Motorcyle Maven Roland Sands Shifts Gears, Adds Apparel Line

Things are rolling along at Roland Sands Design. 

The motorcycle builder and designer moved his studio to a 7,000-square-foot building on Los Alamitos Boulevard just south of Cerritos Avenue about a year ago, and recently launched an apparel line to accompany his already thriving business. 

Sands is known for sweeping designs with flowing lines and a don't-mess-with-me edge that can perform on the street. 

The new location, at 10571 Los Alamitos Blvd., has a retail store in front that showcases both his motorcycle designs and new apparel line. The latter consists of riding gear—leather jackets, helmets, gloves—and street wear, including T-shirts and hats. Currently, the line is geared only for men, although the smaller stuff will fit women, he said. 

He and employee Roger Sgarbossa played a critical role in developing the riding gear, giving careful consideration to the leather used, and technical details such as zipper and pocket placement. 

The apparel line "gets us to new places, to do new things," and offers the ability to "do different branding stuff," he said. 

Although he's excited about the clothing venture, "we still build a lot of motorcycles," Sands said. He and his staff do two full customs each year, where the bike is built from scratch. They also build about 20 "lightweight" customs, meaning the motorcycle is heavily customized — seats, suspension and possibly a racing kit for the engine.

"Every build is different, depending on what somebody wants,"  he said.

The majority of his projects are collaborations with motorcycle manufacturers, including Honda, Victory and Ducati. He also takes on a few private customers each year. For example, he is currently building motorcycles for professional snowboarder/skateboarder Shaun White and actor Mickey Rourke. Bikes for private clients can vary widely in price — from $10,000 to $150,000, depending on what the customer wants, he said. 

He's also working on two Triumph motorcycles that will be auctioned off at an October benefit for the Tony Hawk Foundation, which helps to build skateparks in low-income communities.

Another large aspect of his business is designing parts so people can customize motorcycles themselves. In particular, he's developed a lot of parts for café racers, a minimalist style of motorcycle that was popular in the UK in the 1960s and is making a comeback.  

"It's cool, because the guys can do it themselves," he said. Plus, it attracts younger people to customizing, he said.