Lowrider Bikes

The Green Machine
Vince “Play” Mabutas began lowriding on a Schwinn Sting-Ray when he was ten years old. Vince started cruising with Frisco’s Finest Car Club when it was founded in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1982 and credits Carlos Guzman and Bobby Peralta with creating the club’s name. Although he was only fifteen at the time, Vince drove two lowriders: a 1963 Buick Riviera, and a 1963 Chevrolet Impala convertible dubbed 63Hogg. By the mid-1990s, Vince was completely entrenched in the culture and had built and sold over a dozen lowrider cars. Vince explains his passion for the movement and the appeal of lowriding: “Every car and bike is unique in its own way. You’re taking creative ideas from your mind and personalizing the vision into the candies and chrome, the twisted metal and hopping…You just get into your own world. It’s like therapy.” In 1994, Frisco’s Finest became more organized and incorporated a board of directors to oversee club activities. Vince was voted their first president and still holds that position with honor.  

Like many other lowriders who are also fathers, Vince introduced his children to the lowriding community by taking the family to shows and building bicycles and pedal cars with them. The Green Machine was created for his son Joseph “Mabz” Mabutas in collaboration with legendary lowrider bicycle builder John West in 1996. Starting with an original Schwinn Sting-Ray, West enclosed the front frame in sheet metal and filler and fabricated all of the twisted-steel metalwork for the bike. The Green Machine features a two-tone, candy-green paint job by West, with pinstriping and engraving by Vince and a mural by airbrush and tattoo artist “Dreamer.” Riding on sixteen-inch “Baby Dayton” wheels capped by a matching front fender, The Green Machine retains an original twenty-inch fender on the rear—giving the bike a dramatic, traditional stance. The Green Machine has won numerous awards, including first place in its class at the 2000 Lowrider Magazine Las Vegas Super Show.

The Green Machine  2025
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
South San Francisco, CA
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.003

Lil’ Angel
Lowriding can be a powerful outlet in times of hardship and grief. Lost friends and loved ones are often memorialized in the ornate artwork that adorns these vehicles and may inspire an entire build. After Paul E. “Paulee” Feliciaño and his wife Vivian lost their daughter Bernadette shortly after she was born, he channeled his emotions into building a very special lowrider bike. Constructed in 1996 from a Schwinn Fair Lady, it featured an enclosed frame, fully skirted rear fender, and custom paint with the name Daddy’s Little Girl. The project was a reintroduction to lowriding for Paulee. Growing up in Daly City, California, Paulee cruised in lowrider cars with his father and uncles, who belonged to Low Creations Car Club. Paulee modified his first lowrider bicycle, a Schwinn Sting-Ray, at eight years old, and has since built and owned numerous lowrider bicycles, tricycles, and cars.

In 2008, Paulee decided to “step up his game” and sent Daddy’s Little Girl to Krazy Kutting in Yuma, Arizona, for a complete transformation. Paulee and the crew designed a radical new frame built from welded sheet metal that retained only the head tube and bottom bracket of the original bike. Almost every other piece was custom-made in Arizona, from the wheels to the fenders, sprocket, pedals, front fork, and handlebars. When the bike returned to California for paint the following year, Freddy Alfaro rendered a delicate set of murals with matching pinstriping and a new name, Lil’ Angel. Paulee garnered numerous awards with Lil’ Angel at car shows alongside fellow Rollerz Only Car Club members. He then focused on a 1966 Chevrolet Impala lowrider named Ghost Rider, built in honor of his late father, Paul Sr.  

