Custom USO Bike This motorcycle was designed and built for the USO by Devil Dawg Custom Cycles, 14512 Lee Road, Unit E, Chantilly, VA. The artist who put over 120 hours of actual brush time on this bike is Sheila Mace, Art by Weeze, 700 Diamond St, Martinsburg, WV. The same lady who does the Apple Man Activity Books and helps her husband (me) on The Gazette. The man who shot the blue and the clear is Trey Myers from Earskon Myers Repair, 1328 Souder Rd, Brunswick, Md. Vinyl lettering was done by Vital Signs, 101 Federal Highway, Charles Town, WV. You can visit Devil Dawgs web site at, devildawgcustomcycles.com/pages/home.htm and Art by Weeze’s site is artbyweeze.com. The bike will go on tour and display for 18 months at the end of which time it will be auctioned and all proceeds will go to the DC Metro USO. Every part and every bit of work on this bike was donated by the people involved. You can see the bike in person on March 18 & 19 at The Motorcycle Expo which will be held at the Winchester Va., National Guard Armory. The people from Devil Dawg and Weeze will there with the bike. The number to call for more information is 540-533-6123. I asked Ken Kaplan of Devil Dawg where the idea for this bike came from. “I own another company called Symbionics, Inc., an IT services firm. In 2004, while waiting in the lobby of Fedex Field to do our build-out review of the suite, we overheard two Chaplains from Walter Reed Army Medical Center trying to see if they could get a Redskin's player to come out and visit a soldier from West Virginia that was in the hospital after being seriously injured in Iraq. This solider was Michael Jennings and was a life-time Redskins fan. Overhearing their conversation, my wife and I had the same thought instantly. We have this new suite that holds twenty people, why not offer up some of our seats to returning soldiers. We offered two seats for the season to Walter Reed Medical Center, to go to soldiers recovering from injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, and two seats to the USO. We've now hosted these heroes for the last 2 seasons and it's been a wonderful experience. During that first season in 2004, I met a number of soldiers, but was especially touched by a young man that had lost both legs and half an arm. It was at this time that the plans for what would be Devil Dawg were just being formed. This young man had an attitude that makes you feel stupid about your little aches and pains. He was a young marine with an interesting story and by his own description, a devil dawg. The term goes back to the battle of Belleau Woods in World War I. The Germans called the marines Devil Dawgs because of their ferocity in battle and the name has become synonymous with Marines. The name is a tribute not only to that young marine, but all those other young Devil Dawgs in our military that have and do risk life and limb for our benefit. Hence, Devil Dawg Custom Cycles was named. Hosting the soldiers in the suite, I learned quite a bit about the wonderful things the USO does for the guys both while they're overseas and back at home. It's a message that far too few are aware of. I thought it would be a great thing to do a bike as a tribute to their work, and maybe help grab a little attention for their benefit. Plus, it's very costly to provide all the services they offer, and could not think of a better way, given the wave of enthusiasm for motorcycles that has occurred the past few years, than to build one the nation's capital chapter of the USO could auction off to help raise funds.” I asked Ken, what came next. “I contacted Elaine Rodgers, President of the Metropolitan USO to discuss the possibility of doing a bike for the USO. Early this year we sat down and I presented my idea. She was not only receptive; she was thrilled with the idea. And though it took several months to work out all the details, we began the design work this past July.” As the work began, my contact at the USO became Beth Bradner, Director, Development & Marketing. She helped with licensing arrangements and concepts. She became my primary contact with the USO. Finalizing the physical design for the bike took a little more than a month. I had a vague idea in my mind about what I wanted thematically, but it really didn't gel until very late in the process. Total time for mock-up was about 45 days. This was longer than most bikes, not because of specific difficulties, but rather getting things just right. I think the guys in the shop spent half their time looking for blunt objects to smack me with. I knew what I wanted, but it took a number of changes to get where I wanted to go. There was a fair amount of fabrication that was challenging as I had a tough time getting the ideas in my head into the bike. Once the paint and chrome work had been completed, final assembly was about 6 days. The bike was unveiled at the Mid-Atlantic Motorcycle Spectacular February 4th, 2006. The bike will be at a number of local shows, USO events and eventually tour the country. The next stop is the USO Board of Directors meeting in mid March, followed immediately by a show in Winchester, VA. I'm very fortunate to have a very talented team that worked with me on the bike. My lead tech, Tim Kirsh, is a marvel with anything that rides on 2 wheels. A motor-head extreme and just a great guy to have around and my welder/fabricator and general shop curmudgeon, Bobby Myers, is (though he'd deny it to his dying day) about the best welder you could ever have. As I said, I'm very lucky. We also have a great supporting crew that worked on the bike. Bernie Moyer, an executive with Olympus Auto Parts, who comes in with his son Stephen, our Shop Rat, were both instrumental in getting the bike together. Stephen by the way is a fourteen year-old, soon-to-be motorcycle industry rock-star that has already built 2 award winning bikes. Then there's the painters. Of course I can't say enough about Sheila. She was a gift from God on this project. She had great ideas, worked tirelessly and most of all put up with me. I'll be forever indebted to her for her stellar work on the USO bike. The guys from Earskon Myers, notably Trey, did a terrific job on the basecoat/clearcoat work and pushed their other responsibilities aside to help get the bike completed. And though I haven't met the folks from Vital Signs, they too contributed to the final product. I next spoke with Sheila, the artist. Her interview would be the easiest since she’s my wife. I’ll let her tell it. In October 2005 I was approached by Devil Dawg Custom Cycles about doing the art for a promotional project for the USO. At our first meeting Ken explained the basics of the promotion, showed me an early mock up of the bike and a few ideas they were considering. In the weeks to come we bounced ideas back and forth and soon realized that the USO provides so many different services, past and present, that it was going to require something unique to represent the over all spirit of the organization. We wanted the art to show the USO stage shows/performers and the support and services that the USO offers our military and their families from early days to present. But how?! We had too many ideas for one bike! Finally inspiration hit us. We decided to layout the art in the form of photos and snapshots placed randomly over the bike. This gave us total freedom in the ideas and pictures that we could use. At that point the concept jelled for me and everything came together after that. A special thanks to Devil Dawg Cycles (a great bunch of guys) for asking me to participate. To Trey Myers from Earskon Myers Repairs who with no hesitation jumped in to add his skills and creativity and provided a beautiful job on the bodywork and basecoat/clear. To Suzie at Vital Signs for her ideas and effort. And most sincerely thank you to the USO for the services they provide our troops who serve our country everyday! I asked Trey what he would like to say about his part in it. Trey isn’t known for being wordy and here is his reply. I’d really like to send out my support and thanks to all those involved with the USO. I think they really provide an incredible service for our troops. It was a real pleasure being involved and working on this project. I hope you enjoyed this article and don’t forget to read about the USO and it’s history. We all have a lot to thank them for.
The Specs: Frame: Custom built to our specs by Carolina Custom Products Motor: S&S 96” polished finish Transmission: Prowler 6-Speed Sheet metal: Custom fabricated in-house Exhaust: Xzotic Lake Pipes Handlebars: Carlini Designs Wheels: Xtreme Machine Tires: Avon Seat: Dream Evil Designs Custom Paint: Art By Weeze / Trey Myers
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