One-Man Show

One-Man Show

THE BIKES THAT BERG BUILT

DENNY BERG WASN'T EXACTLY BORN TO CUSTOMIZE, BUT IT DIDN'T TAKE HIM long. “When I was 5, I took the fenders off my first tricycle and painted it red. I thought it looked pretty cool, but, boy, was Dad pissed,” laughs Berg. In 1970, at age 17, Berg built his first chopper, a Honda CB450—“long front end, all that stuff,” he remembers. In the years since, hundreds of motorcycles have passed under Berg’s wrenches, everything from choppers to cafebikes, classic restorations to MXers. “I don't want to be characterized as only a chopper builder,” he says, “To me, a motorcycle is a motorcycle.”

Born in South Dakota, Berg was lured West by the Southern California custom scene in 1971, built a few Harley and Triumph chops, then ran smack dab into the flourishing cafe-racer movement. “I saw my First Rocker bike, and that was it. It bit me hard; that’s all I did from 1972 to ’76,” Berg says.

After a stint back in Sioux Falls, Berg went into partnership at a California restoration/project-bike shop called Time Machine Motorcycle Works. Several memorable machines resulted (including several for Jay Leno and the Editor’s flamed Gold Star custom), but the shop couldn’t withstand the California recession, and closed doors in 1991. Berg landed at White Bros., where he was responsible for building a series of Harley customs with 1950s styling touches and blazing surfer-punk paint jobs.

These days, he operates his own one-man shop, the rechristened Time Machine (7522 Slater Ave. #105, Huntington Beach, CA 92647; 714/8417788). Besides working on Cobra bikes, doing full-on restorations and running an SR500 mail-order business, he always has a custom or two in progress. “I like to put my personality into a bike,” Berg says. “Besides, I can never leave anything alone.” □