High Seas Rally is excited to announce another big addition to our entertainment and custom builder line up! Father/daughter duo Dave and Jody Perewitz will be joining us on the 2022 sailing!

Dave and Jody are the powerhouses behind the Perewitz brand. Starting out as Cycle Fab in a 4’ x 10’ shed in Dave’s backyard in 1971, the Perewitz brand has grown to become world-renowned in the custom motorcycle industry for producing some of the most sought-after customs. Today, the home of Perewitz Cycle Fabrications not only has a retail location and custom building area, but a down draft paint booth, full-service motorcycle repair operation and a showroom for nearly 30 bikes.

Onboard, Dave will bring his passion and knowledge as one of the original custom builders to the stage for various events throughout the week. Jody, as a record holding motorcyclist, expert painter, and the one taking the reins of the family business, will be available to talk about all things speed, what she learned from her Dad, what she sees for the future of the Perewitz brand, and more.

Dave Perewitz needs no introduction. He is a self-taught fabricator that founded what was then called Cycle Fab. A custom Cycle Fab motorcycle came to and continues to be a status symbol among celebrities. The company built custom creations for rock stars, NFL greats and NASCAR execs, crew chiefs and drivers.

With the influx of business, celebrity builds and greater notoriety for the company’s principal, the company changed its name to Perewitz Cycle Fabrication.

It all started in 1969, when Dave made modifications to his own 1964 Sportster. He painted it and brought it to Laconia where all of New England had a first glimpse of what was to come from this self-taught fabricator. The response to his motorcycle was, as you’d imagine, overwhelmingly positive, and the passion for the work so great, that Dave returned home ready to create more motorcycles.

A few years later, in 1971, Cycle Fab, as it was known then, was born in a 4’ x 10’ shed in the Perewitz backyard. Dave continued to hone both his customizing and painting skills and soon the business outgrew the confines of the shed. A larger structure was then built to accommodate the growing needs of the business.

Four years after starting Cycle Fab, Dave traveled to a show in Detroit where he met Arlen Ness, a custom builder from California, and formed a friendship that has lasted over three decades. Dave returned from Detroit ready to open a retail storefront in his hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts, where the first custom line he carried was parts from Arlen Ness.

Dave leveraged the expanding availability of aftermarket products in the early 1980s and began designing and building motorcycles from the ground up. Although Dave is a master painter of all designs, it was at this time that his signature flames began standing out on most all of the motorcycles that he created. Dave has since become known as the “King of Flames” and this is one of his specialties. Nobody does flames better than Dave.

As “The Look” was being created, the company outgrew both the first retail location and the structure used for the motorcycle fabrications. The retail location was moved to a bigger location in the same city, but the fabricating location was moved to a new facility in the next town, where Dave and his young family lived. Dave was never far from the business, as the building was in his backyard.

Traveling to different shows around the country, Dave made many connections and gained the admiration of a loyal following, including a mega-celebrity, wrestler Hulk Hogan. From this point forward, a custom Cycle Fab motorcycle became, and continues to be, a status symbol among celebrities.

As the Perewitz brand became more well-known, television audiences were starting to recognize the uniqueness of the motorcycle industry and custom builders. As one of the nation’s original custom builders, Dave was chosen to represent the industry on numerous shows, including Discovery Channel’s now-famous Biker Build-Off, in 2003. The notoriety gained from all of the television exposure catapulted the Perewitz brand name into another category all together.

The Perewitz Cycle Fabrication team travels to nearly 35 shows and events a year where the entire team pitches in to bring “The Look” around the country.

Jody Perewitz is also someone that needs no introduction. She is one of the most recognizable women in the motorcycle industry today having paved her own way into history by becoming the first woman to ever jockey an American V-Twin powered motorcycle into the record books at well over 200 MPH. She currently holds 16 Land Speed Records, one of which is a world record.

In 2018 Jody competed in the Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Race. She rode a 1926 Harley Davidson JD. She completed all the miles from Portland, ME to Portland, OR becoming one of three women to complete all the miles on the Cannonball. Jody also competed in the 2019 Motorcycle Chase, another antique motorcycle endurance race across the country on a 1936 Harley Davidson VLH. Once again, she completed all the miles from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Key West.

A Love For Old Motorcycles

Old motorcycles seem to be a theme with Jody lately. She is currently competing in the Sons of Speed races. She rides three different motorcycles– 1919 HD, 1920 Indian, 1951 WR 45; all with no brakes and no gears! In October of 2018 she took home the checkered flag with a win at New Smyrna Speedway.

In 2020 Jody was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame. She is the youngest member to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Jody and her father Dave are the only father/daughter duo in the Hall of Fame. In 2021 Jody was selected to be the Grand Marshall of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

When Jody is not on two wheels she continues to grow the brand at Perewitz Cycle Fab located in Halifax, MA. She works side by side with her father, the legendary Dave Perewitz. Having a great teacher, Jody’s knowledge grows everyday, including in the paint department. Jody designs and paints motorcycles, helmets, tumblers and more! She is following in her fathers footsteps with their passion for paintwork. Jody spends a lot of her day in the paint booth putting her creative genes to work. The Perewitz name is world-renowned in the custom motorcycle industry for producing some of the most sought-after customs.