Lil’ Angel and the Ghost Rider  2025
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
Daly City, CA
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.004

The Faithful  
Lowrider cars and bicycles reflect the passions and interests of their owners, who design and decorate their vehicles using a variety of cultural, popular, and historic themes. A favorite sports team may inspire elements of a lowrider, at times directing its overall design. Jorge Herrera Vargas customized his Schwinn Sting-Ray to pay homage to the San Francisco 49ers football team. Named The Faithful, Jorge’s bike is the culmination of a lifelong interest in lowriders. As a boy, he dreamed of having a lowrider bike like his older brother and friends. Jorge started customizing bicycles in high school, using Diamond Back frames, Sting-Rays, and even a full-sized Schwinn tricycle. After meeting other young lowriders at Carnaval San Francisco, he co-founded the San Pancho Bike Club and organized rides throughout the city.

In 1994, Jorge obtained a modified Sting-Ray frame from his nephew, who had enclosed the front and rear with sheet metal and filler and added an oval-shaped medallion to the seat post tube. Carlos Rodriguez, Sr. applied a custom, metallic-red finish to the frame at Tiger’s Auto Body in Brisbane, California, a “go-to” paint shop for lowrider bikes in the Bay Area during the 1990s. Jorge’s nephew then took the frame to an airbrush artist, who applied 49ers-themed murals to both sides of the rear frame enclosures and seat post medallion. Jorge and his brother-in-law sourced a mixture of stock Schwinn and custom, chrome- and gold-plated parts as the project progressed, slowly adding to the build when not riding and showing the bike. Among the rare 1990s-era accessories on The Faithful are a set of twenty-inch, clover-laced “Body Count” wheels by Warren Wong, a pioneering designer of custom lowrider bicycle parts.  

Jorge Herrera Vargas and The Faithful  2025
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
Bernal Heights Park, San Francisco
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.014
 

Carlitos’ Bike
Brothers Carlos Jr., Sair, and Uciel Rodriguez were introduced to lowriding by their uncle Che Shul Jr., who took the boys cruising in a 1953 Hudson Super Wasp that was modified with a hydraulic suspension, wire wheels, and custom paint. Years later, Carlos Jr. expressed interest in working at his father’s shop, Tiger’s Auto Body in Brisbane, California. Carlos Sr., a master painter who specialized in lowriders and other classic cars, asked him to build a lowrider bicycle as an apprentice’s project. With help from his uncle Che, Carlos Jr. located a 1960s Schwinn Sting-Ray and enclosed the front and rear frame in a unique sheet metal design. Che sourced the wheels, lowered springer fork, and other parts from Los Angeles. Sair added a custom paint job with tape-fade graphics on the front frame. Airbrush and tattoo artist “Dreamer” rendered Aztec-inspired murals on the rear.  

Carlos dedicated the project to his four-year-old son Carlitos and entered the bike in lowrider shows. Following in his father’s footsteps, Carlitos started to learn automotive bodywork as a teenager at the family shop. When he was twenty-four, Carlitos was diagnosed with cancer and given one year to live. Father and son pulled their bike from storage, updated it with new wheels and a reupholstered seat, and once again entered lowrider shows. The family later remarked that focusing on the bike “kept him going for that last year.” After Carlitos passed, they disconnected the front fork from the stem and placed the crown over the frame, lowering the bike further and making it unrideable. Carlitos’ Bike now includes a custom-made sprocket and gold-plated plaque, both bearing his name in a loving tribute.

Carlitos’ Bike  2022
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
Bayshore Roundhouse, Brisbane, CA
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.005

Benny Romero 
Benny Romero received his first lowrider bike when he was three years old. Painted blue and gold in homage to the Golden State Warriors basketball team, the bicycle was built by Benny’s uncles Carlos Jr., Sair, and Uciel Rodriguez, who operate an automotive shop that specializes in lowrider paint and body work. Benny quickly took to personalizing the bike, requesting custom parts for Christmas and working with his family and friends on an ever-evolving design. Dressed in a custom-made charro suit, Benny rode in the Carnaval San Francisco parade for the first time when he was five years old—starting a tradition that earned him the nickname “The Charrito of the Mission.” When not riding with his cousin Tonantzin, who was gifted a lowrider bike and matching charro suit of her own, Benny entered his bicycle in local shows and rode throughout San Francisco with El Yepez Customs Bicycle Club and other friends.    

