Joe Palermo and “AIRHEAD”
First off, Joe’s not a professional builder in the normal definition of full-time professional builders. He has a real job that allows him to spend time, a of a lot of time, truly fabricating custom motorcycles piece-by-piece-by piece in his off-work hours at his shop, World Class Customs is in Edgewater, Florida, over by Daytona.
You don’t have to be a BMW freak or even like anything about the Bavarian boxer, but you have to appreciate what is going on there.
If you’ve ever looked at an old air-cooled Beemer, there’s not much in common except the most basic flat-twin architecture. From the potentially- blinding polishing (done by Henry Canup, the best polisher in the universe!) some of the most “textured” raw case, barrel, and head castings you’ll ever see by Perfect Polishing Inc. in Daytona Beach to extreme external modifications including the final drive that would make any purist choke.
Joe Gimpel Jr. at Gimpel Development in Daytona Beach was called on for his vintage BMW expertise that could fill an article on its own. Instead of some Bing carbs mounted just aft of the cylinder head on stock bike, Joe added a set of voluptuously-curved tubing manifolds with a set of Mikunis extending forward and above the cylinders with slightly filtered one-off velocity stacks mimicking the finned header lock ring. The 2-into 2 exhaust system has the left pipe snaking around the back of the engine before joining the right side in a set of always lovely reverse cone megaphones. .
There’s a whole lot more too like the little bit of development work changing the legendary BMW driveshaft final drive for a chain final drive. Think about that for a minute or two!
Joe whipped up a one-off, ever-curving frame out of stainless steel, not the easiest thing to work with. It’s more like a supermodel skeleton-like than BWM heavy and the swingarm and suspension the pivot point sits about as low as you can go then the twin tube swingarm curves up to meet the axle. A vertically-mounted half-leaf spring sits under the seat and reaches down to the cross member of the swingarm to provide suspension action. How it sits, is how it sits without any silly sitting on the ground shenanigans or air shocks…who knows!
Handling the action up front is another leaf-spring item, but with a Joe Palermo twist. Instead of the usual bulky leaf spring that dominates a fork, Joe’s come up with a very thin set of leafs. He aggressively-curved tube stanchions look lovely, yet functional. It’s just a graceful re-design of a classic Indian style without looking like a truck!
. Everywhere you look, carbon fibre from the tank that reminds me of a fish swimming to the rear fender to the headlight bucket and even the exhaust heat shield… The disc wheels, I’m guessing they are carbon fibre discs covering some sort of unspeakably traditional wheel right up past the rim’s edge. Or, does Joe know something about smooth, carbon disc wheels I’ve never heard of?
Joe and Wes Fuquay of B&D Paint and Body Shop in Edgewater, Florida painted the bike. Any custom this outside the box doesn’t need the tiniest bit of glam other than the vintage Indy, Bonneville, and the So-Cal Speed Shop decals discretely placed on the carbon panel just above the one-of-a-kind kickstand.
Enjoy…
Joe is making custom motorcycles that have a twist and then maybe one more added twist just to mess with us mere mortals. You have to love a guy who builds bikes that make your heart go all a flutter and scrambles your brain at the same time. Joe won the Motorcycle Expo and Bike Builder Invitational held at Quaker Steak & Lube in Clearwater, Florida, Air Head was judged by the IMBBA (International Master Bike Builders Association) as Grand Champion with a nice Big check and Super Bowl-style ring as his reward for all those nights spent slaving in his garage. That’s nice and all, but I think Joe gets his own accolades internally just looking at what a piece of BMW Airhead art he created.
Is Joe Palermo a RAT BASTARD….You Betcha!
