Every organization needs a command center. The prolific and talented dudes behind FMA / Born Free / Born Loser chose a non-descript tilt-up in Orange, CA as their home away from home. It may be plain on the outside, but the interior is packed with neat stuff. Inside you'll find a creative and well-merchandised display area, offices, small pick-pack and ship area, several bikes in various stages of repair and a wild collection of taxidermy and motorcycle-related artifacts. I recently sat down with Mike Davis and asked him a few questions about the set up.

2011 set a highwater mark for garage-based building and bikeriding in the broader pop conscience. Unfortunately, not all the attention today's "New-School Biker Lifestyle" has garnered is appreciated by members of our not-so-secret society. Biker chic fills windows at Hot Topics everywhere, inspiring disgruntled anti-heroes to express their displeasure as rapidly as they can tap the keys on their smartphones. 24/7 connectivity has been a boon to the modern motorcycle scene, but it is also a curse. These are the ChopCult stories that inspired and infuriated our readers this year.

JD Sansaver is a familiar face in SoCal's chopper underground. In 2010 JD's smiling mug lost a battle with an errant cager, leaving its owner with a broken jaw and a fistful a bloody chompers. After extensive surgery and a lengthy recuperation, JD switched gears from full-time Hollywood prop builder to launch Flying Monkey Fabrication. This is his story.

Adam Wright is a talented shooter well known in and out of hot rod and motorcycle circles. Since moving back to Southern California we've gotten to know Adam better and thought sharing some of his images as desktop wallpapers with Chop Cult members would be a neat idea. Merry Christmas!

Bob is the captain of ladder 2 of the Brockton fire department in Brockton, Massachusetts. His station is the second oldest in the city, dating back to 1888. It was actually wired for power by Thomas Edison. This old fire house is full of charm and character that you would expect from a 123 year old building. From the original Fireman poles to the city's first jail cells in the cellar, this place reeks of class and horse pee...

Deep in a dark basement under an abandoned biker clubhouse in the San Fernando Valley lied a mysterious set of old original Street Chopper archives that were thought to be gone forever. The few crates of dusty manila folders containing massive treasures to our chopper past now reside under current editor Jeff G. Holt's watchful eye in Irvine, California. We at Chop Cult were lucky enough to persuade him to let us run a few as there were originally put together before they hit the presses so many years ago. Original photos, prints, hand-written spec sheets and carefully typed outlines for stories that helped shape a generation and a culture. Periodically, we'll dust off some of these old gems and bring them to you, kind Chop Cult reader. Our first feature is the cover story from Issue #1 of Street Chopper Magazine, circa 1969.

Last month Lowbrow Customs' Malinky brothers introduced me to Mark Borcoman, the VP of Colony Machine in Brunswick, Ohio. Lovers of shiny bits may recognize the Colony name. Mark and Colony's founder Roger Reich have been churning out American-made hardware for Harleys for over 40 years. Here's a peek inside this company's well-oiled machine.

If there's a photographer who carries the mantle "chopperazzi" with pride, it's Holland's Maurice Van Den Tillaard. Like so many other two-wheeled believers from his generation, Maurice found his inspiration in BMX and on the pages of many, many magazines. His lifelong passion for cars and motorcycles also helped him build a foundation for a rewarding second career behind the lens of a camera.

One word kept popping up after this year's Born Free event in Orange County: overwhelming. The show has grown every year, and BF3 was massive. The bike show area was a huge lawn on which several hundred custom motorcycles lined up to shine in the sun, or not. Here's some of our favorite shovelheads from America's premier custom motorcycle hoedown.

Depending on from which Zip code it originates, approbation for the Golden State can run hot or cold. I know denizens of the Bay Area who dismiss Orange County natives as boorish louts too sunblind to recognize their own self-absorption. Mention The Golden State to any octagenarian south of the Mason-Dixon Line and you'll hear every epithet from "Hollywood fruitcake" to "bleeding-heart liberal." Friends Shawn and Scott followed their hearts to launch Bronsonville in SoCal last year, today that shop cranks out some awesome iron.