As he was preparing for the 2022 Carnaval parade, Benny discovered that his bicycle was missing. Only nine years old at the time, he remarked on the local news, “I was a little sad when it got stolen…seven years of money and work into it, I was emotional.” With the Warriors entering the NBA Finals, the San Francisco Lowrider Council rallied the local community to replace Benny’s bike. Vincent Mabutas, Jr. at Made in the City donated a twenty-inch lowrider bicycle. José Antonio Yepez donated additional parts to complete the project. Working in the evenings while watching the Finals, Benny’s uncles modified the frame and applied a custom paint job. They commissioned airbrush and tattoo artist Miguel Santana Beltran to render the Chase Center on one side. Not wanting to jinx the Warriors, Benny decided to include only three title trophies on the other mural. After the team invited Benny and his mother to their 2022 championship-winning game, he added a commemorative trophy to the bike’s front fender. Recent additions include a spare wheel, sprocket, and pedals that were custom-made in Mexico City from drawings by his uncles.  

Benny Romero, Fiesta de las Américas festival  2022
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
Mission District, San Francisco
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.006

Yepez Family Forever 
El Yepez Customs Bicycle Club is a dedicated group of lowriders who ride and show their bicycles throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area. Founded by José Antonio Yepez, the club is a small group of ten members that includes his wife Bertha as co-president and their two sons as vice-presidents. Lowriding is deeply rooted in Antonio’s childhood. Growing up in Guanajuato, Mexico, he was captivated by two lowrider bicycles that were displayed for sale in a local store. After his father explained that the bikes were far too expensive for the family to afford, Antonio promised himself that someday he would own a similar bicycle every time he passed by the storefront. Antonio began building lowrider bikes in his workshop in San Francisco in 2003. He used frames and wheels obtained locally, with specialized parts and accessories sourced from Los Angeles. As his bicycle designs became more complex, Antonio commissioned items from a shop in Mexico City that uses his paper templates to fabricate, engrave, and plate custom parts.      

Never forgetting his desire for a bicycle as a child, Antonio customized lowrider bikes for his sons and builds children’s bicycles that the club donates to local charities. The green Sting-Ray displayed here served as Antonio and Bertha’s main ride for six years. He modified the bike from a previous build by enclosing the rear frame in sheet metal and filler to provide a larger canvas for artwork. A photo of Antonio, Bertha, and their son Angelo riding with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background inspired the mural on this bike. That photo also recorded the first time Bertha had ridden a lowrider and is the foundation for the bicycle’s Yepez Family Forever theme. In 2019, the bike debuted at Carnaval San Francisco, a yearly event held in the city’s Mission District that celebrates Latin American, Caribbean, and African Diasporic cultures of the Bay Area. Yepez Family Forever has won first-place awards at lowrider shows throughout Northern California and has racked up countless miles on Bay Area streets.  

Angelo, Julio, Bertha, and José Antonio Yepez;
StreetLow Magazine Lowrider Car Show  2020
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
Salinas, CA
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.007
 

Gigantes 
Pedro “Peter” Miranda and his older brother José Jr. received their first lowrider bicycles from their father, José Sr., who owned an autobody and upholstery shop in Burbank, California, that specialized in lowrider cars. Peter’s bicycle, modified by his father from a 1970s Ross girls’ bike, featured an additional, upward-curved top tube that was welded to the frame and connected to the original downward-curved top tube with sheet metal and filler. Painted candy blue by Peter’s brother Ricardo and named La Maranatha, it was featured in Lowrider Bicycle Magazine when Peter was twelve years old. Years later, after La Maranatha was stolen from his shop, Peter decided to build a similar bicycle with his son Syrus. Starting with a 1970 Schwinn Bantam girls’ bike, Peter fabricated an upward-curved top tube as his father had done on La Maranatha. Peter then cut, re-welded, heated, and bent the original top tube so that it curved at the rear—eliminating the seat post tube at the lower frame and creating a floating effect.  

