Where is the line between meticulous and just plain nuts" Because we’re sure Albert ‘Ash’ Aeschlimann crossed it at some point during this astounding build. What started out as a simple ’48 Panhead frame turned into a seven-year project?with hardly any of the original bike remaining.
Doing things ?the right way? is an essential part of Ash’s day job. He’s a technician at a major science museum in Switzerland, and before that, he studied architecture and worked as a carpenter. After hours, he makes magic in his workshop under the Ash Kustoms banner.

Photographer Marc Schneider tells us that Ash’s obsession began at 20, when he got into vintage Vespas. Then he saw the Indian Larry versus Billy Lane episode of The Great Biker Build Off, and was instantly hooked on custom motorcycles. These days he draws inspiration from Japanese builders like ACE Motorcycles and Heiwa. He’s self-taught, and handles most tasks himself?outsourcing only specialist stuff like upholstery, paint and casting.

This project started off as a total basket case spread over multiple boxes. The more he tore into it, the more Ash realized that many of the parts were beyond repair, or not worth using.
During the build, Ash decided to build himself a new workshop. That ended up taking three years?and by the time he was done, his ideas about custom bike building had shifted. So he binned a whole whack of custom parts he’d already fabricated fo...