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Schwartzkopf Exclusive Customs
4140 Lincoln Blvd, Marina del Rey, California US 90292








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Deep in the heart of Marina del Rey, California, amidst jet ski shops and high-rise condos, you'll find The Chrome Triangle. It's a section of Lincoln Boulevard with Bartels Harley-Davidson on one side and two custom motorcycle shops on the other. If you want a stock H-D, you go to the Harley mall that is the Bartels complex, but if a ground-up custom's your poison, then you go to either of the two operations across the street. One of these is Schwartzkopf Exclusive Customs (SEC). Its owner, Eric Schwartzkopf, has been a pro bike builder for 10 years (and yes, he's related to General Norman Schwartzkopf;(Eric has refuted this AND does not want to capitalize on the Generals name) Eric's his nephew). The gearhead bug bit him in Kansas at an early age. Eric started off working on bicycles, and at age 13, he picked up his first four-wheeled fixer-upper. "Out there you could get your driver's license at 14. I took that car and added a trick 327 in shop class," Eric said. By the time he was 16, he'd moved out to Los Angeles, where he started working for Bartels H-D-then in nearby Culver City-but later struck out on his own. That first operation was a far cry from the current shop. "I shared a shop in Inglewood with a guy who made some crazy movie cars. I even lived in the building for two years, but then the owners sold it," Eric told us. Where did he move to next? "I had a home garage in Westchester. We drove the neighbors crazy with big parties every weekend...we had a pool table in the garage and a swimming pool out back. It was sweet. But nothing lasts forever, and the house he was renting got sold, forcing him to move, yet again. This time he sublet space from an antique shop on Lincoln Boulevard. "The whole place was packed with all kinds of shit. We took over more and more of the shop until we had the whole thing." And, here he is. For the past several years, he's operated out of the A-framed building across from his old employer's dealership, building ground-up customs and customizing existing bikes for all kinds of folks. One of his ex-employees is nanny to Brad Pitt's bike fleet, and SEC is where he comes whenever he needs work done. Between repairs and customizing, Eric keeps the shop running even with the current market correction. Fixing problems keeps him afloat, while custom work is where he makes his profit. Both of these apply to his building philosophy. "Since most of what we build is for customers, we try to figure out what they want. We point out riding characteristics of various bikes to find a happy medium between style and ride quality because the bikes have to be at least somewhat ridable," Eric told us. "I like to be creative and I like building bikes. I've seen folks buy bikes they didn't really want and no one spent time helping them find what they really want. They buy stock bikes and dump tons of money into them trying to make what they want." Often, he can do that by recommending changes here and there to make the bike a better fit, but it costs money to do so, and sometimes all the person wanted was to buy a bike and enjoy riding it. When a new customer comes into the shop, he tries to convince them to do a ground up to get what they want first time right out the door. As for a signature style, he doesn't have one. "I don't prefer one over another. But I like a challenge. It's easier if you stick to one style, when you're doing the same thing over and over again. That's why I like to change it up," Eric said. But being a California shop owner has its downsides. "I hate the whole business side, especially in California because of the bureaucracy. It's hard to focus on building when trying to keep up with other shit." On top of that, he says it's very important to keep the customer up to speed on what's going on. If you don't, it can lead to problems. "A guy comes in with a budget and along the way he wants to keep making upgrades, but in the first budget he didn't allow for PM controls. He keeps wanting to add these high-dollar things and all of a sudden the bike's done and it's five, six, or ten grand more than he thought it was going to be and he starts flipping out, making threats. It's about communication. People don't always keep track of costs, so I tell them up front how the process is going to go. Also, a lot of people come in and drop down money. They expect you to immediately pull their bike on the rack and start working on it. It doesn't work that way. You wait until you have enough parts to get a lot of work done, then put it up on the lift and get it finished all at once."
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t is not easy to impress a collector who has a hangar full of spectacular motorcycles. So the man who commissioned this brutish chopper turned to Eric Schwartzkopf, whose Los Angeles-based Schwartzkopf’s Exclusive Customs has a reputation for the outrageous scale of its tires, motors, and frames. This build centered on a mammoth 145 cu in V-twin engine, produced in a limited edition by S&S Cycle to celebrate its 45-year anniversary. “We ordered the motor nearly six months in advance,” says Schwartzkopf. “We were never sure we’d even get it.” Diamond Chassis built a frame around the 200-pound powerplant, and the Independent Gas Tank Co. provided a newly designed tank. Schwartzkopf mounted fender blanks from Fat Katz on the rolling chassis, then asked his customer for input. “We handed him a marker and had him draw out different designs on the blank fender, allowing him to really personalize his bike.” After tearing the bike down for painting, Schwartzkopf observes, final assembly went smoothly because of the intensive mock-up phase. “Of course, assembling a bike with a painted frame requires extreme caution,” he adds. “Squeezing a 200-pound motor into a freshly painted frame caused a few tense moments.”Schwartzkopf had drilled the frame and swingarm to run the brake lines, clutch line, and wiring internally. “We spent a lot of time focusing on clean, hidden, trouble-free wiring,” he says. The German-built Altmann Micro Machines P3 ignition was selected for its compatibility with twin-cam motors (when using the crank position sensor only), and the Stinger Starter for its ability to crank over the 11:1 compression 145 without a problem. “The exhaust was actually the first complete system I’d ever done,” says Schwartzkopf. “It sounds amazing—almost like a top fuel car. I love the look and performance of the dual Mikunis, but sometimes they infringe on your leg space. Since we had to make a custom manifold for this motor, I tilted the carbs 90 degrees forward, out of the way of your knee; the resulting look and performance are incredible.” For the rear suspension, Schwartzkopf wanted to find the right combination of function and style. Although he liked Hi-Lo Rider air shocks, he knew that they sometimes have a “pogo-stick” effect, which can be unsettling at speed. “To solve the pogo problem, we use one air shock and one conventional shock,” he says. “With a little R&D, we retained the ability to raise and lower the suspension with the air shock, yet have the necessary damping to improve handling and stability.” The bars and risers were intended to be temporary, but ended up suiting bike and (Click image to enlarge) customer perfectly. The streamlined front end came from American Suspension. Schwartzkopf sent the seat from High End Seats to world-renowned leather artist Bill Wall of Bill Wall Leathers. “We commissioned him to add the final touch,” he says. Although built with extreme measures, this stealth chopper effortlessly combines fine, graceful lines, intimidating horsepower, and an impeccable ride. It earns a noteworthy position in any owner’s collection.
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As the song says, "If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with." It's this line of thinking that led Alex Gladicov to turn his Victory V92C into the stripped-down Hellcat-esque machine you see here. After picking up his Victory for a good price, Alex ran around on it for awhile, but he yearned for something lighter with the no-B.S. look of a street fighter. He also pined for a Confederate Hellcat, but instead of going out and buying one, he showed some loyalty to the Vic (and saved time and money) by taking it to Schwartzkopf Exclusive Customs (SEC) in Marina del Rey, California, and having the crew there do the deed. For those of you unfamiliar with the V92C, it was the predecessor to the Vegas motorcycle family but not nearly as successful (in fact, it's the insane cousin the company would like to keep locked in the attic). It did, however, have the solid Freedom motor going for it. Meaning, there was a good platform to work with for customizers, so when Alex brought his baby to Eric Schwartzkopf, it was largely a matter of cosmetic changes rather than upgrading the mill and driveline. A big part of the reason Alex sought out SEC was that the shop is one of the very few-if not the only-builders in SoCal that work on Confederates regularly, so getting Eric to do the job was a wise decision. SEC was also able to give him what he wanted on a limited budget. How? By focusing on important changes that really mattered rather than re-imagining the whole bike from the frame up. Since Alex was happy with the motor and driveline, he saved a bundle by keeping them. The only change in this department was the addition of a SuperTrapp exhaust. A big part of the process was addition by subtraction: All the fat was trimmed off to make way for the new look. The front fender was trimmed, the gas tank got dished, and the weighty rear fender was tossed in favor of a Fat Katz blank chopped and modified to hook up to the bike's monoshock. The SEC crew also slashed off excess at the controls by switching over to slimmer bars and losing the mirrors in favor of a Wild One at the primary-side grip. Confederates come in all kinds of colors as long as you want black, and that's what Alex had done to his Victory-but with a slight difference. Some of the original parts were blue, such as the swingarm pivot, foot controls, and hand levers. Rather than do the whole thing in darkness, he kept the blue as a modest offset. Once the paint dried, SEC capped Alex's bike with a Le Pera solo seat and sent him on his way. It took us a long time to pin down Alex's bike for an article, partially because he's that busy, but also because life moves fast when you love what you ride, and sometimes that makes it hard to slow down for anybody.


THE VITALS:
GENERAL:
OWNER:ALEX GLADICOV
YEAR/MAKE/
MODEL:		'00/VICTORY/V92
FABRICATION: SCHWARTZKOPF EXCLUSIVE
CUSTOMS (SEC)
ASSEMBLY:SEC
BUILD TIME:TWO MONTHS
ENGINE:
YEAR/SIZE:'00/92CI
TYPE:VICTORY FREEDOM V-TWIN
BUILDER:VICTORY
FLYWHEELS:VICTORY
RODS:VICTORY
PISTONS:VICTORY
CYLINDERS:VICTORY
HEADS:VICTORY
VALVES:VICTORY
ROCKERS:VICTORY
ROCKER BOXES:VICTORY
PUSHRODS:VICTORY
PUSHROD TUBES:VICTORY
CAM(S):VICTORY
LIFTERS:VICTORY
CARBURETOR:VICTORY
AIR CLEANER:VICTORY
IGNITION:VICTORY
EXHAUST:SUPERTRAPP
FINISH:BLACK
TRANSMISSION:
YEAR/TYPE:'00/VICTORY
CASE:VICTORY
TOP/SIDE:VICTORY
CLUTCH:VICTORY
PRIMARY DRIVE:VICTORY
FINAL DRIVE:VICTORY
GEARS:VICTORY
FRAME:
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MWS