People's Champ Contestant - Ryder Leavitt

Who are you, where are you from, what is your day job?
My name is Ryder Leavitt, I am 21 years old from St. George, Utah. I am an operations manager for Tri-State Metal Roofing Supply for my day job, and I build and sell hotrods at night.

Point out some of your favorite details:
Definitely the exhaust. I built the frame wider in the rear just to make the exhaust possible. Im really happy with the result.

What were some of your biggest struggles building the bike?
Time. When I seen the post saying I made it into Peoples Champ I only had a frame (that I eventually cut up and re made). Only having the duration of Peoples Champ to build the entire bike and source parts made it very challenging to say the least.

Did you learn any new skills building the bike?
Yeah everything. This was the first bike I fully built and it was an absolute learning curve. I tried to make everything I possibly could myself. Most of the frame, bars, seat, sissy, exhaust, oil bag, and more… this was the first time I had made majority of these and it took multiple attempts. Each one I learned and grew better with.

How does it ride?
Like a brick. Still tuning things and making it run a bit smoother but so far it rides like a chopper.

Anyone you want to thank?
So many people have helped me so much throughout this build. Everything from my dad staying up till 1 in the morning helping me in the shop to all the countless DMs and text messages I sent out asking for help and advice. Everyone is greatly appreciated. Firstly Biltwell for the opportunity and especially Josh for all the help! My family, Jaxon Porter, Scott Stopnik, Paul Schanbacher, the guys from Supply & Demand barber shop, the homies at Southernutahchoppers, even a lot of my fellow “competitors”. Eric Simonson, Esoteric Speed, could have let me fall on my face but gave me loads of advice, dudes a genius. Super thankful for everyone!