Hard Rock Casino
Tour Bike

Some builds become landmarks. The Hard Rock Casino Tour Bike is one of them — and the story behind it is one of the most significant chapters in the Creative Cycles history.

The Competition

This was not a show entry. This was a year-long national build-off — four builders, four bikes, multiple stops across the United States. Hard Rock Casino selected four custom motorcycle builders and gave each one a commission: build a motorcycle worthy of the Hard Rock brand. The bikes would tour the country together, displayed at Hard Rock venues from coast to coast, judged by the public and industry insiders at every stop.

The four builders selected for this event were among the most respected names in the custom motorcycle world:

• Roland Sands — one of the most recognized custom builders in the country, former AMA Pro road racer turned industry icon
• Johnny "Chop" Vasko — renowned custom builder with a national following
• Jesse Rooke — award-winning builder with a reputation for pushing design boundaries
• Doug Keim — Creative Cycles, Umatilla, Florida

The Tour

For the better part of a year, the four bikes traveled together across the United States, representing Hard Rock Casino at venues and events nationwide. Each stop brought new eyes, new scrutiny, and new opportunities for the bikes — and their builders — to be evaluated side by side.

Doug built his bike the same way he builds every bike: with a clear vision, no shortcuts, and a standard of craftsmanship that holds up under any level of inspection.

The Finale

At the end of the tour, all four builders and all four bikes were brought to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida for the gala finale event. The winner would be named the best builder of the competition.

Doug Keim won.

The Result

In a field that included Roland Sands, Johnny "Chop" Vasko, and Jesse Rooke — builders with national reputations and industry recognition — the winning motorcycle came from a shop in Umatilla, Florida. Doug Keim beat some of the best custom builders in the country, on a national stage, in front of an audience that had followed the tour from the beginning.

The Build

The foundation is a prototype DKCC Tetanus frame — designed and built by Doug Keim Creative Cycles in collaboration with Russ Bailey of Full Bore Designs, one of a kind. The engine is a show-polished S&S 124-inch beast, backed by a Baker 6-speed transmission and a very sweet DKCC/RMD billet primary. The exhaust is a Creative Cycles BMF pipe — purpose-built for this machine. Wheels are from Performance Machine, and the rear brake is a transmission output-mounted prototype unit developed by Doug Keim Creative Cycles in collaboration with Bob Slack of ProFab — another piece that exists nowhere else.

Every panel of sheet metal on this bike was hand-formed. That massively sculpted intake scoop — the one that stops people in their tracks — is hand-made, and it is exactly as aggressive as it looks. Hardware is hidden. Wiring is hidden. Hoses are hidden. The details you never see are just as considered as the ones you do, because that's how a Doug Keim Creative Cycles machine is built. Art and engineering, working together, with nothing left to chance.

The paint scheme carries the Hard Rock brand while still being unmistakably a Creative Cycles original. The chrome work, the bodywork, the proportions — all of it was executed to a standard that holds up whether you're looking at it from across a casino floor or from two feet away. It had to travel, be loaded and unloaded, displayed under every kind of light, and look exceptional every time it came off the trailer. It did.

The Hard Rock Casino Tour Bike is the most-photographed build in the Creative Cycles portfolio. That's not an accident. It's a reflection of how much there is to see — and how significant this machine is to the Creative Cycles story.