Fast-paced passion

David "Dino" Kesler has found his perfect job. He can wear torn jeans and a T-shirt every day and keep his hair long. He works with his friends. He has a dog named Audrey, who roams his office.

Kesler owns a motorcycle shop in Dauphin, known both as Stoney Creek Cycles and Sinister Custom Cycles. He has been in motorcycle maintenance his whole career and has been building motorcycles from scratch for about 15 years.

"This is a passion," Kesler said. "It has a lot to do with integrity as well. We owe it to our customers to stay."

This spring, Kesler kicked it up a notch. In March, the federal government certified Kesler to assign vehicle identification numbers to the vehicles he makes. He has trademarked his company's name, Sinister Custom Cycles. He has five models so far, which are listed in Kelly Blue Book. That gives him a stamp of legitimacy to customers and insurance companies, he said.

"This helps us close the deals," he said. He has been showing the models at trade shows and on his Web site. He sells about 12 custom bikes a year.

Kesler started thinking about trademarking his product about a year and a half ago. He did it pretty much by the book. The first step was to find a name.

"Stoney Creek Cycles has more of a hometown-sounding name," Kesler said. "With Sinister Custom Cycles, we wanted to convey that our bikes aren't cookie-cutter. There's something evil beneath its skin."

Plus, a new name with the same initials allowed Kesler to keep his logo - which, decorated with gaping skeletal jaws and teeth, is appropriate.

Once he came up with an idea for a name, Kesler put aside his dislike of computers and searched the Internet to make sure no one else was using Sinister Custom Cycles.

Then, he hired a lawyer to search more thoroughly.

"An online search like Google or Yahoo! is a good place to start, but it's just that: a start," said Charles Hooker, an intellectual property lawyer with Harrisburg law firm Hooker and Habib. A more indepth search, he said, usually requires a professional search by a law firm, costing about $1,000. But that search can head off a future lawsuit.

"You don't want to be told halfway through a year that you have to throw it all away because you're using someone else's name," he said. "It's cheaper to do the work up front."

When neither Kesler nor his attorney found another Sinister Custom Cycles, Kesler started the lengthy application process. First, he applied for a World Manufacturers Identifier from the Society of Automotive Engineers.

"They were the biggest help to getting it finished," Kesler said. His contact there gave him advice for the most complicated application of all: the application to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That registration would give him the power to assign VINs to the motorcycles he makes.

Vince DiLeonardi reviews applications for certification with NHTSA in Washington, D.C. Officially, anyone who wants to build and sell a bike must be registered as a bike manufacturer at the federal and state levels, he said. Someone can build a bike for themselves and get a VIN at the state level, but the number will reflect that it was homebuilt.

"If he's certified, the bike is not titled as 'specially constructed,"' DiLeonardi said. "So now, he's considered on a different playing field. It just lets people know he's done what the statutes require."

Kesler tweaked his bikes to meet NHTSA lighting and exhaust requirements. He set the prices: $25,000 to $40,000. He christened the bikes War Pig and the Goddess. He named the rear suspension systems "Hardass" and "Candyass," because Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Inc. has trademarked "Hardtail" and "Softail," terms commonly used in the industry.

Then came the merchandising. Brochures hang on Kesler's wall. He also made T-shirts and put up a Web site at www.sinistercustomcycles.com. The whole process took about 10 months and cost approximately $2,000.

While building bikes is Kesler's passion, it only constitutes about 30 percent of his business. He makes the rest of his money repairing and servicing bikes Kesler is certified to service Harley-Davidson bikes and selling parts and accessories. His annual revenue is between $200,000 and $250,000. Kesler has one full-time employee, one regular part-time employee and a couple of friends who help out from time to time. Even in years where he doesn't turn a profit, Kesler gives himself a salary, which he calls an allowance.

Kesler did not turn a profit last year. But he hopes bike building will begin to drive revenue. Kesler has a relatively new sales agreement with a dealer in Elizabethtown and would like to sign on more dealers. His ultimate goal for the shop is simple: "I want to get rich with my friends."

Nate Moyer is a regular at the shop. He came by one rainy Saturday in July for a gypsy run Kesler coordinated, a mystery ride in which bikers don't find out their destination until right before they rumble off. Moyer bought a custom chopper, bike from Kesler about a year ago. He's been riding dirt bikes all his life and had a Harley before buying the chopper with "Hardass" suspension.

"I love it," Moyer said. "It's got more power, it's more fun. I ride this one all the time. The Harley just sits."

He hopped on his bike without any protection against the threat of pelting raindrops, revved up and rode off with the others to the mystery destination: a Hooters Restaurant in Altoona.