Fallen Angel, Rising Star
fallen angel, rising star
THOUGH PAUL YAFFE COMES ACROSS AS AN UNSELFISH MAN, HE TURNS DECIDEDLY GREEDY WHEN PURSUING BIKE-SHOW awards. So when he departed Phoenix for the 2000 Roadster Show, his trailer carried not one but two of his custom Harleys. And on the return trip, it carried not one but two awards: the World's Most Beautiful Motorcycle trophy for Prodigy, and the Promoter's Choice award for this custom, called "Fallen Angel."
Don't look for any explanation of that nickname in the bike's Dawne Holmes graphics. which involve a peeling-paint theme applied over bare metal; the nanie of the bike's owner is John Angel, and.. .well, you can figure it out from there.
Fallen Angel started out as an R&D project for Yaffe until Angel saw the work-in-progress and decided he just had to have it. The finished product is a treasure trove of custom ingenuity, but Yaffe is especially proud of what he calls the under-seat `~wrap," a one-piece, hand-formed metal shroud that covers all the oil lines and the top of the gearbox. About 225 hours of work are tied up in that piece alone, the majority of it by one of the most respected names in the fabrication business, metalworking maestro Don Maki.
Speaking of names, maybe they ought to save a little time and rename the Roadster Show's top motorcycle awards after Paul Yaffi~. He seems to take them all home anyway. -~Paul Dean
