At first look, Cristian Sosa looks like every little thing a biker needs to be. His slicked-back hair, tightly groomed beard, and arms adorned with well-worn black and grey tattoos might idiot you into considering that Sosa’s demeanor matches his hard-core biker picture. However like that saying about books and covers, not every little thing is because it appears.
Anybody who has had the pleasure of interacting with Sosa sees a humble, soft-spoken household man who constructed his life round his ardour for fabricating among the most intricate and distinctive bikes on this planet out of his namesake store, Sosa Metalworks.
Right here, Sosa blends his ardour for work and play, meticulously honing his craft whereas accenting the machines which were the muse of his life for the final 25 years.
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From Juarez to Las Vegas
“Since I came to the States, Las Vegas has been home.” Born in Juarez, Mexico, because the son of a dentist, Sosa’s household made the transfer to Las Vegas, the place he turned obsessive about vehicles from an early age. With lowrider tradition booming throughout a lot of the Southwest’s city fringe, his infatuation got here naturally.
As a child, Sosa recollects flipping by lowrider magazines, consuming as a lot of the superbly motored machines as he might, and digging by the racks behind his native fuel station to make sure he had the most recent points.
Captivated by the tradition, Sosa received his first store job at Chubby’s Scorching Rods, the place he labored as a store hand … that’s, till he received fired for by accident attaching rear tires to the entrance of a consumer’s automobile.
Not one to falter on the first signal of failure, Sosa (who had little to no expertise with bodywork) fibbed his approach right into a place throughout the road on the famend Las Vegas scorching rod store Rely’s Kustoms, the place he turned dazzled with the scope and element that went into their work.
At Rely’s, Sosa discovered solace in his ardour and a mentor within the store’s paint maestro, Ryan Evans. “I was still a kid when I started at Count’s. Working there taught me not only how to work, but work ethic.”
With a strong bike program in place, Sosa’s focus switched from 4 wheels to 2. This ultimately led to his getting a 98 Suzuki GSXR at 18, a catalytic occasion that led to just about 2 a long time of driving.
He constructed his first customized bike utilizing a Harley Evo motor for the notorious El Diablo bike run in Baja, Mexico, in his early 20s. El Diablo was his first formal bike run, a transcendent expertise that not solely offered a foray into the bike world however confirmed him the profound neighborhood and tradition that got here together with it.
Twelve years later, Sosa struck out on his personal, opening his namesake store throughout the highway: Sosa Metalworks.
“I’m an artist first,” says Sosa. “Every bike we make starts as an idea in my head, but learning how to make a living off that while creating something functional is difficult.”
Now with 12 years below his belt and collaborations with main bike producers resembling Royal Enfield and Harley Davidson, Sosa’s distinctive mix of left discipline designs and signature metal-framing have firmly cemented him as one of many world’s foremost fabricators. With a blossoming enterprise in his residence metropolis, Sosa can commit time to exploring the wild and open highway his bikes are constructed for.
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The Street Much less Traveled
In late August, Sosa went on his most adventurous journey up to now, exploring the open nation and towering Himalayan mountains. “Two years ago, when I was in India, I met a friend at a bike show who does this ride every year. This was a dream trip of mine, so when they invited me to join, I knew I couldn’t say no.”
Bitten by the journey bug, this was removed from Sosa’s first rugged tour, however it was his most intense. Exploring one of many world’s highest-altitude mountain ranges through bike isn’t any straightforward feat. Touchdown in India, the journey started with an 8-hour experience to Kathmandu. From there, the workforce set off on their 12-day journey.
Sosa explains, “The Himalayas are no joke. You’ll be driving down a super narrow dirt road, and suddenly, a truck will be hurtling at you full speed while you’re staring over a sheer drop that goes thousands of feet down.”
Traversing practically 100 miles per day, Sosa encountered much more pleasure on the highway. “There’s landslides all over the place. Sometimes, the road would be blocked off, and we’d have to navigate around them, or you’d hear about one from a place we’d just drove past.”
As treacherous as it’s, Sosa describes the area as probably the most stunning locations he’s seen. Staying in villages alongside the way in which, he communed with the tapestry of people that name the Himalayas residence, visiting monasteries, ingesting tea, crossing bridges over huge chasms — and even spending time with native snake charmers, wrapping their cobras round his neck en path to climbing to over 16,000 toes in elevation.
He crashed twice over 12 days however witnessed what he describes as “some of the bluest sky I’ve ever seen,” a commerce we’re positive he’d make once more if given the chance.
A Driving Power
Fortunately, Sosa’s love of journey pairs symbiotically along with his fabrication work. With the bike neighborhood stretching throughout the far reaches of the globe, Sosa is invited to showcase his work at bike reveals which have taken him to dozens of phenomenal locales.
“My first-ever trip out of the country other than Mexico was to Japan for a bike show. That initial experience really opened my eyes to traveling.”
At any second, Sosa can recount a tasty meal he had on a highway journey by Western Europe or a buddy he made at a motorbike present in Asia. One such story even entails a sacred temple deep within the jungles of Indonesia.
“I love Bali. It’s a place I’ve been going to for years now. One of my dear friends there happens to be one of the most talented bike builders/painters/people I’ve ever met. He once took me on a trip to Trunyan village, which resides deep in the jungle on the shores of a lake where there’s a skull-lined burial ground. The villagers lay their dead out in the open and plant sacred trees in their place.”
In chatting with Sosa, it’s clear that whereas driving bikes and delightful surroundings have their enchantment, they aren’t the driving power behind his explorations. Exploring completely different cultures and making new associates drives him to proceed pushing in his pursuit of untapped roads in far-off worlds.
Like Father, Like Daughter
Whereas “follow your passion” has grow to be considerably of a cliché, it’s arduous to disclaim that the Sosa Metalworks’ founder has tapped into the concord that beckons when one’s life and work exist on the identical airplane.
During the last 12 years, the store has developed from its preliminary inception. By way of annual workshops, Sosa has begun passing down his a long time of data to these keen to get their arms soiled.
When requested what his favourite undertaking up to now is, he replied, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s the bike I got to build with my daughter Cindy,” Sosa reveals excitedly. “She had a year-long class project. Some kids did murals. Other kids worked on presentations. We built her a Harley from scratch.”
Not solely was their Nightster Particular far and away the good class undertaking of the yr (and possibly ever), however it additionally went on to win Finest Sportster at Born Free 2023. From a child flipping by lowrider magazines to constructing a pink-accented Harley for his daughter, this undertaking was a full-circle second certainly.
And as for what’s subsequent? Vegas remains to be his residence base. On any given weekend, Sosa might be present in his store welding a buyer’s bike in a sturdy pair of Dickies or ripping one in every of his personal by a surrounding canyon along with his associates.
As Sosa can attest, life is full of ups and downs, however one factor is for certain: he plans to benefit from the experience.
This put up was sponsored by Dickies.