The Devil Meets the Ice House

There’s this shop in Houston run by the Devil and the lovely Holly who danced with puppets at the Houston Renaissance fair, half naked, while the Devil and I discussed this chopper.

Everything about Kent Weeks, the Devil, Holly, and their shop nestled in a residential district surrounded by tall chain link fences and snarling dogs, is strange. The devil is an anomaly in our industry. He’s a craftsman. He doesn’t run a shop like anyone else. He’s on site to make shit, not order inventory for display cases. He’s had employees, but they didn’t last. He’s had interns but they didn’t master his level of work ethic and succumbed to the Devil’s punishment. There’s a growing Boot Hill behind the shop, and all the tombstones are made from rusting steel.

Kent is the mad chopper scientist who builds mostly ground-up scooters for customers who stroll into his shop in a visionary daze. The Lucky Devil Metal Works is not a franchise joint, or a shop packed with used bikes for sale. This is a fab shop and the Devil loves to fab. “Shit just lays down for me,” Kent said of working with sheet metal. So let’s get specific.

“Hold on just a moment,” the Devil said his eyes turned crimson and sweat beaded on his furrowed brow. “The Sportster is nearly a bobber now,” he hissed. “We need to shift gears.” They quickly turned the Sportster into a cool bobber. Another issue surfaced. Cole wanted a chopper for the long road, and a rigid.

They ordered a Kraftech rigid, but the more the Devil listened to Cole’s goals, the more he questioned his reasoning. The bobbed Sportster was tight and had lowered front and rear suspension with progressive systems, so limited travel. “Take the Sporty for a long ride,” Kent said. “It’s almost a rigid.”

The first time out, Cole enjoyed his putt and still contended a rigid long distance chopper would be the way to go. His Sporty had Progressive rear shocks designed for this chassis, and although the front end was lowered, Progressive designed in some travel and suspension, plus the seat was massive.

A couple of weeks later he rode out on a longer ride and came back with a different insight. Maybe he rode a partner’s rigid with a solid solo seat and billet pegs. He was ready to negotiate. The Devil in all his evil ways convinced Cole to go for a stretched Rolling Thunder Dyna frame for a rubber-mounted chassis. Something wild was about to take place.

There’s nothing like a long chopper for the open road. Nothing says freedom more than a chopper on the open highway. There’s something magical about pulling into a truck stop in the middle of no place on a chopper. Every other scooter in the parking lot will most likely be stock. A chopper represents something unique, one off, out of the box, out of this world, and outrageous.

So here you have it. It’s a rolling chassis designed by the Devil himself to take a 10-over glide in style and be coupled to a Dyna Evo rubber-mounted chassis, and be able to take a 32-inch inseam rider wherever he wants to go in wild style. Plus it had to function, as if it was a stock touring machine.

OFFICIAL BIKERNET SIDEBAR: “Here is the info on the frame guys up in Canada,” said Kent. “The first time I met Sam in person was at the show up in Ohio. They had a fairly new single-loop rigid frame on display (the Python) and we had Joe T’s Trumpet on display at the Hot Bike booth.”

“Being a Dyna fan myself, I always wanted to do something with one of their drop seat frames but never had the opportunity until this project came together and I am glad it did.”

Although this bike looks like a prop from a Sylvester Stallone movie, it contains all the necessary elements of a long-distance or touring rider, except no front fairing or a stereo, but we won’t go there. He stayed true to the chopper mantra.

Kent started by adding gussets to the top motor-mount (the frame was stretched 8 inches) and building a serious-capacity gas tank from the ground up, with a sight glass, gas gauge incorporated in the tank.

“Here are some naked shots and such, made the tank completely from scratch,” Kent said. He made a special effort to space out the bottom rubber-mounts to allow for large tank weight support.

After the tank was finish welded, Kent took it to a Houston radiator shop for sealing. They drilled holes in the bottom of the 16-gauge tank and inserted special fixtures for sandblasting the inside for cleansing and a strong bonding surface. Then the liner was inserted and baked into place. This tank can never be modified or welded on again. “The mounting tabs were designed for durability,” the Devil muttered, “not to be pretty.”

Major work went into the design and fabrication of the seat and rear fender elements, which were many. First, he widened an early Panhead bobtail fender, and then he designed the fender rail support and bag support system. The whole unit would ultimately be welded to the frame.

Modified tubing supports the rear fender, then ½-inch plate on either side created the landing for the custom leather bags. He built a mounting frame, and then had the bags built around it, so no frame remains on the bike if the bags are removed.

He built the seat so the front half hinges and has a stop; it allows access to the battery and electrical box in the modified oil bag, which also became an integral portion of the frame. The oil bag is actually under the Baker transmission, which allowed Kent the space to make the frame oil bag/battery box into the electrical and wiring harness centerpiece. It also contains the coils.

The Devil made the entire seat system by hand and it mounted to the rear fender after Houston leather craftsman, Stoney Paul, handled the upholstery and diamond tuck pattern. Then he made a separate detachable Devil’s sissy bar and luggage rack.

ANOTHER OFFICIAL BIKERNET SIDEBAR–Harley-Davidson quit making transmissions for Evo Dynas. That wasn’t a problem because Kent planned to run a Baker 6-speed overdrive trans. But when he needed a shift drum cap, he ran into a part number accessibility issue, but Bert Baker came to the rescue. As soon as word came down regarding the factory and Evo transmissions, he started to horde them. Good man.

I asked the Devil about the flames sketched on the side of the bare tank. “I draw flames on everything,” said Kent. I felt the tank side panels called out for flames. He also built the tool bag initially out of steel, and then had it covered in leather to match the bags. The steel structure prevents the leather from sagging with use and weather.

But I need him to clear his lift and get a start on the historic 5-Ball Racing belly tank trike frame. The JIMS 135 Twin Cam engine is shipping out about the middle of November. We have most of the components to make this puppy roll.

We missed something the Devil has mastered in his late night session while sparks are flying—his Devil tails. “The devil tails meet behind the rear wheel and support the side bags from swinging around,” said the Devil. “Those and the upper backrest are also removable. Now get the hell out of my shop. We’re burnin’ moonlight.”

–Bandit

Please follow and like us: