Winners Of The Editors Choice Award And Best In Show At American Irons Daytona Bike Week Show ’
July 2006 – American Iron Magazine
Because it’s this bike that put Austin Weiss on top of the world.
It was never meant to be this way, not for Austin. He was going to be a computer geek, a desk jockey. He even branded his way through trade school and got a computer technician’s license. It didn’t take long till the epiphany came, that one moment we all have where we stop and ask ourselves, like the song says, “My God – What have I done?”
Only 22 years old, Austin began his motorcycle career less than five years ago. He’d ditched the computer tech job, was installing car stereos by day and building custom mini-trucks on the side with his buddy Bones, who happened to work for Eddie Trotta at Thunder Cycle. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
“I know it’s going to sound corny,” Austin says, “but the guy who really got me into bikes, besides my dad was Jesse James. Seriously, I was building that mini-truck, so I was working with my hand and with engines and mental fabrication, all that I knew by then I definitely didn’t want a desk job. Then one day, I caught Motorcycle Mania 1, and it was like ‘Game Over’ for me, bro.” He laughs about it now, “Guys are always giving me crap about that: ‘How can you talk about Jesse James? That guy sold out!’ and all that stuff, but you know what? It’s not like I try to copy his style or whatever. I don’t even like his bikes all that much. That’s not what I like about him.
“Look at him now, doing anything he wants. He’s got all the money he’ll ever need, can do or build whatever he wants, he can go on the Jay Leno show, he’s married to a movie star. How can you be mad at a guy for that? Because if that’s sellin’ out, man, I’m in!” Austin laughs, but it’s clear he’s not kidding around, and besides, he’s got a point: How can you not appreciate someone like Jesse James, or, for that matter. Austin Weiss, who’s done it his own way, on his own terms? It’s every man’s dream – heck, it’s the American Dream – to make a living doing something you love. This brings us back to the story.
