Sturgis Shovel 2005

Hey, here’s quick bit on George The Wild Brush who handled the Pin Striping on the 2005 Sturgis Shovel project. He’s pin striped several other bikes for me in his 47 years behind the brush. Born in Hanford, California, a miserable military town, in 1944, he kicked tumbleweed while his mom worked on a base. She moved to the safety of Southern California away from the miserable summer central Califa heat, to Long Beach then Lakewood (next door) where he went to school, but didn’t graduate. “I was too busy reading Car Craft mags and drawing flying eyeballs,” George said. He was warned that the fad would die so his vocation would fail. “The fad’s still rockin’,” George said. “My ...

Box of parts after teardown for powder.I’m not sure if I’m keeping everything in line. But this segment took us to Foremost Powder Coating in Gardena California. I was at that point when these shots were taken. I’ve had a Powder Coating Sponsor for years, Custom Powder Coating in Dallas. They’re good people and know how to handle custom work. They’ve handled jobs for Strokers Dallas, our custom for American Rider and even the 1928 Shovelhead for Bikernet.com.Powder coating costs have dropped and it doesn’t make sense to ship a frame to Dallas. It would cost less to have it Powdered in LA than to pay for the shipping. So I looked around the area and was recommended to Foremost ...

This is strange. I’m writing several Sturgis Chop Techs after I returned from Sturgis. I’ll try to remedy that in the future, but we were so damn busy trying to complete the bike and run Bikernet, we didn’t keep up on the techs. Many apologies.This piece covers the installation of the hot Speedster cap from Crime Scene Choppers in the modified stock XR 750 factory tank. Later, you’ll discover, that this highly modified, strengthened and extra rubber mounted beast was my Sturgis nemesis. But more on that later.We added rubber-mounted bungs to the back of the tank. I moved the petcock to the rear and filled the center for a 2.76-gallon gas capacity before it hit reserve. I doubt that ...

Click to see morefrom Lucky DevilThe old pipe to oil tank tab.My first move began with a correction. I removed the exhaust pipe tab welded to the oil bag. The oilcan is rubber mounted, the exhaust pipe generated severe heat and the pipe system needs to be solidly mounted. It had to go. Actually Kent from Lucky Devil Metal Works in Houston tried not to mention the false move, but his frown gave it away. Or was it that question? “Is your rear pipe really mounted to the fuckin’ oil bag,” Kent said tentatively?I discovered that the pipe exits the head close to the seat post and worked on a pipe connection there. There are a couple of rules in ...

Brembo has a solid worldwide reputation, and I ran into a hot looking Brembo representative at an illustrious bike function and decide I’d give them a try. They’re hot and ready to rock. The only items I needed were the locking nuts for the back of the rotors bolts and the springer axle spacer. This set-up was designed for a stock springer replacement.Because of the wild, light, taper-legged Paughco Springer my hiem joint link wasn’t long enough and I bastardized two fine bolts together temporarily. At that point I wasn’t considering a front fender. There are two aspects of chopperdom that I have a tough time working around. Bikes need front fenders and brakes. Can’t ride ‘em much without those ...

Here we go. I’m relunctantly behind the eight ball, or more likely the 5-Ball in this case. The bike is nearly complete and I haven't caught up with the articles. For the most part I was working at Primedia on the bike mags and didn’t have time to breath. No fucking lame excuses. Let’s hit it.My original plan called for brass sculptures to hang this bastard together in a purely Bandit way. I messed with some odd heavy brass cloverleaf rod that was over a ½ inch in diameter. I wasn’t having my usual creative luck with bending or messing with this material. Kent from Lucky Devil Metal Works in Houston recommended that I use silicone Bronze rod and I’ve ...