Motorcycles and tattoos have gotten along quite well together eversince bikes started to roam the roads of the world, but things were clear as daylight: tattoos were on the guys riding the bikes. However, post-modernity seems to have blurred the line between these worlds so it’s time to introduce the Recidivist, the first bike with real skin tattoos and the winner of the Best Paint/ Airbrush in Show at the Custombike Show in Bad Salzuflen, Germany earlier in December, 2014. Yes, the same show where Akrapovic Full Moon debuted.
The title of the prize may sound funny considering that the Recidivist is not actually painted or airbrushed. Still, in terms of "aesthetical improvements through graphic decoration", this custom Harley beats everything hands down.
A custom Softail built by Game Over Cycles and adorned Cheyenne Professional Tattoo Equipment
The Cheyenne Recidivist is a custom one-off build from the Polish workshop Game Over Cycles (GOC) and is based on a Harley-Davidson Softail model. Still almost nothing remains from the original Milwaukee cruiser, except the Twin Cam 96 engine and a small part of the frame.
Everything else has been manufactured in house and covered, when possible in light tan cow hide mimicking the color of human skin. The retro design of the machine is an even more glorious, as the builders managed to integrate elements specific to the tattoo world and maintain their full functionality. The coil tattoo machine dampers of the springer fork and the custom exhaust which looks like a tattoo machine in action are only two of the most obvious such elements.
Game Over Cycles also went the extra mile into the retro territory, with a suicide shifter, reverse brake and clutch levers, ample floorboards, a thin leather solo seat, wire spoked rims with tattooed leather instead of the classic white walls.
Polish tattoo artists Tomasz Lech and Krzysztof Krolak have spent around 250 hours inking the bike, and this may be the longest tattoo session in the world, even though we bet the Guinness Book of records was the last thing on their mind.
To some, the resemblance of the cow hide with human skin may be a tad too much, but once you shake this impression off, the Cheyenne Recidivist shines in all its badass glory.
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