MotoGP
There’s something special going on in the upstate New York mountains. Find out more here.
For the latest instalment of Custom Corner, RedBull.com ventured into upstate New York and the Hudson Valley, to speak to Nick Cologero.
Nick’s a firefighter by day who started Catskill Mountain Customs around 18 months ago. His first official CMC build was recently completed, and the CB350 Upstate Scrambler (see photos below) is the kind of machine that makes you want to jump on and disappear into the mountains!
The can-do attitude of Nick, his self-taught journey with motorcycles and the business he’s building with CMC really captured our imagination, so here’s the lowdown on an exciting new American custom workshop that’s going from strength to strength.
The beginnings
"I’ve always really been into motorcycles, ever since I was a little kid I’ve been fascinated with anything with wheels. I didn’t really have a motorcycle family, my parents were dead-set against it.
"So when I finally turned 18 I went to a Yamaha dealership and signed my life away on credit and bought a brand new Yamaha R6! I was just hooked."
Getting into building
"I bought that Yamaha when I was 18, rode it like crazy, but it was a modern bike and I didn’t really have to work on it. Then one of my best friends was storing it for me for the winter, and the bike was stolen.
"So I ended up buying this old Honda CBRF4 600, I can’t remember what I paid for it, realistically the guy should’ve paid me to take it! I got it home, found the frame was bent so I found a new frame on eBay and decided to rebuild it myself. My buddy let me do it in his garage, and in the end it was back up and running.
My philosophy that governs whatever I’m working on is I just want it to be quality.
"That’s where I really learned that it’s possible to build a motorcycle and that’s where I learned to work on carburettors.
"I got really big into stunt riding for a little while! That’s what really got me into building bikes. Then I grew up a bit and I was done with the stunt riding thing and looking for something else, and the café racer movement was really picking up around here so I decided to try and build one of those, and I bought a 1972 Honda 360. I built my first café racer out of that, and loved it and have just kept going from there."
The birth of Catskill Mountain Customs
"My full time job is as a firefighter and EMT in the city of Kingston, which is in upstate New York. I work on a shift basis – 24 hours on and then off for three days, so it gives me a lot of time to pursue something like this.
I was building bikes as a hobby, but then I started CMC officially a year-and-a-half ago, where I started building motorcycles and doing different kinds of metal fabrication.
"I didn’t really expect there to be a huge demand for motorcycles but that’s become all I’m doing ever since I opened.
"I have been pretty lucky to have people enquiring about bikes."
Check out images of the Honda CB 750 that was the catalyst for starting up Catskill Mountain Customs:
The builds
"The first complete build under the CMC brand is the CB350, that was recently featured on BIKEEXIF. Before that I was doing lots of different things, like sub-frames, custom parts, but this was the first complete bike.
"I have a Yamaha XS650 that I started right when CMC started, it doesn’t have an owner yet, it’s not a pre-ordered bike. So I’m working on that and it’s going to be a more involved build than the CB350. I’ve taken the frame down to nothing, I’ve turned it mono-shock on the rear, I changed up the design made a cradle design where the swingarm pivot and the backbone of the frame and the engine kind of tie in in a cradle.
"So that’s going to be the next one, and I’m looking to get that wrapped up in the next few months.
"It’s going to get handmade aluminium bodywork, so that’s the main plan and then hopefully when that’s all done somebody will want to buy it!"
Build philosophy
"My philosophy that governs whatever I’m working on is I just want it to be quality. I am constantly working on improving my skill set and no matter the type of bike I’m building and whatever part I am working on, I just really want it to be done well.
I’m really inspired by the area I live in, we have really great winding back mountain roads and we also have one of the oldest cities in America.
"I look at it like this: the builders that I look up to, if they were to come and look at my bike and take it apart, I would want them to think 'this was done well'. That’s my philosophy as far as the work goes.
"For the design, I’m really inspired by the area I live in, we have really great winding back mountain roads and we also have one of the oldest cities in America so I get inspired by what I would want to be riding here.
"Sometimes I really just want something small and nimble for the tight streets and the city, and other times I want a bike to hop on and ride around these back roads."
The future
"It’s kind of a tough plan with the business right now because my wife is pregnant with our first child, she’s due at the beginning of October, so I’m hoping to have the XS650 done by around that time.
"I think my plan for next year is to build something very high end, very detailed, very involved. I think that’ll take up a lot of my time for next year!
"I’ve been getting a lot of demand for other builds as well, so I’m trying to plot the course of the business."
