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For all you Dallas area fans of Orange County Choppers, we have a pretty amazing custom chopper guru right here in Texas.

Featured in numerous chopper rags over the last couple of decades, Rick Fairless has been building some of the most creative and high quality custom fabricated choppers on the planet since 1996. I won’t go into the full Rick Fairless bio, you can read it direct from him (careful, lots of bikini babes on the site; it ISN’T “NSFW”, but don’t blame me if you’re accused of surfing bikini model pics when you should be working) by clicking here.

Fairless’ showroom, which is situated right next to his restaurant and bar, is a mixture of new Victory dealership, custom chopper shop, and a museum displaying artifacts of Fairless’ motorcycle fabrication genius. I’ve wandered through the store numerous times browsing accessories and drooling over the fantastic rides. Any given day you’re likely to see some famous art bikes both inside and out of his building.

Today I cruised into Strokers to see what eye candy had been recently added. Out front was the Stroker’s standard fare (which is by no means typical of motorcycle shops in general) of custom choppers and used stock bikes. Price tags from 50k to 15k. Monster v-twins dominate the lot, of course. On the generic letter sign out front was an informal and possibly dangerous message to the Almighty: “Hey, God, we are sick of this stinking weather”. It’s a sentiment felt by the majority of us who enjoy warm sunny days on two wheels…although I chose to be a little more respectful when I’m pleading with the all-powerful Creator of heaven and hell for nicer riding elements.

Preparations are being made well in advance for a little “board racing” evidently, as there is a large temporary board-racing arena in the parking lot out front of Fairless’ saloon next door to the shop advertising the coming exploits of one Rhett Rotten in March.

One of these days I’m going to pop into Strokers Ice House (bar and restaurant) for lunch. I don’t know if the food will be anything to write about, but judging from Rick Fairless’ shop, custom choppers, and the Strokers Dallas web site I bet the atmosphere is off da hook. Just looking at the crazy stuff on top of the buildings gives you an idea of the guy’s sense of humor and style. Frankenstein’s monster looms overhead, and inside the front showroom a life size wizard holds a crystal orb aloft next to a pair of new Victory CrossRoads. Stop in sometime and take a look around before Fairless realizes that people would actually pay money just to see his stuff and starts charging admission.

Even if you’re not particularly interested in American brand bikes like Victory and HD, this shop is worth a visit just for standard accessories like gloves, vest, helmets, and doo-rags. They have their own line of custom parts in case you want to try your own hand at some customization, along with a broad range of access to Arlen Ness and other famous design bits and pieces. T-shirts, patches, stickers, DVDs, calendars, heck, some of us could probably do our annual Christmas shopping for the entire family in Rick Fairless’ shop.

It’s not unusual to see the celebrity himself hanging out in the showroom. I’ve met him there twice, and he isn’t one of those guys who marches up and informs you he’s the world famous chopper fabricator featured in industry rags and magazines like “Iron Horse” and “Easy Rider” over the last two decades or so. If I hadn’t seen his photo on the web site I wouldn’t have known he was Rick Fairless when he walked up and asked me if he could help me find anything like a regular Joe just making sure the customer knew help was available if needed.

It’s a low pressure joint, too. If you’re looking to buy you’ll probably want to tell them, they don’t pounce on you like buzzards on fresh meat the instant you walk through the doors like some shops.

Strokers Dallas is located at 9304 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, Texas.

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