Troy Honeycutt was born in the mid sixties to a “space program” family. His father worked for one of the bigger aero space companies as a rocket parts inspector. His mother was a typical “housewife type” of the times.

Growing up in Southern California, he was exposed to the hotrod, motorcycle, skateboarding, and surfing lifestyle that is California. As a child, Troy grew up down the street from people such as Jim Dunn, of seventies drag racing fame, and pin-striping legend, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. When he and his friends played around the neighborhood, they went to these peoples’ houses.

“Jim Dunn always had a dragster in his driveway, and we’d go down, climb in it, and act like we were hittin’ the strip.”

“ And Ed Roth, well, we used to go to his house, and have him pinstripe our names on our bicycles. He’d give us all boxes of his Rat Fink key chains, and tell us to go sell em at school. He’d also say he knew how many were in the box and he wanted all the money for them. There was no way he could have known how many key chains were in those boxes; we sold a ton of em. But, Roth saying that kept us honest."

Troy’s dad always had a 57 Chevy, and a 67 Charger. His dad was raised with the values of a man who “earns what he’s got, so he appreciates what he has.” These values, and his father’s acceptance of nothing less than perfection were passed on to Troy growing up too. Whenever his pop was working on one of the cars, Troy was right there, helping out. Even if it was just fetchin wrenches, it was helping out and working on the cars, so Troy was into it.

At age 11, Troy started surfing. All the kids in the neighborhood surfed. He also took his first ride on a “chopper.” His aunt’s boyfriend rode with a popular “motorcycle club” of that time. One day the family was having a picnic, and everyone had gone to the park except Troy. His aunt’s boyfriend showed up, Troy asked for a ride, and that was it! All he could talk about at the picnic was how he was going to get a chopper. His mom said “when you turn 18, you can do whatever you want.” She thought this want would pass, especially by the time he’d turn 18. She was wrong.

All through high school, he still had the want for a bike. The strange thing is, that none of his friends were even into that lifestyle. They all surfed, and skated. Troy did too, but that ride on that bike was burned into his memory.

At 18, Troy bought his first Harley-Davidson. It didn’t take long for him to completely tear it down, powder coat the frame, and paint the sheet metal. Straight from the painter, he went over to Big Daddy Roth’s house for some lettering on the tanks. Shortly after that, he took those tanks off to put on some larger capacity tanks. He still has the original tanks hanging on a wall at the shop.

Since no one in his circle was into the bike scene yet, Troy decided to find people who were. He went to where he knew the bike scene was popular: Hollywood. It was the late 80’s, and all the rockers of the time were into the bike scene.

The first night out, he met a guy who could have passed for his brother. Long hair, tattoos, and a Harley. His name was Jacques. Right away, Jacques started calling Troy “T”.
The two of them became instant friends. They’d go to shows, cruise the strip, all the stuff guys did in their twenties in Hollywood.

Troy had his bike longer than Jacques had had his, so he was a little more comfortable with working on them. It wasn’t long before they had torn Jacques’ bike down, tricked it out, and chopped it up.

Soon, the bike scene in Hollywood blew up!!! Troy, was going to all the hip clubs, The Cathouse, Bordello, The Rainbow, Exposure 54, etc.. He was meeting rock stars, and celebrities alike. It didn’t take long for people to find out that he knew what was up with tricking out bikes, and rods. One day, Jacques was talking to someone who had just had his bike worked on by Troy, and the guy said, “T is the king, man!!! King T!!” That name stuck like Bazooka on hot asphalt.

After years of working on rods, and bikes, King T decided to get certified as a Harley-Davidson technician. He, and Jacques went to Arizona to go to school. When they got back to California, they opened a shop on Melrose specializing in ground up builds, and customizing bikes like no others. Their clientele consisted of people the likes of, Matt Sorum, Dave Navarro, Brad Garrett, Riki Rachtman, Antonio Sabato Jr., and many more. Nothing lasts for ever, and neither did the shop on Melrose.

King T still lives in the world of kustom kulture, continuing the legacy of perfection taught to him by his father, of creativity and innovation inspired by Big Daddy Roth, and of competition and speed instilled by Jim Dunn, and he leaves his “Midas Touch” on anything he chooses to work on.