John Shope of Dirty Bird Concepts and Paul Yaffe of Bagger Nation are two of the most renowned motorcycle aftermarket names in the industry today. The two are stars of the History Channel’s “Biker Battleground: Phoenix” and now, Shope and Yaffe have also signed up to be part of the Sturgis Buffalo Chip’s Buffalo Chip Challenge.

Both Shope and Yaffe will play pivotal roles in assisting Black Hills area high school students as they embark on the challenge of customizing a 2014 Indian Chieftain and a 2014 Harley-Davidson Road King->ke3392. The Sturgis Buffalo Chip will then auction off the two customized cruisers->ke392 on Aug. 3, 2015, in support of its signature Legends Ride. For what it's worth, these students couldn't have found two more capable tuners to get assist them in this challenge.

The opportunity to learn from two of the best bike tuners in Shope and Yaffe is a tremendous opportunity for these young bloods. Not only will they get the chance to get instructions from these industry heavyweights, but they can also get their feet wet in the world of motorcycle customization. That's a pretty sweet deal.

Shope is regarded as one of the best motorcycle artists in the world and students can tap into that kind of brilliance, together with his Dirty Bird Concepts fabrications to transfer the Indian Chieftain into a fully customized world-class cruiser. On the other end, Yaffe’s reputation as a big wheel bagger should come in handy when he leads another group of students in giving the Harley-Davidson Road King its own customized make-over using parts from Bagger Nation.

Both bikes are expected to be finished and ready in time for the Donnie Smith Bike and Car Show on March 28-29, 2015. The Buffalo Chip Challenge is also open to any high school student in the Black Hills area, even if the orientation is set to take place at Sturgis Brown High School.

I'm personally excited to see what these students can come up with. They've got some of the best tuners in the world serving as instructors so expectations are pretty high that they'll come up with two sweet customized bikes.

Click past the jump to read more about the Buffalo Chip Challenge.

Why it matters

It's not often that you get to work with established tuners in the motorcycle aftermarket industry. But to do so as a student? At the very least, that's a very valuable learning experience.

I'm actually a little bit jealous that these students get to work with John Shope and Paul Yaffe. I've been a fan of their works for quite some time now and I certainly wouldn't mind getting a first-hand education from either one of them.

Hopefully, the young minds participating in this challenge get to absorb as much knowledge as they can about the world of motorcycle customization. Opportunities like this don't just happen at a drop of a bucket so if I was to impart my own wisdom on these students, I'd tell them to strap up and listen to the masters at work.

Who knows, some of them might even have a future in the business. There's no better on-the-job training to get there than to learn from some of the best minds in the business.