Post Listing Update: This CL “sold” for $7,100 after 31 bids on eBay but the sale did not go through.
It’s not often we ordinary mortals get a shot to buy a famous builders personal ride, and it’s even less common that it’s an unusual custom. Jay LaRossa built this bike for himself as therapy from his second bout with cancer.
LaRossa started out in 1998 building trucks and hot rods full time. He had numerous magazine cover vehicles and award winning rigs. In 2002 he closed his shop and turned it into a mail order performance parts business when he went to work for Jesse James at West Coast Choppers. Sometime around 2007 he quit working for James and went to building his own customs, principally cafe racers.
LaRossa founded his second company, Lossa Engineering in support of his building empire and has had many award winning bikes featured at places like ‘Cafe Racer’, Bike EXIF (HERE) and Pipeburn. Also the website for Lossa Engineering is worth the visit.
This particular CL450 is a bike that LaRossa built for himself. The bike is a full on custom build and features a huge number of custom touches. The .40 Cal. ammo cans feature integrated solar panels for charging electronic devices. All the chrome is removed and replaced with yellow zinc.
LaRossa entered this bike in this years Barstow to ‘Vegas ride where it suffered a small amount of cosmetic damage. The pictured tail light is NOT part of the package. The bike is in Signal Hill, California and is currently bid at $3,550
Note that this bike was put up for sale last year and it did not meet reserve with 34 bids up to $8,200
Sources:
Lossa Engineering
Wikipedia
Bike EXIF