Three Two Choppers Rufino 2

Hollywood’s Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, are famous for out-of-left-field comedic movies like Raising Arizona, Bad Santa, and the iconic movie many of us never tire of watching, The Big Lebowski as well as darker movies like No Country for Old Men, Blood Simple, and Fargo just to name a few. They not only put their own twist on any genre, but you can tell it’s one of their movies even if you didn’t see the credits. Their style somehow comes through no matter how different and unique each movie is.

Fort Worth’s Cohen brothers, Jimmie Lee and JC, are not only the comedic equals of Ethan and Joel as far as I’m concerned after many hilarious conversations with them, but serious as hell about their chosen profession. They build a mean motorcycle at their shop called Three Two Choppers, each one different from the last, that also has a style you know is theirs even if you didn’t know it was theirs. That one-ups the Hollywood pair as I doubt they even ride a motorcycle, never mind build one. Jimmie Lee and JC are serious as nuts about what they do and act like one too whenever they get on a roll, which is often. They’re a couple of talented and very nice guys (sorry to say such sweet things about you two, but you are really nice guys) that deserve all the recognition they can get.

Three Two Choppers has recently graced the cover of Barnett’s Magazine (Issue #76) with a bike that showcases their style in a totally different way than our current feature bike Rufino 2, but both wear their mechanicals as art that screams, “Show us your bits.” Well thought out, highly finished, but with a delicate rough-hewn look that becomes the very definition of a motorcycle as hard core, but pleasing mechanical art. If the Cohen brothers had artificial hearts, they’d wear them on the outside of their torsos with every bit of plumbing artfully arranged and they’d laughingly bicker over who did a better job.

Rufino 2 is a cool hot rod of a bike built for long-time Three Two customer, Miguel Salinas. “It’s everything about a chopper that you like. It’s got a good sound, it’s easy to ride, and turns and lays over like a café bike,” said JC. The Dirty South Choppers frame built to Three Two dimensions features a sportbike-like 25-degrees of rake through the Jeri’s Springer front end creating a shorter wheelbase than a raked-out chop. “With a shorter wheelbase, you get agility built into the bike. It’s very nimble,” said JC. ”The difference between this bike and a Harley is that Harleys tend to feel a bit heavy and this bike doesn’t, it feels like you’re on a mo-ped.”

The 80” S&S Shovelhead powering Rufino 2 is very un-mo-ped-like, though, and was specifically built with kick-only starting in mind. Low-compression and reasonable cubes