In 2019, Peter rebuilt the bicycle with his thirteen-year-old son Giovanni. Painted in House of Kolor’s “Sunset Orange,” the bike reflects Giovanni’s love for the San Francisco Giants baseball team and was renamed Gigantes. Pinstriping and silver leafing were applied by Ruben Holguin, and airbrush artist Shinji Hara rendered murals on both sides of the frame. As Giovanni expressed his desire to become more competitive at shows, they added custom handlebars, a seat pan, and a rear seat support that Peter’s father had made for another bike in the mid-1990s. Ben Herrera upholstered the seat and insert in two-tone, button-tucked velvet, and new forks, pedals, and a matching sprocket were custom-made in Texas. Gigantes has since won “Best of Show” at lowrider events throughout California. The bike is represented by Vajitos Del Valle Bike Club, founded in Tulare, California, in 1992 by Peter’s brother, José Jr.

Gigantes, Del Oeste Bike Show  2022
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
San José, CA
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.010
 

Nueva Lotería
José R. Laguna recalled being captivated by lowrider bicycles in the San José Cinco de Mayo parade when he was ten years old. His older brother was in the Luxurious Car Club, and José enjoyed reading Lowrider Magazine and building plastic “hopper” model kits. Unable to afford a bicycle, José was given a 1968 Schwinn Sting-Ray by his sister’s boyfriend. José disassembled the bike and cut sheet metal inserts for the frame, which were welded into place at a local cannery where his father worked. José found parts and assistance at the former Faber’s Cyclery, a “wrecking yard for bicycles” and beloved San José institution. At age thirteen, José joined the Luxurious Bicycle Club and decided to transform his bike through a competition build. With help from club members and additional custom parts, the bicycle went undefeated at local shows. José started building lowrider cars at seventeen: first, a 1981 Grand Prix customized with hydraulics, rims, and upholstery; next, a 1985 Cutlass that “went a little farther” with custom bodywork and paint.  

José sold the cars in 2009 to support his growing family and stepped away from lowriding. Ten years later, José decided to build a bicycle with his daughter Alejandra. Starting with a mid-1970s Schwinn Fair Lady, José and his friend Shane Calamia enclosed the frame in sheet metal. Raul Alfaro designed and fabricated custom fenders. Alfaro also made the engraved handlebars, forks, and air system, which came from a donor bike that José purchased for the build. Alejandra suggested that her bike pay tribute to Hispanic culture and Lotería, a game of chance referred to as “Mexican bingo,” and José commented that she “really hit it out of the park with the theme.” The Lotería card holders, sprocket, pedals, and fender supports were custom-made in Mexico City. To achieve the striking graphics on Nueva Lotería, Louis Delgado painted the bike silver before taping and painting it in multiple transparent candy colors. Next, Freddy Alfaro rendered Loteria-themed murals on both sides of the frame. Delgado then applied pinstriping and gold leafing to accentuate the bike’s overall graphic design, topped with layers of clear coat paint to create a deep, reflective finish.

Nueva Lotería, StreetLow Magazine Lowrider Car Show  2024
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
San José, CA
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.011

Las Calaveras
Two decades ago, José R. Laguna and Robert Becerril modified a mid-1990s Lowrider Magazine-brand Aztlan Cruiser for a friend by enclosing the front frame and rear fender in sheet metal and filler. The bike remained unfinished in storage until 2020, when José purchased the project to complete with his ten-year-old son, José Jr. As a young boy, José Jr. became interested in the traditional art of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, an annual holiday that originated in Mexico to honor and celebrate the lives of lost loved ones. Images of calaveras, or skulls, are central to Día de los Muertos and appear throughout the bicycle, aptly named Las Calaveras. Brightly plated calaveras and other pieces including the pedals, steering wheel, and crown were custom-made in Mexico City. José designed and fabricated the lower forks, handlebars, and fender supports with his friend Gilberto at Yes Welding, where they spun square, steel stock in a lathe and then heated and bent the parts to shape.

