The New School: Guys to Watch 2016 - Robbie Lane/Justin McGinnis

The New School: Guys to Watch 2016

Profiling 9 Builders Who Are Taking Trends to the Next Level

We’re not against big-wheeled baggers or the huge wave of popularity they’ve been surfing over the past several years. Like the long chopper craze of the ’70s and the fat-back-tire choppers of the early 2000s, there’ll always be riders who love the large front wheels. The public eye will move elsewhere, just as it did for long forks and 300mm rubber, however, and we’re already seeing custom crafters shifting focus away from cranking out big wheelers 24/7. We talked to nine of them to see what they’re up to and get a glimpse of where the bagger world is heading.

Robbie Lane/Justin McGinnis

Shop: Alloy Art

Website: alloyart.com

How long building bikes: Designing and manufacturing parts since 1999

Specialty: Making it all blend and go together

Signature style: Functional performance with a less-is-more clean style

Greatest strength as a builder: Personally, design. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of some amazing build teams through the years: Todd Silicato, Brandon Holstein, Dennis Sanchez, Justin McGinnis.

What do you think about the big-wheel bagger trend and what are you doing that’s different? Why? I’m not against them but never got into that style.

What makes your baggers stand out from others? Our inverted Marzocchi front ends are super rare to us. We’ve been doing those since 2009.

Bagger plans for the future? Honestly, stay the course and just come up with more original, cleaner, better upgrades for the new baggers.

What’s the next big thing in custom baggers? Who knows? What’s big to some is not big to all. I will say, I think they will continue to stay strong and very relevant.

Like most about building bikes? Working with super-talented innovative people. The whole creative process is amazing to me.

Personal bike of choice? FXR