Steve “Carpy” Carpenter's Greenday Special
73 images Created 2 Aug 2020
Steve “Carpy” Carpente Greenday Special- 2006
My dad was an original Rocker, so I grew up with the Cafe Racer lifestyle in England. It was like an inheritance, a natural transition into all things two-wheels.
When I was a teenager, the majority of my motorcycles had clubman bars and cut down seats. Eventually, I became a motorcycle courier/dispatch rider in London where we all shortened our handlebars, lowered our seats and made the bikes as light as possible. This made it easy to belt around the city avoiding traffic and heavy congestion.
When I transplanted myself Stateside in 2000, it was only natural I’d build a motorbike to get around and of course, that first one was just like had been making at home. It was different than what people were used to seeing and so, I’d get stopped in the street and get asked what sort of bike it was. And that’s when the light bulb lit up!
I still get phone calls from people telling me I have inspired them to build motorcycles for a living. Some said they have taken MMI classes because they love what I did. One father called to say his lad was getting a bit wayward and disrespectful, so he pulled his old Honda out and they built a Cafe racer together using my parts and advise. It seemed to change his son’s way of thinking and now he builds his own parts. I can’t say I ever thought I would inspire people, but it’s a warm feeling when I receive compliments notes like this.
As for this bike, Mike Dirnt, the bass guitarist of the infamous punk band Greenday phoned me one day after he saw me on one of my cafes on the cover of a motorcycle magazine. He said he wanted one for himself and commissioned me right then to create a tough looking bike to his color scheme. He followed this up by riding down to see me and so we brainstormed until we came up with the bike you see here today. Years later, the bike is still together, and Mike still loves it. I thought it would be a great candidate for “Heavy Mettle” as it shows that after almost a decade and a half, a design over the phone can turn into a reality and continue to turn heads years after it was originally conceived.
Basically, motorcycles are my life. Being represented in “Heavy Mettle” is testimony to a kid that was always getting told off at school for drawing motorcycles on his schoolwork. And now, I’ll just continue to push the envelope on nostalgic style road machines and see where the road leads me.
-Steve “Carpy” Carpenter
My dad was an original Rocker, so I grew up with the Cafe Racer lifestyle in England. It was like an inheritance, a natural transition into all things two-wheels.
When I was a teenager, the majority of my motorcycles had clubman bars and cut down seats. Eventually, I became a motorcycle courier/dispatch rider in London where we all shortened our handlebars, lowered our seats and made the bikes as light as possible. This made it easy to belt around the city avoiding traffic and heavy congestion.
When I transplanted myself Stateside in 2000, it was only natural I’d build a motorbike to get around and of course, that first one was just like had been making at home. It was different than what people were used to seeing and so, I’d get stopped in the street and get asked what sort of bike it was. And that’s when the light bulb lit up!
I still get phone calls from people telling me I have inspired them to build motorcycles for a living. Some said they have taken MMI classes because they love what I did. One father called to say his lad was getting a bit wayward and disrespectful, so he pulled his old Honda out and they built a Cafe racer together using my parts and advise. It seemed to change his son’s way of thinking and now he builds his own parts. I can’t say I ever thought I would inspire people, but it’s a warm feeling when I receive compliments notes like this.
As for this bike, Mike Dirnt, the bass guitarist of the infamous punk band Greenday phoned me one day after he saw me on one of my cafes on the cover of a motorcycle magazine. He said he wanted one for himself and commissioned me right then to create a tough looking bike to his color scheme. He followed this up by riding down to see me and so we brainstormed until we came up with the bike you see here today. Years later, the bike is still together, and Mike still loves it. I thought it would be a great candidate for “Heavy Mettle” as it shows that after almost a decade and a half, a design over the phone can turn into a reality and continue to turn heads years after it was originally conceived.
Basically, motorcycles are my life. Being represented in “Heavy Mettle” is testimony to a kid that was always getting told off at school for drawing motorcycles on his schoolwork. And now, I’ll just continue to push the envelope on nostalgic style road machines and see where the road leads me.
-Steve “Carpy” Carpenter
