Custom Bike Builder Billy Lane and Choppers Inc.

Born and bred in Miami, custom bike builder Billy Lane holds an associate of science degree in mechanical engineering from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Florida International University. His father was a big influence on him early in his life, and got him interested I hot rods early on. This meant Billy had a good base of mechanical know how before he went to engineering school.

Then, in 1989 he bought his first bike. The motorbike was basically a collection of motorcycle parts, so a young Billy Lane had to learn ho to put it together, and fast! With the help of a few local old timers, Billy expanded his bike building knowledge very quickly.

After college, Billy Lane joined his brother's outfit working on bikes, and then branched out on his own. It was around this time that Billy started making custom motorcycle parts for some of his friend as gifts. The demand for these "Six Gun" custom bike parts grew and grew, and eventually this lead to the formation of 1995 of Billy's Choppers Inc company in Melbourne Florida.

Like a great number of talented individuals in every field, not just the custom bike builders, Billy Lane modestly attributes a large portion of his success to being in the right place at the right time, and being in the one of the custom bike builders who got in ahead of the curve. So the hairstyle has absolutely nothing to do with it then (sorry Billy)!

Choppers Inc has three arms; the custom bike building side, which produces a few high quality individually styled (and very expensive) bikes every year; the clothing and accessories side and the innovation side. This last part of Choppers Inc is perhaps the most interesting. The custom motorcycle parts that Billy Lane has designed are the subject of several US patents for motorcycle parts like handlebar riser clamps, oil caps and foot pegs. How many other custom bike builders have their names on US patents? Not too many we would guess. The custom bikes built by Billy Lane and his colleagues at Choppers Inc have been featured on a stack of magazine covers and TV shows.

Billy first came to prominence on the very first episode of Monster Garage, but went on to feature heavily in the Biker Build Off series. An inspiration to a huge number of wannabees, and an object of extreme envy by others (like me) Billy Lane continues to go from strength to strength.