Multiple artists created the custom paint job on Las Calaveras. Before José and his son purchased the bike, it had been painted in a metallic tangerine-orange. Using that as a base coat, José Orendain, a cofounder of Del Oeste Kustoms Car and Bicycle Club alongside José, added sections of gold-flake metallic paint, followed by a translucent, root beer-brown candy coat. Orendain then added orange, candy stripes and metallic gold, faded accents. Freddy Alfaro airbrushed Día de los Muertos-inspired murals on both sides of the frame, rear fender, and underneath the front fender. Louis Delgado added pinstriping, gold leafing, and then applied eight coats of clear paint, sanding between each layer to provide a mirror-like finish. Las Calaveras initially featured a dual-cylinder hydraulic system attached to the front fork. Heavy and prone to leaking, the dual setup was later simplified to a single-cylinder system in place of the front spring. Father-and-son recently replaced the entire hydraulic system on Las Calaveras with a springer front end, giving the bike a leaner and more traditional look.

José Laguna, Jr. and Las Calaveras  2020
Freddy Alfaro
San José, CA
Courtesy of Art & Chrome Magazine
R2026.0313.001

By Reason of Insanity
Victor “Vic” Rodriguez grew up near the famed intersection of Story and King, mesmerized by the vibrant lowrider scene of East San José. At first, Vic built “hopper” car model kits with articulating suspensions that simulate full-size lowrider hydraulics. Vic and his friends started customizing and riding lowrider bikes, and by age fifteen he was creating competition builds. Two years later, in 1996, Vic debuted By Reason of Insanity. Starting with his daily rider, Vic removed a 1 ½-inch section from the top tube to give the bike a lowered and “raked” stance. He added sheet metal and filler to “french” the front of the headtube and keep the Schwinn emblem upright. Vic’s older brother provided the welding work, and the two fabricated twisted parts by using square, steel stock and a torch. Master engraver Rudy Peña decorated the fenders, forks, and handlebars before they were plated in chrome and gold. Vic’s wife Yvonne upholstered the grips and seat and created a matching, tucked-velvet display for shows.  

By Reason of Insanity quickly garnered “Best of Show” awards and was featured on the May/June 1996 cover of Lowrider Bicycle Magazine. Due to the bike’s popularity and exceptional detail, Vic was hired by Lowrider Magazine as a judge and retired from competition to avoid any conflict of interest. Like many other lowriders, Vic stepped away from the lifestyle to support his growing family. In 2021, Vic’s youngest son Diego asked if they could reintroduce By Reason of Insanity to the show circuit. However, the original fiberglass body modification had cracked from heat while in storage. Undaunted, Vic and Diego commissioned Mikey Martinez to build a new sheet metal enclosure for the frame. Rodino Bautista, who had apprenticed with Rudy Peña years earlier, repainted the bike in a silver base with candy apple tape shades and gold leaf. While directing Bautista to honor the original design, Vic encouraged him to “do what you want to do—go to town with it,” and was rewarded with a spectacular paint job that continues the bike’s legacy. To remain competitive, airbrush and tattoo artist Miguel Santana Beltran added a mural to the seat pan, while Roger Jacobs fabricated a custom stand for display.  

By Reason of Insanity  1996
Nathan Trujillo 
San José, CA
Courtesy of Vic Rodriguez
R2026.0308.005
 

Familia 
Lowriding bonds family and friends through the camaraderie of building and showing their vehicles. Customizing a bicycle or car requires great skill and dedication, and family, friends, and others in the community serve as mentors to new lowriders. In an interview by Chicano and Lowrider Studies professor Denise M. Sandoval, the Ruelas brothers, founding members of the Dukes Car Club in Los Angeles, recalled a childhood introduction by their uncle Tinker: “He didn’t want us in the street…he would take us out to the junkyards to pick up bicycles, this was in the ‘50s, 1954, and we’d get the Schwinn ‘cause that was a better looking bike…we done all kinds of crazy things, to lowered Cadillac lights sticking out of the back with original blinkers.”    

