Russell Mitchell's Mad Max
66 images Created 2 Aug 2020
Russell Mitchell's Mad Max - 2001
I have always loved custom motorcycles, but I didn’t start building because I dreamt of being a fabricator or a mechanic. No, I started building bikes because it was the only way to turn the bike in my head into the bike in my garage. I could always envision the bike I wanted, and as those visions became more detailed, I had to learn all the disciplines necessary to build a bike from scratch. And I wasn’t satisfied bolting together catalog components; no, I had to design my own parts. During the inaugural ride on a particularly involved creation I had a chance meeting with Bandit, who was at that time the editor of Easyriders magazine. He asked to feature the bike, and after a few unexpected twists, Exile Cycles was born. That was 25 years ago!
The bike you see before you is called Mad Max, and it was originally conceived in 2000, making it onto the streets of California in 2001. It appeared in all the magazines as the centerpiece of our little ad, with a young-looking Russell Mitchell knelt behind it, sporting a freshly shaved mohawk (bright red back then, rather more salt-and-pepper today). We have built Mad Max many times over the years, and the one here dates back to 2003. By the turn of the century we had already garnered a reputation for doing things our own way and not giving a s**t about what everyone else was creating. Fat front tires, 1.25” bars, 2.5” pipes, sprocket brakes, internal throttles, completely clean handlebars and total industrial minimalism were our calling cards. Not to mention a complete aversion to chrome and bright paint. Mad Max was the first of our ‘long front end’ bikes and it show-cased a couple of new finishes. The wrinkle black powder-coat is virtually bullet-proof, and the brushed aluminum has really become our signature look. Of course, everyone said it couldn’t be done, and, of course, we didn’t listen.
When you work with something you love, it isn’t really a job. At times, I have to wrangle a shop full of a dozen lunatics, and at other times, I’ve whittled bikes alone in a modest workshop. Either way, I’ve loved every minute of it! Fortunately for me, clean design is timeless, and our parts line really never changes. The bikes I build today are indistinguishable from the ones I built twenty years ago, or the ones I hope to build twenty years from now.
-Russell Mitchell
I have always loved custom motorcycles, but I didn’t start building because I dreamt of being a fabricator or a mechanic. No, I started building bikes because it was the only way to turn the bike in my head into the bike in my garage. I could always envision the bike I wanted, and as those visions became more detailed, I had to learn all the disciplines necessary to build a bike from scratch. And I wasn’t satisfied bolting together catalog components; no, I had to design my own parts. During the inaugural ride on a particularly involved creation I had a chance meeting with Bandit, who was at that time the editor of Easyriders magazine. He asked to feature the bike, and after a few unexpected twists, Exile Cycles was born. That was 25 years ago!
The bike you see before you is called Mad Max, and it was originally conceived in 2000, making it onto the streets of California in 2001. It appeared in all the magazines as the centerpiece of our little ad, with a young-looking Russell Mitchell knelt behind it, sporting a freshly shaved mohawk (bright red back then, rather more salt-and-pepper today). We have built Mad Max many times over the years, and the one here dates back to 2003. By the turn of the century we had already garnered a reputation for doing things our own way and not giving a s**t about what everyone else was creating. Fat front tires, 1.25” bars, 2.5” pipes, sprocket brakes, internal throttles, completely clean handlebars and total industrial minimalism were our calling cards. Not to mention a complete aversion to chrome and bright paint. Mad Max was the first of our ‘long front end’ bikes and it show-cased a couple of new finishes. The wrinkle black powder-coat is virtually bullet-proof, and the brushed aluminum has really become our signature look. Of course, everyone said it couldn’t be done, and, of course, we didn’t listen.
When you work with something you love, it isn’t really a job. At times, I have to wrangle a shop full of a dozen lunatics, and at other times, I’ve whittled bikes alone in a modest workshop. Either way, I’ve loved every minute of it! Fortunately for me, clean design is timeless, and our parts line really never changes. The bikes I build today are indistinguishable from the ones I built twenty years ago, or the ones I hope to build twenty years from now.
-Russell Mitchell
