Rick Fairless’s Strider Rider Custom

Rick Fairless’s far out, tie-dyed sensibilities belie his early adopter attitude. See, there’s nothing retro about Rick’s awareness of cool opportunities. That’s why the Flying Piston Builders Breakfast organizers (Jeff Najar and Marilyn Stemp) were delighted but not surprised that Rick stepped up before anyone else to customize a Strider balance bike to be unveiled at the 4th annual Sturgis Buffalo Chip breakfast event.

Rick admits he has, “$5,000 in a $100 bicycle, but some kid is gonna have one heck of a cool custom bike.” No, there’s no harnessing the Fairless enthusiasm when he gets into a project.

Here’s how the stock Strider was transformed in the Strokers Dallas workshop:
“We put on some new spoke wheels twice the size of the stock wheels. To compensate for the taller wheels, we stretched the read end 4in. We built some RF Custom Z bars and added a cool springer front end. We also mounted some custom fenders and a custom seat. Then we finished her off with a Rick Fairless signature psychedelic/tie-dye paint job.”

Watch for the 7 Strider Rider Customs to be displayed at motorcycle events and Strider races through next June. They’ll be auction off before the 2019 class is unveiled at the Flying Piston Builder Breakfast at the Buffalo Chip CrossRoads during the 79th annual Sturgis Rally.