Heavy 'Mettle' Bike Does a Full Circle

Personal Project

Dave Perewitz has earned many accolades over the decades, but he is best known as the 'King of Flames.' Pictured here and bearing his trademark touch is 'Nolan's Bike,' one of the many countless machines masterfully customized by Perewitz. Despite being a personal project, it was sold and then took over thirty years to make the full circle back home.

Photos courtesy of Michael Lichter Photography

Formed History

Curator and photographer Michael Lichter included Nolan's Bike in Heavy Mettle: Motorcycling With Moxie—the 2020 iteration of the Motorcycles as Art exhibition held annually at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip. It was no ordinary show. Marking the 80th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the exhibition featured thirty-eight legendary builders who have formed and guided the history of custom motorcycles.

Underscored Years

Consideration for Heavy Mettle: Motorcycling With Moxie was steep. The exhibition's write-up stated that in order to be considered, “builders needed to have completed at least twenty custom builds and been in business for at least twenty years.” It is an accomplishment that is underscored by the fact that half of all businesses fail within the first five years.

Custom Dream

Perewitz began painting motorcycles in his parent's garden shed. As the business grew, he moved to the garage, where he worked to establish Perewitz Cycle Fab—now located in Halifax, Massachusetts. In his autobiography, Chopper Master and King of Flames, co-author Mike Seate describes Perewitz as, “a self-taught designer, mechanic, painter, and fabricator,” who built “the American dream his own way, bike by custom bike.” 

Beau Name

Many enthusiasts were introduced to Perewitz through the Discovery Channel's Biker Build Off series. In a Hot Bike magazine from 2015, Perewitz elaborated on the origin of his royal title—King of Flames. He explained, “It was Beau Pacheco of Big Twin magazine, years ago. We were doing a lot of stuff with them, and he kinda' gave me that name back in the ’90s.”

Riding Jaunts

Don Nolan and Perewitz were lifelong friends. Prior to his death in 2019, Nolan ran Acme Tattoo in Saint Paul, Minnesota—a shop he established in 1988. Nolan was featured in a write-up for the 29th annual Donnie Smith Bike and Car Show, where he reminisced about his riding days with Arlen Ness, Smith, and Perewitz, while on jaunts to Daytona Beach, Florida.

On Vacation

Described as a brilliant artist, Nolan unpretentiously chose to perfect the craft of tattooing rather than seek fame. Perewitz originally built Nolan's Bike as a personal project in 1988. Two years later, while at Sturgis, he got an offer he could not refuse. The bike then sat for almost twenty years, due to what Perewitz described as the new owner being “on 'vacation' with the State.”

Amazing End

Around 2005, the now released owner called, wanting to sell the bike. Perewitz offered the deal to Nolan, which he took. Perewitz recounted, “We buffed the paint and got it running. It then stayed in Nolan’s collection until he passed away in 2019. It’s amazing, but in the end, he left this motorcycle to me and my daughter Jody, so now it’s back where it all began.”

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