13 Choppers has been around for a couple of years and received some attention when the choppers first appeared in a few shows and the motorcycle press picked them up.

Mat Zabas, the man behind these creations, just decided to do things a bit different and he might have seen the possibilities of following his own thoughts, rather than the crowd. Well, the crowd might just be turning around. There’s no law that says a custom needs a big V-twin from Harley or S&S or anyone else and as the Honda sport custom we highlighted this past week indicates, some other folks are looking elsewhere, too.

Zabas uses the Ducati engines and various parts like the forks, wheels and brakes, then he builds a frame of his own design. The result is definitely custom but not the same old thing we’ve seen so much of.

You sometimes get the feeling motorcycle builders think you have to build customs a certain way, following some unwritten formula and then wonder why their bikes get lost in the crowd. Build a big V-twin custom and you’ll blend in like camouflage, build something a little different and you might generate some interest. These are cool and it will be neat to see how many more engines will start showing up in customs in the near future.