Frame Works founder Steve Rhoades got his start working for one of the leading southern California race car chassis builders in 1967.  During this time he did chassis and tin work for many legendary drag racing figures. Jim Nicol, Leroy Goldstein, Tommy Allen, Jack Jones and Chris “The Greek” Karamesines were just some of the racers Steve did work for during this “golden era” of drag racing.  While working at this chassis shop, Steve hand formed the magnesium body on Don Garlits’ first rear engine dragster that debuted at the 1971 Winter Nationals.  That one car drastically changed drag racing, making it the faster and safer sport it is today.  Many of these cars are currently on display in Garlits’ Drag Racing Museum in Ocala, Florida.

In 1972, Steve decided to branch out on his own.  He rented a small shop in San Diego and thus The Frame Works was born.  While still doing some occasional work on drag race cars, Steve mainly focused on the motorcycle industry.  Soon he was building motocross frames, flat track frames and custom chopper frames along with a host of other parts. The Frame Works produced thousands of handlebars that were sold around the World by MotoCross Fox and Torsten Hallman.  Many legends of the motorcycle industry, including land speed record holder Don Vesco, relied on Steve’s talented fabrication skills and his ability to hand form aluminum.

During the late 1970’s, Steve once again started building drag race cars.  Sand drag racing was popular and the demand for quality dragster chassis kept The Frame Works very busy.  Many of the cars The Frame Works built were featured on the covers of Hot VW’s Magazine, set national records and won numerous races.  The Frame Works built racecars for customers across the nation and in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Australia and Saudi Arabia.  Current NHRA Top Fuel star Cory McClenathan got his start driving a Frame Works built dragster.

In 1984, Steve decided to move his family and The Frame Works from El Cajon, California to Phoenix, Arizona.  Business continued to grow and Frame Works sand and asphalt racecars were in huge demand.  The Frame Works was one of the only chassis shops capable of building Top Fuel Funny Cars to Super Comp Dragsters.  Drag race cars weren’t the only cars coming out of The Frame Works.  Steve and his talented crew built Bonneville, off-road, and mud bog racecars along with ultra light weight sand buggies.  This diversity and Steve’s extensive background helped The Frame Works become one of the leading chassis shops in the nation.

1988 Steve’s son Danny joined The Frame Works full time and concentrated on developing and marketing a line of products for various motor sports markets.  Together they designed the ProShifter which was the original powerglide shifter built specifically for dragsters and altereds.  Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School was the first to install them in their school dragsters and they are still using them today.  The Pro Shifter became the standard shifter in all Super Comp and Comp Eliminator Dragsters.  The Frame Works became warehouse distributors for many leading parts manufacturers.  Specializing in parts that crossed over into different forms of motor sports, The Frame Works parts business grew.

Over the years, The Frame Works has built over 400 racecars.  Many of those race- cars are still winning races and setting records around the World.  In 2001, The Frame Works quit building racecars and concentrated on their expanding motorcycle frame business.  The Frame Works had once again come full circle.  At the end of 2004, Steve retired and Danny purchased his share of The Frame Works.  Because of his vast background, Steve will continue consulting and help with research and development in the future.

Today The Frame Works is both a modern V-Twin motorcycle frame manufacturer and a parts distributor of aftermarket automotive racing parts.  Specializing in proprietary frames, The Frame Works only builds frames for custom V-Twin bike manufacturers.  The Frame Works has invested heavily in state of the art machinery that consists of two Haas CNC mills (VF3, VF4), one Haas CNC lathe (SL-20 w/barfeed) and an Omax 2652 waterjet machining center. The Frame Works stocks a large inventory of brackets, tabs, rod ends, rod end spacers, threaded tube ends, caps, bungs, dzus fasteners, CNC, UTV parts and the complete line of ProShifters and components.