Bike Builds

  Editors note: The following is an introduction to a 5 part tech series which will document the processes used at Bare Knuckle Choppers to transform the J&P Roller with an S&S X-Wedge motor into a street pounding machine to be given away at the 2015 J&P Cycles Open House Rally. Clocks dictate so much of our lives. My wake up call is at 6am. Checkout is 9am. I’ve been on the road for 30 of the last 48 hours to get to the roller for J&P Cycles’ Giveaway bike.  At least before Paul Wideman of Bare Knuckle Choppers (BKC) rips into it. Kate, who’s been with me since Atlanta, is from my hometown near Chicago. She knows me better than myself. ...

Bennett’s Performance touts being the performance test bed for all-things big twin performance and handling in Long Beach, California. The team is also very involved in Bonneville Land Speed Record efforts. Unless the California Air Resources Board decides to shut down every California custom or performance shop, they will be burning rods, turning lathes, and twisting wrenches until they die.I say, “They,” and I’m referring to Eric Bennett, the boss, and his longtime mechanic and Dad, Bob. Other technicians come and go. Plus, next-door are the men, including Jerry Branch, and John O’Keefe, who are the masters of the flow bench and headwork at the Branch O’Keefe machine shop. All shops big and small in California live in fear of ...

Today, J&P Cycles shows you how to replace grips on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. From removing your old grips and adding new grips watch the entire process take place.In this video they use a 2013 Harley Davidson Softail Slim for demonstration but the process will be very similar for all motorcycles that utilize dual throttle cables.Advertisement

   After months of planning, my 1933 Harley-Davidson build officially started on Black Friday.  That’s when I made the long trip up to Replicant Metals (www.replicantmetals.com), located a mere 7 hours north of me in Pennsylvannia.  Owner Tom Feezer was waiting for me with a set of matched 1933 VL cases when I walked into the shop. These will serve as the basis for my build and are the most important part as the VIN number stamped on these cases is what makes the motorcycle a ’33 model. I plan to stay true to what the factory produced in ’33, but technically anything I build with these cases will be titled as a ’33 Harley-Davidson.  Setting aside the cases, I started making ...

It took a while before the call shook the receiver on the wall.  “We’re ready, finally to move onto the next stage,” Eric said, and I slipped across congested Long Beach on Pacific Coast Highway to the base of Signal Hill, where the clean offices of Bennett’s Performance and Branch O’Keefe reside in an alley.  There’s a bit of a dichotomy here. When you say Pacific Coast Highway, you immediately have visions of the sea splashing against white sand. That’s not the case when PCH skirts through the Los Angeles Harbor area behind container ships, container trucks, and container trains Terminal Island and through the concrete jungle of Long Beach packed with steel supply joints, body shops, junk yards, stucco ...

 Before the engine could be rebuilt, the cases needed some additional work to repair a damaged portion of the front baffle.  It appears that an unknown piece of debris was wedged between the backside of the baffle and the flywheel which eventually knocked a hole right through the baffle.   Since HD engine cases are made from aluminum, the best method for repairing the hole was to use a TIG welder to fill in the missing material.  The hole was located at the thinnest portion of the baffle, so a piece of copper plate was used to cover the hole and provide support for the weld.  The entire case half was then placed in a parts oven set to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for ...