Bicycles remain at the core of lowriding family culture. When she was four years old, Tonantzin “Toni” Rodriguez asked for a lowrider bike after her family built a Golden State Warriors-themed bicycle for her cousin Benny. Toni’s uncle, Enrique Luna of Low Creations Car Club, gave her a Schwinn Pixie frame. Her uncle Carlos Jr. enclosed the front frame in sheet metal and added inserts at the rear. His brother Uciel sourced parts from Los Angeles. Toni’s father Sair painted the bike metallic-pink. Dressed in a matching charro suit at events, Toni enjoyed riding her bike so much that it became scratched and was repainted. The bike’s second iteration includes another multilayered paint job by Sair, along with a sprocket and rims that were custom-made in Mexico City from drawings by the Rodriguez brothers.  

Vince “Play” Mabutas commissioned lowrider bikes and a pedal car for his four children. Sick and Twisted was made for his son Mauricio “Momo” Mabutas by legendary builder John West from a twelve-inch children’s bike found at the San José Flea Market. West partially enclosed the frame, custom-made almost every part of the build, and applied a two-tone candy paint job. Airbrush and tattoo artist “Dreamer” rendered a mural on the bike’s right side. When travelling to shows with his family in their 1961 Chevrolet Impala convertible, Vince transported the bike, two customized Sting-Rays, a lowrider pedal car, and displays for each in the backseat and trunk. Sick and Twisted recently won first place in its class at the 2023 Las Vegas Super Show. Vince’s three sons have built their own cars, and his daughter is now a lowrider fashion designer.   

Tonantzin Rodriguez, Fiesta de las Américas festival  2020
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
Mission District, San Francisco
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.008
 

Dueñas
Dueñas is an all-female lowrider car club founded in 2019 in Sunnyvale, California. Their name is derived from the Spanish word dueña, which translates to “female owner.” Club founder Angel Romero, whose mother Maricela Rodriguez was also a lowrider, explains, “I want it to be about women empowerment, because if it wasn’t for my mom, telling me to always be proud of who I was and to do what I wanted to do no matter what, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” Giving back to the community is a common thread that runs throughout lowriding, and like many other clubs, Dueñas members take pride in organizing toy drives for families in need. Dueñas also fundraises for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and has collected school supplies for children of migrant farmworkers and distributed hygienic products to people experiencing homelessness. In 2025, Dueñas was honored when a group portrait by photographer Renée Lopez was included in Corazón y vida, an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History that celebrates lowriding culture.    

Young “Dueñanitas” who go lowriding with their mothers are lovingly referred to as “little riders.” Elizabeth “Liz” Perez remarked that her daughter Isabel “Izzy” Dueñas’ “love for the lowriding lifestyle keeps us together...she’s always down to ride with me, anywhere we go.” Liz and her two sisters, one of whom is a founding Dueñas member, and their cousins have all driven lowrider cars for decades. Fourteen-year-old Izzy is now the president of the Dueñas bike club, founded in 2022. Izzy and her friends display their bikes at lowrider shows throughout Northern California alongside their mothers’ cars before taking a traditional ride at the end of the day. Named “Queen of Hearts,” Izzy’s bike was inspired by her lifelong love of Alice in Wonderland. She selected the paint scheme and heart design with the understanding that it would be a lengthy project. Putting aside a hydraulic upgrade for her 1987 Monte Carlo, Liz fast-tracked the bicycle to surprise Izzy for her thirteenth birthday. Izzy now plans to build a pink “Box Chevy” Caprice with rose gold wheels and trim.    

Izzy Dueñas and the Queen of Hearts, Del Oeste Bike Show  2022
Tyrone “Malow” Diaz
San José, CA
Courtesy of the artist
R2026.0311.009