Atom Bomb Motorcycles, Located in historic Richmond, Virginia, specializes in the construction of fully custom vintage British motorcycles built from discarded, damaged and forgotten Triumph and BSA relics. Atom Bomb has a wide range of in house custom capability including frame design, modification and fabrication; handmade alloy fuel tanks; in house paint and powder coating; and much more.
Atom Bomb Custom Motorcycles was founded in early 2008 by Clay Rathburn and his wife Erin. The son of a hot rodder, Clay grew up with a torch in his hand. After time spent as an automotive technician and a successful career as a race car fabricator and engine builder, Clay turned his professional attention to hot rods. His bare metal 1934 Ford Pickup was a multiple award winner at the 2007 Detroit Autorama; winning Best Nostalgic Pickup and the Overhaulin’ award from Chip Foose and Chris Jacobs. With it’s hand fabricated frame, suspension, bed, and a radical chop all in bare metal for the world to see, the ’34 provided Clay ample opportunity to take his fabrication and metal shaping skills to a new level. As the pickup project was winding down in late 2007, Clay rediscovered his childhood love of motorcycles and began building the black BSA. Clay’s style, mixing the elegance of simplicity and an obsessive attention to detail, proved well suited to motorcycles. The success of the Black Bike led to several other commissioned builds, and Atom Bomb was born.
Atom Bomb Motorcycles welcomes commissioned builds using your motorcycle or one from our extensive inventory of donor bikes. Please browse our pages to learn a bit about us, our unique style, and the way we do things. If you’re ready to commission a motorcycle of your own, you can surely knock them via telephone or email, or visit them physically if you can.
In addition to award winning customs, Atom Bomb also has a complete service and repair department dedicated not only to keeping your motorcycle on the road but improving it as well. From oil changes and valve adjustments to performance suspension tuning Atom Bomb can handle all of your service needs. “Although we specialize in British motorcycles new and old, our service department is more than happy to service your vintage and modern Japanese motorcycle as well.”
Atom Bomb has some exciting and different projects currently in the workshop. From street trackers to dirt bikes to rigid customs, there’s a little bit of everything going on right now! Atom Bomb creates one of a kind custom vintage motorcycles. Each Atom Bomb motorcycle is individually constructed, blending our hand crafted components with vintage street, flat track and motorcross parts. The finished product is a show quality bike meant for the streets, with a style and attitude that is unmistakably Atom Bomb.
They also now offer service and repair on your British motorcycle. With many years of experience and first rate parts access, keep you running like a top without breaking the bank!
Atom Bomb does not build bolt together “customs” from off the shelf parts. Each of our bikes is a labor of love, and receives 100% of our careful attention to detail from design to assembly. Atom Bomb motorcycles are built using as many original or period parts as possible. We pride ourselves on going the extra mile, be it reshaping a triple clamp with a file or spending two days polishing an exhaust system. Atom Bomb engines are all rebuilt in house using decades of racing and high performance mechanical experience. We also pride ourselves on building all of our oil tanks and many of our fuel tanks and fenders right here in our shop. Likewise, Atom Bomb makes ALL of our own frames and rigid rear sections on the premises. This allows us to configure each frame to our specific requirements, rather than using off the shelf parts with off the shelf dimensions. In fact, the only thing we don’t do on premises is bore cylinders and cover seats. While doing it all ourselves is not the best way to get rich, it IS the best way to ensure that we’re building the best bikes we can, every time.
Contact
By Telephone: 804.356.5316
Shipping and shop address:
Atom Bomb Custom Motorcycles
1310 Altamont Ave.
Richmond, VA 23230
Service hours are 10AM-6PM Tuesday through Saturday. Early and late pickup/drop off are no problem, just ask!
Custom shop visits by appointment only please.
Photo and Info : Atom Bomb Custom Motorcycles