In the small town of Brawley, California, you can find plenty of things to do. Just ask 12-year-old Daniel Cornejo. When he's not going to school, playing golf or riding his skateboard, you can probably find him fooling around with his show bike, "Bad 2 Da Bone," one of the top bikes of the year.
The whole scenario started back in '95 when Daniel's father, Freddy, purchased the Aztlan Bicycle frame as a birthday present for young Daniel. Freddy got cracking and busted it out quickly, placing at shows here and there. Wanting to be the baddest of the bad, Daniel decided to put it away and start all over again. A few years went by, and Freddy helped his son make his bike one of the top dogs on the SoCal scene.
The frame was sent to Freddy's friend Frank Figueroa at Franco's Customs for most of the bodywork. Frank's first move was sweet. Using his body man skills, he worked out a sweet front tank using nothing but sheet metal and some body filler. As the filler hardened, Frank moved towards the rear, where he used the same process as the front to make a pair of rear wings on the frame, giving it one bad look. With the metal cooled, Freddy's next move was to have the bike frame sprayed and what person would he like to take it up? No one but Frank himself.
Frank hooked up the compressor, plugged in the hose, filled his paint gun and began to shoot away. Frank first laid out a basecoat, went back and hit it with a bombardment of flake and then shot candy red to finish off the flaked-out paint scheme. The bike started to look really good now, but it was lacking something. Daniel and his father took a good long look at the bike and realized that it needed a few murals to make it a truly top-notch two-wheeler. For this, Freddy had the bike shipped out to Eliezer Carrillo of Santa Ana, California, who added creatures that go bump in the night all over the bike.
For his upholstery, Daniel had his father take his stuff to Henry's Customs in Pasadena, California, where Henry got down on the seat and Daniel's 10x10 spider web display. Freddy got cracking on the custom bike parts, using all of his talents to make a custom sissy bar, steering wheel and handlebars. Warren Wong of Slam-N-Ride in Pico Rivera, California, laced some cross-laced 20-inch rims for Daniel. Golden Plating in Santa Fe Springs gave each and every piece that was customized an even more custom look by using the best show chrome and gold. Even though the bike started to look badder and badder, Freddy and Daniel hesitated before taking on the bike circuit.
Father and son agreed that they wanted to be the best out there, so they hooked up a Pro Hopper hydraulic pump, 8-inch cylinder, steel-braided hoses and one solenoid, allowing the bike to go up and down at will. Since they wanted to be the best, they joined the best, Legions Bike Club. With them in, they were now ready to hit the streets.
Daniel waited two long years to be recognized and here he is, one of the best, bringing out the baddest of the bad in his class. For Daniel and his father, that was one of the goals of their two-year project. As for their new goal, they've set a standard for themselves, wanting to build another top radical two-wheeler, "Bad 2 Da Bone II," to give the radical competition a run for their money. So if you're the competition, look out because this 12-year-old is out to get everybody!