Hello Ride Wide Open subscribers and readers!  My name is Jerod L. Shreckengast, I am 23 yrs. old and I live in Millheim, PA.  Before I get started, I would first like to thank RWO Magazine for giving me this great opportunity to write this article for you about my 2006 Honda CBR 600RR Sports bike and how it became what it is today.

             Growing up as a child and into my teen years I have always had a passion for cars, bikes, art, working hard, and striving to do better in life.  I had purchased my bike from Woodward ATV’s in Lewistown, PA around early to mid January of 2008.  If you know anything about the weather here in Pennsylvania you might think that’s a little crazy considering the weather conditions that time of year.   Being only 20 yrs. old at the time I had bought the bike because of my passion for them, and it was about time for me to start building my credit history.  During those first few winter months, I patiently waited for better weather and couldn’t stopping thinking of ways to make my bike look, sound, and perform better. I was ready to get these ideas going! I went to my brother, Michael Shreckengast, whom also has the same year, make, and model of bike as the one I had just bought, and started sounding off.  Mike had suggested a Fender Eliminator Kit which would eliminate the stock license plate holder and relocate the license plate. This would also eliminate the stock turn signals and then we would need to replace them with flush mount signals, giving the bike a sharper, sleeker, and overall cleaner appearance.  With that suggestion made, I had done just that.  I ordered a fender eliminator kit with smoke signals to best fit the looks of my Silver CBR.  Now, onto the sound of the bike.  For this,  I ordered a Blue Titanium FMF pipe to give the bike the sound I had desired.

                Mid summer of 2009, I had decided that I wanted to change the overall appearance of the bike and give it my own custom paint job.  After some serious thought and consideration of what all I was getting myself into, I had taken the first step and stripped the CBR of its protective shell. Not having the proper tools for the job I had purchased various grits of sand paper to remove the original clear coat and a super fine grit to wet sand the new paint.  Sanding every part by hand, and into the shapes molded into the plastics, seemed like it took forever!  My job took me out of town during the week, so I was limited to working on the bike during the weekends only.  After a few weekends went by of nothing but tedious sanding, sanding and more sanding, the clear coat was off and it was time to wipe them down and get them clean.

                My original plan was to paint the bike flat black with flat white flames on the front fender, front fairing, and gas tank cover.  So I did just that!  I sprayed a few coats of black onto all of the plastics and wet sanded between coats.  Using the same process with the white after taping on and off the flames I was almost finished, at least I had thought so before some final touches.  Sunday had come around and it was time to go back out of town for my job and this time we traveled to Altoona, PA.  One day after work, the guys and I had decided to stop at a pub called Mug Shots for a drink and a bite to eat before we went back to the hotel. The first thing I noticed when walking into this place is the neatly airbrushed name on the side of the building.  Once inside, one couldn't help but notice the amazing air brush work throughout the building.  Stunned and amazed by all of the artwork, I had asked our waitress, Ashlee, whom the artist was.  The artist's name is Mark and he works there as well.  Mark’s artist name is Magic Mark, also known as Traveling Air.

                A little while later Mark and I met for the first time and instantly started talking about the artwork around the room.  I had explained to Mark that I had a passion for drawing and painting as well, and that I was in the process of painting my bike.  He then showed me a photo album of all the work he had done in the past.  Overtaken by Mark's work, I had asked him if he would be interested in repainting my bike and he accepted.  I gave Mark the basic info of what I was looking for in the paint job.  Mark, having respect for my art, had stated that he wouldn’t take away what I had already painted and that he would just work around or add to what I had already done combining both of our arts together! 

                The following week,  I dropped off the plastics to Mark and within just three short days, Mark had finished applying his amazing talent and they were ready to go back home to be clear coated by my friend Nathan Gummo.  A few weekends later my brother Mike had helped me put the freshly painted and clear coated plastics back on the bike to bring all this amazing work together.

                Since then, I still continue to fine tune the bike.  I sanded and polished both stock rider and passenger foot pegs and brackets along with destined areas on the stock clutch and starter covers for better shine and appeal.  New red, gray, and black Harris grips to match the paint, custom matching marble wind screen painted and cleared by Nathan Gummo, replaced stock bar ends with Gold Dollars to match front forks and certain painted areas on the bike.  I added a custom aluminum ring around the exhaust tip for a more appealing look on the exhaust pipe, and last but not least I ran and wired an orange L.E.D. lighting kit to match and bring out the custom flame paint job to throw off a real blazing hot look!

                In time I will proceed to make changes and modifications that catch the eyes of viewers everywhere!   I would once again like to give a special thanks to RWO Magazine for this opportunity and their support. I would also like to send out a huge and grateful thank you to my parents for their encouragement, Magic Mark AKA Traveling Air for his outstanding talent and art work, Nathan Gummo for his outstanding glassy looking clear-coat job, Michael Shreckengast for his helpful advice and help, and everyone else that has inspired me to continue and still continues to give their ideas and opinions on future changes!  

Article and article photos provided by Jerod Shreckengast. 

Professional photography done by Crystal G. See more RWO RideZ pics at the RWO RideZ Photo Gallery!

Comments(1):

1. I LOVE your bike Jerod! You have done an amazing job making an amazing bike.. ~Ash

   Tuesday, July 13, 2010 Ashley