Alan Stulberg’s love of motorcycles started at age five, after his grandfather gave him a tiny Honda. He’d ride it around the family ranch. “I could get away from my twin brother and feel totally free,” he says. He was hooked. In 2008, 28 years later, he founded Revival Cycles after leaving a tech job. In an East Austin warehouse, Revival builds custom bikes (like the unfinished Ducati pictured), restores vintage ones, and crafts leather accessories. No longer a scrappy upstart, it is now a global brand, with 23 employees. Revival’s Handbuilt Motorcycle Show draws 25,000 gearheads to Austin every April to marvel at one another’s works of art. Stulberg’s favorite recent creation: the Birdcage, a titanium-caged beast he built with BMW—a three-year project.

Texas Monthly: Even though you loved motorcycles from a young age, you didn’t initially pursue it as a career. What led you to make the switch?

Alan Stulberg: I was working in the tech world, and I got fired in 2007 and took off on a motorcycle trip through Europe. I realized that I didn’t want to go back to the working world ever again. So I came back and started Revival. The theme was motorcycles, but I always envisioned a startup that was more of a lifestyle brand with motorcycles as an inspiration for design of all kinds.

TM: Is there a particular kind of bike you specialize in?

AS: For restorations, collectible pre-war bikes. And then we build full complete customs for major manufacturers. There’s not another motorcycle shop in the world that does the level of work we do for manufacturers and the way we do it.

TM: What’s your design process like?

AS: We start with basic suspension geometry, then sketch the creative ideas around that. That initial shaping of the overall aesthetics of where things are headed is probably the most exciting part. And then when it’s done and you kind of stand back and look at it, it’s pretty intensely satisfying.

TM: Why has Austin been a good place for Revival to be headquartered?

AS: It’s such a creative-focused town, but there wasn’t really much of a scene here around the motorcycle culture, like there is in Long Beach or Los Angeles. There are motorcycle shows out there every weekend, and Austin isn’t that way. I got lucky when the Formula One track opened because it brought a totally different group to the city. Now, we have people from all over the world who come to the Moto GP weekend and our Handbuilt Show.

 

Founder Alan Stulberg at Revival Cycles' workshop in East Austin, in a 12,000-square-foot warehouse.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
An unfinished custom Ducati that Revival is building for a Dell executive. Stulberg is not only Revival’s founder but its chief designer.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Each section of the custom Ducati’s curvy exhaust pipes was hand-welded, a process that took about 80 man hours to complete.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
There are about 150 motorcycles in the warehouse today—everything from vintage pre-war collectibles to half-built custom jobs.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Revival designs and builds unique parts for its bikes, part of a do-it-yourself ethos that Stulberg aims to encourage among his customers.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
The Revival Birdcage is a concept bike that was commissioned by BMW to showcase that company’s new 1,800 cc engine.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Stulberg sees the Birdcage, which is built entirely from titanium, aluminum, and carbon fiber, as the culmination of his design career so far.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
It would be easier to build motorcycle parts with computers and CNC machines, but Stulberg and his team of 23 often trade convenience for getting their hands dirty.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Shavings from a 1945 Monarch lathe used to spin and cut metal into motorcycle parts.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Rather than specialize in one style of motorcycle, Revival’s work spans all eras and styles.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Hand Built.” Subscribe today.