After the last bike show I went too I think custom bike is a very loose term.  Did you know they are putting speakers into sport bike plastics now  .  I think the custom sportbike scean are all converts from the mini truck world.
There are some very nice cafe style bikes being built now, and with websites like bikeexif.com to get your work noticed it is easier now than ever to get your name out.  Not sure if the economy will ever allow for bike building to get back to the days of every town having multiple chopper shops building $60K+ bikes.

Quote from: Buck Naked on April 19, 2014, 09:26:26 AM
What about, say; a '96 900ss engine with a big bore kit in a 2000 M600 frame with an S2R front end with an aftermarket valve & spring cartridge with aftermarket wheels and a tail chop? The parts all basically bolt together without being made to work...would that be a custom bike? 😈

it's called 'shit i had lying around which is now a bike'

a 2000 m600 frame is pretty much a 93 - 99 m900 frame, and s2r forks are just the forks that went into most things post 200 or so, so really it'd be pretty hard to tell.

Quote from: brad black on April 19, 2014, 11:50:44 PM

it's called 'shit i had lying around which is now a bike'

When Ducati did that, it ended up being called a Monster 

Quote from: stopintime on April 20, 2014, 01:44:21 AM
When Ducati did that, it ended up being called a Monster 

Beat me to it, haha

Don't tail chops technically make our bikes "choppers"? 

Quote from: Buck Naked on April 19, 2014, 09:26:26 AM
What about, say; a '96 900ss engine with a big bore kit in a 2000 M600 frame with an S2R front end with an aftermarket valve & spring cartridge with aftermarket wheels and a tail chop? The parts all basically bolt together without being made to work...would that be a custom bike? 😈

Custom to me is the act of going beyond the marginalized standards set by stock manufacturing. But it's a grey area that's clear when you see it but it's perameters are out of focus.
If you take a stock bike, upgrade its performance, add really expensive wheels, brembo this and that, ohlins this and that, outsource the upholstery, and basically change every element with high end bolt on parts...is it custom?
If all you did was change the subframe a bit with some cut and weld and add a one off seat and remove all of the paint, is that custom?
To me it requires hard work in planning and execution. It can be clearly seen with no explanations.

Quote from: memper on April 20, 2014, 09:15:01 AM
Custom to me is the act of going beyond the marginalized standards set by stock manufacturing. But it's a grey area that's clear when you see it but it's perameters are out of focus.
If you take a stock bike, upgrade its performance, add really expensive wheels, brembo this and that, ohlins this and that, outsource the upholstery, and basically change every element with high end bolt on parts...is it custom?
If all you did was change the subframe a bit with some cut and weld and add a one off seat and remove all of the paint, is that custom?
To me it requires hard work in planning and execution. It can be clearly seen with no explanations.

Well said. Really though, we're all pretty much over thinking this. A bike is custom when it's how YOU want it. If the only thing you'd change about an OE Monster, given the choice to do anything, is a tail chop and lowered headlight.....that's a customized bike.

Example.
I have just been quoted $26K for this (and ~4 months ETA), which is very VERY tempting   
There is not a lot of "full custom", but for me, it does not matter. I am not a custom seeker for the pure sake of it, I look into custom as a way to get a style which I enjoy.

Quote from: Buck Naked on April 20, 2014, 10:01:24 AM
Well said. Really though, we're all pretty much over thinking this. A bike is custom when it's how YOU want it. If the only thing you'd change about an OE Monster, given the choice to do anything, is a tail chop and lowered headlight.....that's a customized bike.

Not over thinking...just taking consideration.
Said OE Monster, sure that might be custom by the definition Merriam Webster. But there's that weird grey area. Next to a Radical Ducati bike it falls way to one side near OEM.
I dunno....sorry for changing the subject. Back to pancakes.