Phil Brinkley's Dragon Bike

Name: Phil Brinkley
Age: 64
Home: Rose Hill, Kansas
Occupation: Metal Artist

I started riding when I was 13. I stopped at age 22 after being broadsided in a parking lot. In 2001, at 48 years of age, I bought a Yamaha V-Star and began riding again. I eventually decided to customize my new bike. I was going to do a killer paint job, add chrome, and lower it, but figured it would look like every other custom. So instead I made a dragon bike. I stripped the windshield, deflectors and saddlebags and banged dragon scales for it out of sheet metal. I weighed everything I took off and everything I bolted on. It's only 33 pounds heavier than when I started. Heck, I gain more than that with my wife's good cooking during a long Kansas winter! I'm still trying to fit folding dragon wings without the aerodynamic effects causing mayhem. My next step is to add a sidecar.