ABOUT US

Travis Feist, the owner of Dakota Kustomz, started his passion in the automotive and motorcycle industry at age four where he grew up with a wrench in his hand. He made improvements on whatever he could.

He grew up on his family farm where he would upgrade and toy with any machinery he could get his hands on. His 8th-grade year is where the life of wanting to someday open up his own custom garage came into vision as he and a buddy went to their local junkyard and came across a 65’ Impala Super Sport. Excited with enthusiasm, the owner of the junkyard said he’d let him take it for $200. For the next three years, Travis put everything he had into as he rebuilt its motor, transmission, and differential during the shop class he was in. By Travis’s junior year he found himself teaching the class after racking up so many hours. After all that was finished, he traded the owner of the local body shop a full paint job for landscaping his yard to complete his first very own custom build.

After High School, Travis and his brother moved to Bismarck where he eventually pursued his dream and opened his first custom shop. Back in 1999, it all started with Dakota Customs with a “C” which was a partnership, and, after 6 years, decided that he would be better off on his own where he then opened up Kustomz Inc. in 2005 which held strong until 2009. When the custom bike market crashed due to an overabundance of cheap knock-offs and declining interest there was not enough work coming in. The collapse hurt many small shops just like Travis’s, but it didn’t stop Travis to keep pursuing his dream. He was later asked to come run and manage Planet Power Sports from 2009-2015, where he also got Arctic Cat Certified. Unfortunately, the owner sold the business and once again Travis was on his own knowing everything happens for a reason he opened Dakota Kustomz, this time with a “K”.

All the hiatus may have challenged Travis throughout the years, but he always continued the path to fulfill his dreams. In 2016, Travis was back in action working on custom vehicles and bikes in his own shop.

It’s no lie that the custom bike phase was huge, and over the years, he has created some real works of art. In 2007, Midcontinent Communications along with Dr. Pepper asked him to be involved in the biggest promotion in the Ralph Engelstad Arena where he created the Fighting Sioux Custom Chopper, which was raffled off and given away Feb 17th at a UND home hockey game. It was a busy year for Travis getting involved with the community and surrounding areas like this as he also built the custom Budweiser Chopper that was also raffled off and all proceeds were given to charity. Doll’s Custom Chopper won the People’s Choice Award at a local Easy Riders Magazine event which also earned Travis a spot at their annual Las Vegas Show. This self-taught farm boy placed 15th out of 100 and said “I’ve worked hard for everything I’ve earned, I can’t put into words what it means to get this kind of recognition” so he set a goal and something to shoot for to keep him motivated and in the game. Wanting to build an empire right here out of Bismarck/Mandan, Travis wants to show people you don’t have to be from the coast or the big city to have a creative eye and offer a great product.