IRONPONY
Custom motorcycle paint, airbrushing, paint correction & cut-and-buff finishing — built with pride, precision, and grit. Dubuque, IA.
WHERE GRIT MEETS GLOSS.
From garage to shop
Built from the ground up.
Iron Pony Customs was built from the ground up by Jeremy, the owner — also known as “Pony Boy” on the road. What started as rebuilding purpose in a garage turned into building a shop centered around discipline, pride, craftsmanship, and the motorcycle culture that has always felt like home.
This space wasn't handed down or bought turn-key. The ceiling, the floors, the walls, the lighting, the booth — all of it went in by hand. What used to be a packed, grungy, wall-to-wall mess is now a controlled environment built around clean finishes and the kind of attention to detail you only get from someone who put it together themselves.
Same hands that built the shop, build the bikes.
That's the throughline — restoration runs in the walls before it runs on the lift. Every job carries the same standard the room itself was built to.
What gets done
Custom Paint
Bare-metal-up paint jobs. Single-stage, basecoat/clear, candies, kandys, flakes, pearls. Tanks, fenders, hoods, panels — built to outlast the bike.
- · Tanks & fenders
- · Hoods & deck lids
- · Helmets & shells
- · Panels & fairings
Airbrushing
Skulls, flames, portraits, lettering, tribute pieces, custom murals. One-of-one work — your bike, your story, painted on the metal.
- · Skulls & flames
- · Portraits
- · Tributes & memorials
- · Lettering & logos
Paint Correction
Multi-stage compounding and polishing. Swirl marks, oxidation, light scratches, holograms — corrected, refined, sealed. Wet-look, mirror finish.
- · Swirl removal
- · Oxidation cut
- · Scratch refinement
- · Mirror polish
Cut & Buff Finishing
Color-sand, cut, and machine-buff after fresh paint. Eliminates orange peel, flattens the surface, brings depth and gloss to factory-plus.
- · Wet-sand 1500–3000
- · Compound cut
- · Polish & seal
- · Show-finish prep
Tank & Fender Refinish
Strip, repair, prime, paint, clear, sand and buff. The whole pipeline on Harleys, metric cruisers, vintage builds — done in-house, one tank at a time.
- · Harley sheet metal
- · Metric cruisers
- · Vintage builds
- · One-off projects
Helmet & Small-Part Work
Helmets, mirrors, side covers, badges, brake calipers — small surface area, big impact. Perfect for a personal touch on a stock bike.
- · Helmet shells
- · Caliper paint
- · Side covers
- · Trim & badges
No shortcuts
Garage Built
No factory line. No assembly belt. One booth, one bike, one tank at a time — built like the project actually means something. Because it does.
Detail Driven
The prep is 80% of the job. Strip, repair, sand, prime, block, paint, clear, sand, buff. Layers that stick. Finishes that last.
No Shortcuts
PPG, House of Kolor, Sherwin-Williams, automotive-grade clears. No cut paint, no eBay knockoffs. You see exactly what's going on the metal.
One Job At A Time
Your project gets the booth, the lights, and undivided attention until it's done right. Quality over volume — every time, no exceptions.
Honest Quotes
Free estimate. Flat-rate when I can, hourly with a cap when I can't. The number we agree on is the number you pay — every time.
Veteran Owned
Run by Jeremy Cruse — veteran, painter, owner. Discipline in the prep, pride in the finish. The flag stays on the wall for a reason.
How it goes
Send a photo & a vision
Text or email pictures of the part and any reference for what you want — color, art, finish. Tell me what the bike means to you.
Quote & schedule
I send you a flat quote and a slot on the calendar. Deposit holds the booth. No mystery fees, no creep — what we say is what you pay.
Strip, prep, paint
Bare-metal prep when needed, primer, color, art, clear. Climate-controlled booth, quality materials, zero rushed coats.
Cut, buff, deliver
Color-sand, machine-buff, polish, seal. Walk-around together at pickup. If it's not right, it doesn't leave the booth.
Inside the shop
Garage-built does not mean careless.
Our booth is cleaned, filtered, ventilated, and prepped before every spray session.
Clean Booth
Setup
Every paint job starts long before paint hits the surface. Lighting, airflow, filtration, and cleanliness — all part of the process.
At Iron Pony Customs, every paint job starts with preparation long before paint ever hits the surface. The booth is fully cleaned and wiped down from the ceiling to the floor before spraying begins to help reduce dust, dirt, and contamination inside the work area. Lighting, airflow, filtration, and cleanliness are all part of the process.
Our shop uses a dedicated air filtration and exhaust system along with moisture and particle separation equipment to help deliver clean, consistent airflow to the paint guns. Every line is regulated and filtered to reduce moisture, oil, and debris that can ruin a finish.
This may be a garage-built shop, but it is built with purpose.
We are not cutting corners with dirty floors, poor airflow, or rushed work. The goal is simple: create a controlled environment focused on clean finishes, attention to detail, and quality craftsmanship.
Recent
Builds
Off the lift, off the bench, out the booth. Scroll the reel — bobbers, side covers, engines, every finish sprayed in-house.
Powered by Lime Line
Color that
hits different.
We use Lime Line paints because they lay down smooth, hit with deep color, and hold up on real bikes — not just showroom pieces.
From solid blacks to wild custom colors, every finish is sprayed with materials that perform.
Off the booth floor
Jeremy painted my Road King candy apple over silver flake. The man takes his time, takes his pride, and the paint came back better than the day I bought the bike.
Got an airbrushed memorial tank done for my brother. Sat with Jeremy for an hour talking through the design. The man cares. The work shows it.
Brought him a fender three other shops ghosted me on. He prepped it right, painted it right, cut and buffed it like glass. Won't go anywhere else.
Helmet I'd been dragging around for two years finally got the skull-and-flames treatment. Quoted me straight, finished when he said he would. Stand-up guy.