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Nightmare’s visions of beauty

Published Tuesday, August 24, 2010 1:22 PM

By Jim Tatum
The Gazette

photo by Jim Tatum

Nightmare Custom Cycles is a family business. From left, Miriam, Nightmare and Sarah

photo by Judy Watts

Nightmare at his shop

It’s almost a given that a town named Harleyville would have a motorcycle shop.

Add the name of the owner to that shop, Nightmare Custom Cycles, and one might think the combination to be a slam-dunk business gimmick.

Nightmare, for that’s the man’s name, agrees that the town’s name can only help – and does -- and his own moniker doesn’t hurt the image, either.

Nightmare -- along with his wife, Miriam Baxter, daughter, Sarah, and four technicians, Bushman, Mike, Dustin and Jaimie -- make up the body and soul of Nightmare Custom Cycles, a full service repair and custom build motorcycle shop located on Main Street in Harleyville.

The shop has earned some major accolades since launching six years ago. In fact, 13 custom motorcycles Nightmare has built in the past 5 years have received high kudos from local and national magazines, and most recently, from the international media as well.

The April 2010 issue of “EasyRider” magazine featured a photo – the fourth time a Nightmare Custom Cycles bike has been featured in the magazine -- of a trike, “Predator,” which took first place, Specialty Class, Spectator Division at the EasyRider Bike Show in Charlotte, NC. In addition, Nightmare Custom Cycles came home with two other trophies from this same show.

In early April, “Predator” took another trophy at The Rat's Hole International Bike Show in Daytona, Florida. The resulting international coverage stated that the top three bikes were European but the fourth bike -- and first American bike mentioned in the article -- was “Predator.”

All that good press is great, Nightmare says, but the fact is honesty, integrity, and a deep abiding passion for creating “ridable art” -- not gimmickry -- are the keys to the success of Nightmare Custom Cycles.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to promote the shop – that’s good business and that helps everybody,” he said. “To have my peers be so complimentary is definitely gratifying – and to have the top guys in my industry recommending me for jobs is amazing. But sometimes it’s a little weird. We’ll be going to a rally or a show somewhere, and people see the trailer and come up and want an autograph, or a picture, maybe -- and I’m sort of sitting here going, ‘why? I’m just a bike builder from Harleyville.’”

Nightmare says he hopes the shop’s success helps positively promote the town of Harleyville as well.

“I love Harleyville,” Nightmare said. “I’m from parts unknown, I chose to live here and I love this town. I believe that if you live some place and you love it, then if you can, you should do business there as well. Everybody wins.”

From the bottom of his boots, tattooed biceps and the piercing blue eyes set in bearded visage framed with long hair, Nightmare has the look most people associate with bikers – and he is the real deal, a road warrior from way back.

But he’s not just all gears and straight pipes and heavy metal thunder; a very sharp, methodical, creative mind is running wide open behind that carefree, unconventional facade. In fact, Nightmare has a background in mechanical engineering and owned a successful trucking business for many years before launching Nightmare Custom Cycles in 2004.

But Nightmare is also quick to point out that the whole business is a team effort. His wife, Miriam Baxter, for example, wears many hats within the business – business manager, front office administrator, bookkeeper – and their daughter, Sarah, runs the front between her studies. The shop employs four technicians, all highly skilled and just as passionate about the work as Nightmare himself.

“We’re a family,” he said. “These guys are the best – I wouldn’t be anywhere without them.”

More specifically, they all have at the very least seven years experience working on Harley Davidsons; they all have been working on bikes for much longer. Two of them, in fact, are Harley Davidson certified technicians.

“They are very knowledgeable; they are very good at what they do. I’d put any one of my guys against anyone, anywhere,” he said.

Nightmare started out in a 500-square foot space in Jedburg with about a $1,500 capital investment, he said. The idea was not to start a huge business, but to do something fun, creative, and challenging with a few friends.

But it wasn’t too long before Nightmare’s work began generating a serious buzz around custom bike circles. Soon, he was getting so much work he had to ask his landlords for more space. Then the business outgrew the added space.

“I finally realized I either had to grow bigger or go home,” he said.

Nightmare and Miriam found and bought the present location in Harleyville three years ago and have no plans to go anywhere else, he said. This space has 7,000 square feet, 8service bays, 5 lifts, and all the state of the art equipment they need for everything from simple oil changes and tune ups to the most complex custom builds.

While acknowledging that motorcycle maintenance is expensive -- custom work much more so – Nightmare said the shop is known for very reasonable prices and a willingness to work with customers.

“I do this because I love it; not because I’m out to get fame and fortune,” Nightmare said. “I believe in being fair, in charging a fair price for quality work, in strong customer service. I believe if you pay me to do a job, you only pay me once to do it – and if something isn’t right when I’m done, that’s not your fault; it’s mine and I’ll fix it, and I don’t see charging anyone for that.”

Bill and Gloria Thomas of Summerville have bought two custom bikes from Nightmare; they sold the first one and will sell the latest one, a pro street custom named “Anger Management,” for a profit, Gloria said. They are also planning to do a third bike with Nightmare, one she says will be a little more geared to the average buyer.

“Nightmare is great to work with; he listens to you and is always open to our ideas. He’s probably the most honest person we’ve ever dealt with – if he says he can do it he does it and if he thinks he can’t he’ll tell you. I can’t say enough about Nightmare and Miriam.”

Tara Clark, who lives in Harleyville, is a relatively new rider. A single working mother, Clark said she is glad to have found Nightmare’s shop because the prices are fair and customer service is topnotch.

“He’s done a lot for me – I trust him all the way,” Clark said. “They’re just great people – I can’t say enough good about them.”

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