Santa Fe Springs’ Lowrider Bike Prodigy Has Been Building Lowbikes Since He Was 11 Years Old
Welcome to our Lowrider Bike Week, presented by Tecate, the official beer of L.A. TACO. Each day this week, our Senior Photographer Erwin Recinos will bring you features and photo essays celebrating the best of L.A.'s thriving lowbike scene. If you have a fly lowbike and would like to show it off to our L.A. TACO followers, send us a photo and your Instagram handle at editor@lataco.com. We'll post it up on our IG stories and give you a shout-out.
[dropcap size=big]W[/dropcap]hen he was 11-years-old, Angel Viramontes started a journey that has won him awards and given him a passion for custom bike builds. With support from his parents, specifically his father, who is also a part of a car club, he joined Legions BC in 2015 when he was 15.
Legions is one of oldest bike clubs in Los Angeles. Founded in 1995, they were first profiled in 2000 for Lowrider Magazine as the lowrider bicycle club of the year. From their neighborhood of Santa Fe Springs, Angel and his father would travel to lowbike events in Vegas and Arizona to set up displays for judging. With that level of support, it all came together when Angel won 1st Place at the 2018 Lowrider super show special interest category.
What won that award was a custom 1948 Taylor Tot stroller deluxe. Hand-crafted iron fixtures shipped from DTWIST Iron Works out of Ontario, Canada. Custom-built metal moldings shipped from Texas by a fellow bike club member and builder.
At such a young age we asked where his motivation came from and Angel tells L.A. TACO, “My bike club is something I've always looked up to.” The prestige of the club and mastery of his craft are some of his driving forces.
At 24-years-old, he has over a decade of custom lowbike building experience. He has plans to pass on his knowledge and love for the bike culture over to his younger brother who is also getting started building his own bike as well. In the future, Angel plans on building more bikes, projects, and work on his 1966 Volkswagen Squareback. At some point, Angel would like to have his own shop with fellow builders from his club.
Follow Angel Viramontes and his custom lowbike building on his Instagram account, @angelvee1.
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