“My love affair with bike-building began with a little Z50 when I was eight – the bikes may be bigger now, but I’m the same person with the same dreams I had back then.” In order to overcome the loneliness and isolation of prison George had little choice but to focus and fuel his imagination of building his dream bike as soon as he walked through the gates of freedom. With the savings his mother had secretly put aside for her son’s dream The Blade became a reality and was introduced at Auto Salon in 2006. The bike, which he describes as “a monster – a living thing all of its own,” represented all that he had been through in the preceding years – green for the colour of the clothes he wore during his four-year stint behind bars, the sharp-angled metalwork for the near-fatal knife attack he suffered there, and the hum of the motor – “the tune of freedom” - for his determination to turn his life around when he was released. “The Blade is a period of my life – the time I spent in gaol,” he says. “I had a dream to build this bike when I was in there, it’s what kept me going, and now it’s a reality. All the bikes I build are part of me and my story.” The Blade wowed chopper builders and appreciators of fine craftsmanship, so it was little surprise when it went on to win a fistful of awards, including Best Custom Chopper, Best Custom American Paint and Best American Airbrush. It also landed countless magazine covers and earned George his moniker ‘Snakecharmer,’ after one magazine shot him alongside his green demon, draped in pythons. The name stuck, and Snakecharmer’s reputation grew.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 00:21:52 +0000
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