- Category:
- Richest Business › CEOs
- Net Worth:
- $17 Million
- Birthdate:
- 1939 (85 years old)
- Gender:
- Male
What is Arlen Ness' Net Worth?
Arlen Ness is an American motorcycle designer who has a net worth of $17 million. Arlen Ness was born July 12, 1939. He is best known for his customized choppers and hot rods. His first customs were made in the garage of his home in San Leandro, California, but by the early '70s he had moved to a storefront on East 14th Street. Ness is recognized for his unique painting style and for developing a line of custom motorcycle parts. His popularity grew as he built new custom bikes and then had them displayed on the bike show circuit and featured in motorcycle magazines. After more than three decades of custom bike building and developing his business, Arlen Ness, Inc. moved to a Dublin, California facility which included a museum featuring more than 40 of his custom motorcycles.
The museum displays his Untouchable, the twin motor Two Bad, the antique-inspired Ness-Tique, Blower Bike, the Italian sports car-inspired Ferrari Bike, the '57 Chevy-inspired Ness-Stalgia, the Bugatti-like Smooth-Ness, the Discovery Channel's Biker Build-Off bike Top Banana, and his jet-powered Mach Ness. The Mach Ness is a motorcycle Ness built in 2005, inspired by Jay Leno's turbine-powered bike, which incorporates a jet-powered helicopter engine as its power; the design, concept, paint and graphics were created by Carl Brouhard and the hand-made aluminum body work was by Bob Monroe. Arlen has received recognition and awards including Builder of the Year, induction into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Awards. His son, Cory Ness, has worked with Arlen for more than 30 years and now runs the day-to-day business operations at Arlen Ness, Inc. Cory himself has gone on to be recognized as a top custom bike builder and even defeated his father in a 2004 episode of Biker Build-Off. Carrying on the family tradition to a third generation, Cory's son, Zach Ness, built several high end customs before he finished high school in 2006. Arlen Ness also patented the Big Shot, a method of altering the motorcycle's fuel injection system, and thereby personalizing the motorcycle's performance.
