CJ of Guilty Customs
Others might assume — from a casual glance at him — that he is some kind of rebel without a cause, concerned only with custom choppers, hot-rods, close “buzz hair cuts” and an ever-growing collection of tattoos, glasses and his trademark fedoras. But looks can be deceiving.
To Carl (Cj) Hanlon — former Bank of America executive turned Guilty Customs (http://www.GuiltyCustoms.com) owner — he’s just being himself. “I was ready to get out of banking and corporate jobs,” Hanlon said. “I wanted to go back to what I loved.” And what he loved was to ride and build motorcycles.
From the moment he straddled his first dirt bike as a 10-year-old in Goldsboro N.C., Carl fell in love with motorcycles. “My dad, while mechanical never had motorcycles around,” he said. “So, I was always taking other kids bikes out for rides and or having to fix them”. “It’s my form of release. Some play music, others read, I ride,”
In his youth, Cj spent endless hours honing his baseball and soccer skills, and riding bikes. “I got sidetracked from bikes back in the early 80’s” Cj said, “and I went into the corporate world.” What sidetracked him was what sidetracks many men: a woman and family. “I got married,” Carl said. “So, I put my hot-rods and motorcycles on hold for a while.”
The hair was short already, and the few tattoos he already had were small enough to hide. And he had replaced his motorcycles and hot-rods with a mini-van. He and his first wife, Sandy had their first child, Jenna, then quickly after that Lindsay and Mark. Life and differences saw Cj and Sandy go their separate ways but Cj never lost his passion for motorcycles.
“You’d be surprised at how many “white collar people” are into bikes,” says Hanlon. “It was something I just couldn’t get away from.” Or something he didn’t want to get away from. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy being a banking executive, it just wasn’t his dream.
So after the banks fifth re-organization in less than a year, Cj called it quits. Took the banks offer and moved to Florida and started to follow his dream again. “Before I moved to Orlando, I had started noticing a swing in the direction of the industry for more rider friendly and economically priced custom builds (even though the big ticket builds were getting the attention), so after building good relationships with two separate shops I approached both of them to merge, which we did. Thus the birth of Guilty Customs, which has continued to focus on rider friendly, minimalist styled and more economically priced custom motorcycles and parts. And Cj wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I think most of the guys that got into the business were in it for a quick buck. Thus the reason they aren’t around anymore, they’ve moved onto some other way to get their thrill.” But not Carl, to him, bikers are like a band of brothers.
Cj isn’t picky about what kind of motorcycle the shop builds either, whether they are Harleys, Triumphs, BSA or other metric’s, he enjoys the process of building bikes from scratch. “What we really get excited about is custom ground up bike builds” he said. When Cj refers to “we” he means the guys who make up the “Guilty Gang” that he depends on to make his vision become reality. Jimmy Womach, Mike Drum, Brian Bordeaux and Steve O’Brien.
Due to shows like “Biker Build-Off”, “American Thunder” “Orange County Choppers” and others being in the mainstream television market, custom-made motorcycles have been more accepted.
“It really brought the world of choppers into the mainstream,”
In the five years since he started Guilty Customs, Cj has created numerous works of art from the ground up — all choppers. From “Lucille” which resides with Daryn Colledge of the Green Bay Packers to his latest creation “Errant 2” for special ops solider Ash Spurlin, one thing remains the same. The passions for giving people a custom motorcycle that is uniquely theirs, affordable and dependable.
From banker to bike shop owner, Cj admits he’s learned a lot.
“I’ve taken my lumps, and it’s taken a while to build a business like this in such a niche market,” he said. “But when your providing a product or building parts that people want, at a price they can afford AND giving excellent service, people will find you.”
Although Cj still counts amongst his friends’ bankers, white-collar executives, lawyers and doctors, gone are the days of suit and ties, presentations, power lunches and stress. Carl Hanlon is living his dream. “This is me,” he said, “being me.”
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
