The first thing that gets you is the shine. The airbrushed candy blue paint pops against the sparkle of the silver flake, glittering like shrapnel blasting from the blacked out engine and frame below.
The lines of Danny Yannone’s paint job sweep back over the fenders and gas tank like passing wind. Standing still, the 2017 Triumph Bonneville Bobber feels fast. The endless lines, quilt-like shells and subtle flames of the bright paint job make it feel more 1977 than 2017.
The paint job helped catapult Tampa Triumph to the forefront of Triumph’s Iron Moto Challenge, a national competition highlighting dealer builds using bolt-on accessories, and it was all done in Plant City.
The Iron Moto Challenge takes place every year during Chicago’s weekend-long Motoblot motorcycle rally. Each year, Triumph dealers from across the country compete at the rally for the most eye-catching and functional builds they can create using aftermarket parts. The dealers have a maximum of five hours to bring their creations to life.
“Everyone else had stock paint with bolt-on accessories,” Yannone said. “We were the only ones with custom tins. It set us apart and got a lot of attention.”
Yannone, who owns the custom paint company 53 Grafix, said the custom painted “tins,” a motorcycle’s fenders and gas tank, are a perfect match for the “factory custom” feel Triumph Motorcycles aimed for when designing their new line of retro-inspired Bonneville’s.
Triumph’s factory bobbers, new for the 2017 model year, harken back to the early generations of custom motorcycling when functionality and originality where key. The bobbers of
the ‘50s came to prominence when the post-war generation began stripping what were seen as unnecessary features from stock motorcycles, many of them post-war surplus models. Anything non-essential to a bike going forward as fast as possible was removed or modified. Fenders were among the first items to get removed or chopped and bobbed.
The simplicity of bobbers eventually led to the more aggressive chopping of the ‘60s and ‘70s where extended front ends, limited suspension and bright candy colors paired with shining metal flakes became the norm. It’s there where Yannone, 32, said he feels most at home and part of what attracted him to working with the bobbers.
“Young body, old soul,” Justin Rocky said. “That’s what he reminds me of.”
Rocky is a service advisor for Fun Bike Center Motorsports in Lakeland, a sister dealership to Tampa Triumph. Rocky said he first noticed Yannone’s work at the insistence of customers.
“They showed me some picture of their bikes, then I jumped on his Instagram,” Rocky said. “Once I saw the stuff on his Instagram I was like, wow this guy is really talented.”
From there, Rocky said, he started using Yannone for paint on repair work in the shop. That led to the owner’s allowing him to do a few custom paint jobs for bikes on the showroom floor. His first two Triumphs sold quickly, Rocky said. When the Tampa shop opened, he began doing work for them as well.
Rocky said Yannone stood out to him because of his attention to detail and old-school sensibilities.
“Still having an artist that can hand pinstripe is rare,” Rocky said. “Danny still does it by
hand. To me that’s what really got it. Just the details that he puts in. If you weren’t paying attention you’d miss it, but you hit the right bit of light and you catch everything. He’s humble about it, too. You wouldn’t even know he could do what he does.”
The pride Yannone takes in his work is evident in the care he puts into each project and the recognition he’s receiving. Tampa Triumph brought a few bikes painted by Yannone to Motoblot, garnering attention form motorcycle magazines and the Triumph corporate. He also has projects in the works for major players in the custom motorcycle world like Bill Dodge’s Bling’s Cycles. Many of Bling’s bike make their way to the covers of leading motorcycle rags like Cycle Source and Hot Bike. Yannone’s coming flake-bombed candy red chopper is nearly guaranteed a spread.
Even with a career on the rise, Yannone is quick to credit the people who helped him get there before taking it for himself. He gives Rocky credit for being persistent enough with the owners at Fun Bike and Tampa Triumph to give him a shot.
Yannone, an Orange County, N.Y., native got his start painting helmets for dirt car and racers and motocross riders in Middletown, N.Y., where he himself rode. His number was 53 and the inspiration for his company’s name.
From there, he began to study under Justin Barnes, a world-class painter who rose to prominence as the go-to painter for Orange County Choppers of the Discovery Channel show American Chopper. Yannone even bought much of his equipment from Barnes. Keeping Barnes’ legacy alive is still an inspiration that keeps him going, Yannone said.
“To carry that on a little bit, that means a lot to me,” He said. “he took lot of time out of his life to help me with more than just painting. He’s my best friend. I think there’s some sense that if I didn’t do this, I wasn’t holding up my end of the deal.”
He even credits Jason Hallman, owner of Plant City’s Cycle Stop for helping give him a space to work in after losing his own Lakeland-based shop two years ago.
With nearly 15 years of painting experience under his belt, the road hasn’t always been easy, Yannone said. The custom motorcycle world is a luxury industry where work is never guaranteed. While some days, he said, he’s left scratching his head over where the work might come from next, he knows his pursuits are guided by passion and the love for seeing the look on someone’s face once he’s done with a project.
“If I didn’t do this, I’d probably go crazy,” Yannone said. “The passion and the art far outweigh the money.”
Voting is currently open for the 2017 Iron Moto Challenge at triumph motorcycles.com.