It’s finally done.
A few shots of my latest project bike, which has taken the better part of ten years of on-again, off-again tinkering. This bike has followed me through two job losses, a major move, sporadic spells of not giving a shit whatsoever, countless other projects, and the loss of my Dad, who introduced me to bikes when I was a kid and unfortunately never got to see the end product.
I started slowly compiling parts for this thing starting back in 2000 (swap meets and eBay were the source for most of the raw material, hours were spent scouring for just the right bits), when I bought the frame and rear wheel. That rear wheel, by the way, is a Halibrand spindle-mount unit, which were typically used on fronts of gasser drag cars in the late ‘50s and ‘60s running late ‘30s Ford straight axles; a bit of head scratching and machining was necessary to adapt and use it on a bike. That wheel was the source for plenty of consternation through the course of the build, necessitating plenty of mods to the rear section of the frame, not to mention a lot of custom parts.
The bike is dead simple at first glance, but there are dozens of one-off bits, many of which can hardly be seen (or can't be altogether). Lots of hours scrutinizing and changing things in the interest of minimizing superfluous items. It's one you have to look at a while to really catch everything.
The bike’s format/direction (I hate the word “theme” due to a certain TV show) changed three times during the decade of piddling, but the frame and rear wheel remained constant. The look and general feel of the final iteration was to be that of the classic ‘60s fuel dragster, crossed with a period rigid chopper.
Power is via a 93” panhead/shovelhead hybrid, for something a little visually different (and that pans are the coolest looking H-D engine, IMO) not to mention interesting to piece together. Just a 4-speed with a kicker, all you really need. There's nowhere to hide it so I wanted the wiring intentionally visible and it's all woven cloth-jacketed, hand laced with cord instead of taking the easy way out with plastic zip ties.
The funky, color-shifting metalflake was expertly applied by our very own ducpainter – it’s incredible in the sunlight, changing from bronze to gold to green to blue to purple. I had intended on some subtle, fine hand striping on the top of the tank and fender, but many beers later I think it’s best left simple.
Hope you dig it. I know ducpainter and Stu have for quite some time.
