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BikeCraft Magazine is about any and all custom-built motorcycles – cafe-racers, street-trackers, bob-jobs, streetfighters, etc., old and new (Order ONLINE) photo by:David Edwards That great British philosopher Rod Stewart told it true: "Every picture tells a story, don't it?" Okay, ol' Rocket Rod was no grammarian, and for purposes this discussion, let's broaden the perspective. Every motorcycle tells a story, don't it? Of course, some stories are better than others. Those are the machines that will be featured in BikeCraft Magazine. Any custom bike is more than the sum of its parts, but individual components are important too. Each and every single item on a custom is there because the builder selected that part, more than likely modified it, had it painted, plated or polished, then decided just where and how it should be placed. Each piece has a story to tell. Take, for example, the head pipes on my restored Triumph 500 bobber pictured here. Wes White of Four Aces Cycle did the resto for me, an extensive undertaking as the bike – an original California bob-job – had been sitting unused for decades. The pipes are rare high-rise units made in the 1950s by aftermarket firm MCM. Wes found the left header, dinged and with most of its chrome missing, in a parts bin at some swapmeet. Despite his further digging, the right-side pipe was nowhere to be found. On the way home, lone header in hand, Wes stopped by Mike Parti's garage for the usual gab session. Parti is one of the godfathers of SoCal's classic bike scene, and always has good stories to tell or interesting bikes to see. Wes related his good luck in finding the MCM up-pipe, but wondered aloud how he'd ever locate its mate. Without missing a beat, nodding to the garage rafters, Parti dead-panned, "You mean like that one hanging there?" You just don't argue with strange ju-ju like that.