Photo: Thunderbike
For the (probably) few among you who don't speak one bit of Spanish, the name El Patron may seem unimpressive. But once you translate that into English, it becomes immediately clear what its use in whatever context is supposed to mean: the boss.
By definition, Chicano-style motorcycles are the perfect incarnation of the El Patron term. They are on purpose built to stand out through bodywork and colors, they are flamboyant, and they scream power to anyone willing to listen.
So, you could argue Chicanos are the bosses of custom motorcycles. But even they need to have their own boss, and that may very well be this here build. Or, at least, it's the boss of all Thunderbike-made Chicanos.
Thunderbike is a Germany-based custom crew we're all too familiar with. These guys have literally hundreds of custom projects in their portfolio, many of them already featured here on autoevolution.
El Patron is the shop's final build for 2023. By Thunderbike's own admission, it's a bike meant to be the boss of all the Chicanos ever made in its workshops – and there's plenty of those to go around, which is a bit surprising, given how these things are meant to celebrate the Mexican way of life all the way over in Europe.
The bike was originally a Heritage Classic, but that essence is now lost underneath the impressive and in-your-face covering of custom work.
The main theme of the build was something Thunderbike calls gold rush. That's visible in the way the shiny yellowish color was used all over the place: it can be found on the headlight surround, ignition and air filter covers, screws, and even on the running boards.
Nowhere is gold as present though as on the front wheel. An in-house made design from a series called Lowrider, the wheel is a massive 23 inches in diameter, all of it drowned in gold so shiny that it borderlines bling-bling.
Pulled over almost half of it is a massive fender in the purest Chicano style, matching in design the one at the opposite end, which, together with the hard bags, almost completely hides the rear wheel from view. The fenders, together with most of the bike's bodywork, are wrapped in a color called Bordeaux, highlighted here and there by black flames and gold accents.
On the left side of the bike the unmodified 114 engine features two very long exhaust pipes that end in fishtails, another defining trait of this custom motorcycle style. Above it sits a custom seat in leather.
To get the proper stance to go with the impressive looks, the Heritage was propped on an air suspension system, and a modified swingarm was fitted at the rear.
The boss of all Thunderbike Chicanos may look extremely expensive, but it's really not. On top of the base bike's price, and the unknown cost for man hours and paint job, the extra parts fitted add only 10,300 euros, which is roughly $11,400 at today's exchange rates.
So, you could argue Chicanos are the bosses of custom motorcycles. But even they need to have their own boss, and that may very well be this here build. Or, at least, it's the boss of all Thunderbike-made Chicanos.
Thunderbike is a Germany-based custom crew we're all too familiar with. These guys have literally hundreds of custom projects in their portfolio, many of them already featured here on autoevolution.
El Patron is the shop's final build for 2023. By Thunderbike's own admission, it's a bike meant to be the boss of all the Chicanos ever made in its workshops – and there's plenty of those to go around, which is a bit surprising, given how these things are meant to celebrate the Mexican way of life all the way over in Europe.
The bike was originally a Heritage Classic, but that essence is now lost underneath the impressive and in-your-face covering of custom work.
The main theme of the build was something Thunderbike calls gold rush. That's visible in the way the shiny yellowish color was used all over the place: it can be found on the headlight surround, ignition and air filter covers, screws, and even on the running boards.
Nowhere is gold as present though as on the front wheel. An in-house made design from a series called Lowrider, the wheel is a massive 23 inches in diameter, all of it drowned in gold so shiny that it borderlines bling-bling.
Pulled over almost half of it is a massive fender in the purest Chicano style, matching in design the one at the opposite end, which, together with the hard bags, almost completely hides the rear wheel from view. The fenders, together with most of the bike's bodywork, are wrapped in a color called Bordeaux, highlighted here and there by black flames and gold accents.
On the left side of the bike the unmodified 114 engine features two very long exhaust pipes that end in fishtails, another defining trait of this custom motorcycle style. Above it sits a custom seat in leather.
To get the proper stance to go with the impressive looks, the Heritage was propped on an air suspension system, and a modified swingarm was fitted at the rear.
The boss of all Thunderbike Chicanos may look extremely expensive, but it's really not. On top of the base bike's price, and the unknown cost for man hours and paint job, the extra parts fitted add only 10,300 euros, which is roughly $11,400 at today's exchange rates.
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