Rear Avon Safety Mileage MKII

Pipes: Paughco Goose Neck Up-Sweeps

Frame: Custom One Off built by Led Sled Customs.

Rake: 35 degrees Stretch: 3" Backbone 6" Down Tubes

Modifications: Led Sled Kicker Kit

Gas Tank: Throttle Addictions Narrow Wassel Tank

Painter: Heath Welsh of Chop Machine

Air Brushing Rob Barrera

Bars: Pangea Speed Streamliner Bars

Fenders: Mid USA 6" Flat Rear Fender

Oil Tank: Narrowed Led Sled Customs

To see more of this fine machine, check out the latest issue of The Horse Magazine on newsstands NOW!

Thanks,

Mikey