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Local guy stitches onto ‘Biker Build-Off’
Will Cascio is one tough hombre — who wields a sewing machine at his South Austin home off William Cannon Drive.
He custom designs leather seats for motorcycles. His company, Heavy Magic Fine Leather Customs, was created in 1995 and has been based here since 2001.
Turning out intricate leather designs is quite a change from Cascio’s earlier careers, which include nine years as a rodeo cowboy, four years as a jockey, eight years as a graphic and Web designer and 13 years as an actor/stuntman.
His handiwork — and the designer himself — can be seen on tonight’s season opener of “Biker Build-Off,” at 9 on the Discovery Channel.
On tonight’s third-season opener of the bike-building reality show, Cascio is on the team that’s souping up a motorcycle for Warren Vesely, who competes against bike-maker Jerry Covington.
The building portion of the episode, including making the seat, was filmed in Indiana in July; judging took place in Pennsylvania; and the “reveal” took place in front of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
As you might imagine, this isn’t just any old motorcycle seat. It’s top-quality leather with scarlet stitching and 24-carat goldleaf trim. If you were in the market for such a chopper seat, it would cost you about $1,200. Cascio’s most expensive seat so far cost $3,000.
“It was my first ‘Biker Build-Off’ show, and I sure hope another one comes up because it was a lot of fun,” Cascio said. “I got to do something extreme. This is pretty intricate stuff.”
Cascio, 41, came to Austin to work on the film “Secondhand Lions” and liked it so much here he decided to stay. He was born in Houston and grew up in different areas of the Southwest.
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