Details drive Dingman's passion

Boyd Dingman's artwork oozes muscle and triggers adrenaline rushes. His finished product is fast, and sometimes causes bystanders to cover their ears.

The 58-year-old owns Dingman's Collision Center, which has locations on Saddle Creek Road near 50th Street, and in west Omaha near 120th Street and West Maple Road.

But there's something about Dingman that few customers know: In addition to operating his family-owned auto body shops with his wife, Diana, Dingman builds motorcycles.

They aren't the flashy fabricated bikes of the popular “American Chopper” reality series that airs on the Learning Channel. And they certainly don't resemble the lightning-quick “crotch rockets” increasingly evident on America's roadways.

Dingman's motorcycles are an extension of himself — proud, strong and detail-oriented.

He considers his mostly hand-fabricated machines works of art, but he hesitates when asked if he considers himself an artist.

“It's an art form,” Dingman said, pausing. “Yeah, I guess I'm an artist.”

More than anything, the machines are inspired by his love for Harley Davidson. His bikes possess the Harley-esque building blocks of V-twin engines, chrome detailing and loud, throaty exhaust.

“You've got to be up to the challenge. You build stuff and spend hours, and hours, and hours building it, and you may stand back and look at it and scrap it, because it's just not what you wanted.

“I've built things, eight hours on a Saturday, four hours on Sunday, and then Sunday evening I rip it off and say, ‘That's not what I wanted.'”

Dingman's daughter, Darcie, said her dad has special skills, especially when it comes to building motorcycles. She recognizes that, even though Darcie, who manages business and human relations for the collision centers, said she occasionally has butted heads with her father.

“He's very meticulous, he's very driven and he's very ethical,” she said. “He's good at it, and he does a lot of things most people couldn't do.”

Of the 10 bikes Dingman has built, nine have been sold, most for “two and a half times what you can get a new Harley for,” he said. The 2010 line of Harleys sells for between $15,000 and $35,000.

For now, customers can't place orders for the custom cycles, but it's something Boyd and his son, Andy, who manages the body shops and also has built motorcycles, may consider down the road.

“I don't want to make a headache business. When it's the right time, we will dabble with it,” Boyd said.

Motorcycles have intrigued Dingman for 38 years. Building them. Owning them. And riding them.

He built his first two-wheeler while in his early 20s and had two bikes featured in Easy Rider magazine in the mid-1970s.

Those issues of Easy Rider now sit, collecting dust and years in a crammed desk drawer near where Dingman labors on his custom bikes. He occasionally pulls out the faded magazines for inspiration.

Dingman sold those bikes, using the money from one sale to put a down payment on the family's first house.

He prides himself on creating a final product that reflects his strong, driven personality.

“Some people don't like motorcycles. Some people don't mind the motorcycles, but they don't like the people who ride them.

“I've always been Boyd Dingman. I've always done my own thing.”

Dingman's latest project is being showcased today at the Big Twin Showdown motorcycle event and drag race in Council Bluffs.

As he worked on the bike earlier this summer, Dingman said he was having a hard time warming to the new chrome motor that is the machine's centerpiece.

“Anybody can have that motor,” Dingman said with a perplexed tone in his voice. “I like the stuff that sets your bike apart from the others.

“It needs to reflect me, as a craftsman, as an artist, as being detailed.”

Contact the writer:

444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com