Gasolina Custom Shovel “Sub Zero”
You can start the build of a custom motorcycle in many different ways; owning a bike that’s just begging to be modified, scoring a wreck and restoring it to your own style or sitting down with pen and paper to design like you’re Willie G. Carl Cerra started this build with just a rear tire and an idea.
Carl is the lead designer at Gasolina in Melbourne Australia and as he describes it “I bought the Hoosier tire first and said I wanted to build a bike around it just because I like the Hoosier font!” With a rear tire picked out Carl needed a frame, a motor, trans, bars, grips… you get the idea. With a love for all things Shinya Kimura, “He is the master of proportion and can make something odd look awesome”, Carl enegotiated with Zero Engineering to purchase one of their frames. With the Zero frame on the stand, the Japanese theme just made sense and the name “Sub Zero” was chosen.
Using an S&S Shovelhead engine to fill out the frame the classic Baker 6 speed with kick start gives the build some real throwback nostalgia. Carl has a philosophy “Why hide it if you can showcase it?” and nothing puts things on show like an open primary ready to shred your jeans if your boot comes off the peg.
The bike features piano pedal footrests, hand turned wooden hand grips and matching wooden box that houses the relays. Wood on a motorcycle is a huge risk, often looking out of place or stuck on randomly, but Carl’s pulls off the look and the wood parts fit the style perfectly. inverted levers with a Kawasaki master cylinder control the leading brake.
Metal work is no less impressive; the tank was narrowed and tunneled. The paint process follows Carl’s very deliberate steps. “The rising sun was masked up then sand blasted. A few coats of candy red fading to orange then a clear coat. This exposes the grinding disk finish on the metal.” Completing the metal work is a custom fabricated exhaust in mild steel with exposed welds.
That big Hoosier drag tire mounted on a 15” rim laced to a Harley hub gives the bike that imposing brute if a look, while a 21” rim takes care of the front end. The metal spun rear fender and strut setup are all Gasolina, finished with the YOROSHIKU graphics. Carl says this is “an old school expression with a double meaning that Japanese bikers wrote on their jackets. You might want to look it up ;)”. Six months, help from friends, and lot’s of elbow grease Sub Zero is a bike like no other. Not bad for a bike that started with only a Hoosier tire.
