Bandit's 2000 Blue Flame

    With the final Joker Machine forward controls bolted in place on the Daytec stretch, Bandit began his test ride period. With 300 miles estimated on the machine, a full fluid change took place and only one element was left hanging--the speedometer. For Bandit, trip gauges act as gas gauges. Once he knows the mileage capacity of his tank, he resets his trip gauge to zero at each gas stop and rolls.   We plan to back up the shots here with an article on Joker Machine components that went into making this bike the hot shot it is. Rich, the designer at Joker, who lives in a small air-conditioned cubby hole in the pristine Joker Machine facility, put ...

I knew it! The sonuvabitch couldn't make it to the Badlands and back on that piece of shit. I knew it! The way Bandit mounted that tank was fucked from the beginning. I told him. Nuutboy told him. Harold Pontarelli told him. Shit, his 78-year-old mother told him. Did the big bastard listen? Nooo. So it jumped off the frame in Aspen, Colo., and landed in his lap. Yeah, they welded it up in Aspen with the help of Randy Aron from Cycle Visions in San Diego, and he limped into Sturgis, rode around the Badlands for the week and then the scoot was kidnapped from him by someone who knows what the fuck he's doing, namely Paul Yaffe from ...

Each custom motorcycle has a story. That's one aspect of this treacherous world that sets it apart from stock bikes. Stop any rider of a chop and ask him about his bike and he'll either punch you in the face or tell you how he started to build his bike, lost his wife and family in the process, and had to sell his home and move into a rented garage in order to complete the project. There's a story of romance, heartbreak, hard work, and struggle behind any bike. This one is no different. Now comes another saga, equally terrifying, equally fraught with intrigue and heart. This tale of woe begins five years ago with a project conceived with Ron ...

Daytec Center 17469 Lemon Street Hesperia, CA 92345 (760) 244-1591 Downtown Harley-Davidson Russ Tom 6727 Martin Luther King Way Seattle, WA 98118 (818) 901-7037 Bay Area Custom Cycles Ron Simms 25224 Mission Blvd. Hayward, CA 94541 Milwaukee Iron Randy Simpson 3000 Lenox Lynchburg, VA 24501 Headwinds Cycle Products Joel Felty P.O. Box 661213 Arcadia, CA 91066-1213 (818) 359-8044 Custom Chrome, Inc. See your local dealer Or Call (800) 729-3332 Performance Machine Ted Sands 6892 Marlin Circle LaPalma, CA 90623 (714) 523-3000 South Bay Chrome 2041 S. Grand Ave. Santa Ana, CA 92705 (714) 434-1141 S&S Cycle Rt. 2 Box 215 County G Viola, WI 54664 (608) 627-1467 Rich Products 12420 San Pablo Ave. Richmond, CA 94805 (510) 234-7547 HiTech Products ...

Photo 1         While Zebra spins ahead with his project bike on wheels, Jesse James and his entourage are interviewed as yuppies of the year on the Discovery Channel, Billy Lane of Choppers Inc. carves another rigid frame on the pages of Horse magazine and Jay hunts through the parts bins at Station 34 bike shop for parts, Bandit has dropped to a sour fourth in standings. In a late-night raid on the secret, high security bike shop of the intergalactic headquarters of Bikernet. Com, Bandit lost his front end brakes and controls. This photograph depicts most of the shit the old guy had before the raid (photo 1).   In his sullen mood, he continues to assist his brother Agent ...

Late into the evening, Bandit, Nuut Boy, and my wonderfully-knowledgeable- self hammer, weld, bolt, space, and tear our beards out moving forward on Bandit's rigid. The Weerd Bros front end is in place with the Roadwings 21-inch, 40-spoke wheel. The rear is a 180-18, both with Avon tires. The frame is stretched 6 inches up and 2 out. The trees on the clean front end are raked 6 degrees (photo 1). The S&S 98-inch stroker is bolted in place as is the 5-speed Sputhe trans.   Photo 1 We set the engine and tranny in place and then found a scrap inner primary to line everything up. With the stock 32-tooth pulley on the tranny, we put a 70-tooth narrow belt ...