Jason Lee has a small but substantial collection of rare motorcycles. “I’ve always been into motorcycles, but as I got older I became fascinated with vintage British and Japanese bikes,” he says. And when he caught himself salivating over a photo of an old Reading Standard board track racer, it wasn’t long before Jason was on the hunt for another rare bike to add to his collection—a custom board track racer. Jason turned to Ian Barry at Falcon Motorcycles.
“Board track bikes are the most stripped down, streamlined, head-to-the-ground, pure racers around,” says Ian, sitting in his crowded machine shop in the Silver Lake neighborhood of LA. “They pushed the limits of their era.” And what about the racers themselves? “Just crazy motherfuckers, man. Racing on sketchy wooden plank tracks at 100 miles an hour, on a bike with no suspension and tires as wide as a matchbook, with 50 other dudes? Pure insanity. I love it.”
Ian and rally car driver Amaryllis Knight started Falcon to satisfy their obsession with one-of-a-kind, post-war Triumph and Norton bikes. And after listening to Jason’s wish list, a yearlong building process began. Ian started out with a raw, falling apart 1950 Triumph Thunderbird frame. From there, every other piece was individually machined, riveted, stretched, shrunk, rolled, shaved and hammered into shape. The bike looks pure and period correct, but it’s unlike anything seen before—all custom created and tailored specifically to suit Jason, right down to the leather saddle.
At the most recent Legend of the Motorcycle show in Northern California, Jesse James, Garage Magazine and the Legend of the Motorcycle judges unanimously gave the Falcon Bullet the 2008 Custom Culture Award for best custom motorcycle of the year. Which was especially shocking because the bike was there for display only and not even entered into the competition.
Want your own? Get ready to wait. The bikes may be racers, but detail-oriented Ian takes his sweet time while the orders keep piling up. While you’re waiting, check out falconmotorcycles.com
Words and photos custom-built by Brian Dolen
www.southlandtopology.com
