Kael-El Kustoms
Salvage & Thrift Superstore

Meet the owner

After I lost my mother to cancer in 2017, everything changed. I'd retired from the military in 2005 and spent 20 years building custom homes. Then one day I quit — just like that — and told everybody I was going to build Harley-Davidson motorcycles instead. Everybody thought I was crazy. I'd never built a Harley in my life. I'd barely ever ridden one.

Truth is, after my mom died — I got divorced that same day — I spent about three years just watching videos. I never went to college for bike building; I never formally learned any of it. I'm self-taught. I watched every video I could for about three years. I sat in that house until I got my head right and came out of the depression. Then one day a couple of one-percenter friends of my aunt's came over, pulled me out of the house, and told me I needed to start acting right. They put me on a Harley — and I never got off.

Here we are, seven years later, still doing it — so I guess we're pretty good at what we do. Walking away from building homes to chase this dream was the best decision I ever made. It's the best thing I've ever done for my life — the thing I love the most, that I never knew I loved.

We've won many shows and placed in many more — we've earned a lot of accolades throughout the Northern California bike-building community. We're one of the premier builders in the state.

After the first three years of building Harleys, I had parts laying all over the shop — so I decided to start an eBay store. That first year on eBay we made quite a bit of money, and I realized maybe we should transition into being an eBay store instead of just a motorcycle shop. So here we are: 2026, almost 2027. Nowadays we build motorcycles for our friends instead of for a job — and the job is running a thrift store and salvage operation for parts, all across the internet.

I spent a few years running in the outlaw motorcycle world, and that life cost me — including time behind bars. Along the way I met my daughters' mother. The VA doctors had told me I could never have kids, so when Mary came along she was our miracle baby. Betsy followed about a year later. I don't run with the outlaw club world anymore. These days I build bikes for my friends and myself, I run this store, and everything I do is about being a good girl dad: staying clean, staying straight, and showing up for my kids.

Kael-El Kustoms started as that custom motorcycle shop here in Orland, California — home of Sac Valley Syndicate — and grew into the Salvage & Thrift Superstore: Harley parts, car & truck parts, vintage finds and gear, sold direct with no marketplace fees, ever.

“Fitment is only a suggestion. Ride your shit.”

— Kael-El: builder, biker, GirlDad.