Keino Keeps The Fires Alive

Click on the image for the Indian Larry Legacy Website. Keino built this sign for Larry’s Birthday in 2004.

This story will hit home with old school die-hards and young guys still dazzled by metal flake dust. This bike started with a set of 4.25-inch Evo flywheels and rods. “Here’s your next bike,” Indian Larry said to Keino handing him the greasy lower end. Does that hit home or what?

Keino came from a background of building and tinkering with bikes in Japan as a kid. He grew up in southern Japan, Fukuoka an hour-and-a-half north of Nagasaki. “It’s the redneck part of the island,” Keino said. He followed his dream to the MMI School in Phoenix, and took the time to graduate in ‘99. Then, stuck in the vast Arizona desert, he didn’t know, at 27 years of age, but his life was moving fast. The MMI career counselor hooked him up with a H-D dealership internship in Brooklyn, New York. About that time he picked up a copy of Easyriders and spotted the Grease Monkey feature about Indian Larry.

He worked as a grunt at Brooklyn H-D cleaning the shop and performing basic service work, but he hungered for something more custom, with more fabrication and more wild in the streets. A year later he looked around. He was already caught up in the Manhattan Island lifestyle, the action, the nightlife and the broads. He stumbled into a SOHO bike shop, American Dream Machine, and asked about a job. He was hired as an apprentice in 2000 and discovered that the engine guy in the back was Indian Larry.

”I was so excited to see bare frames on lifts and bikes coming together from the ground up,” Keino said. He started sweeping the floors, performing oil changes and basic mechanic labor, but he dug every minute, every new metal flake paint job and every thing he learned. “I didn’t know how to weld,” Keino said. “I asked if Larry could coach me, and I stayed after work to practice.”

A year later Larry gave Keino a How-To book on sheet metal by Wolfgang publishing and he read it cover to cover. His skills were honed on a daily basis, in an atmosphere of the New York groove and creative vibe. “Each day passed in the blink of an eye,” Keino said. “I couldn’t get enough.”

This glistening green machine is all about his history with Indian Larry who moved with the shop when it became Gasoline Alley. He took over ownership in 2004. When Larry unexpectedly passed away, Keino stayed on as a partner with Paul Cox, and Bob and Elisa Seeger to form the Indian Larry Legacy and keep the spirit alive. His bike reeks of class and style. He built-up the engine from scrap parts. A friend gave him a transmission and the bottom half of a Paughco frame, which he formed into a single-loop classic with 4 inches in the single downtube and 3 inches in the backbone.

Keino split the rockers and worked in the aluminum shaped spikes. He ran the oil lines directly into the rocker arm shafts and touched off the pipe side of the engine with handmade silver pushrod covers from silversmith FIN in Kobe, Japan.

Keino studied the sheet metal book and built the gas tank by hand. Then he attempted the rear fender and “fucked-up” three attempts. “It’s tough to make a fender contour the tire all the way to the bottom of the frame,” Keino said. “I took one of the bad fenders, cut it, and worked the oil tank into the bottom of the fender. The frame was stretched almost an inch at the rear to afford the room for the oil tank/ rear fender.

Note Keino’s handmade top motormount in keeping with the “branch” fender rails.

Many of the parts for the narrow 39mm front end came from the shop stash, but the extended tubes were new. The long narrow glide, which was in keeping with the Indian Larry tradition, was touched of with an Indian Larry brass accessory, the dogbone risers. It’s ironic but these risers were made in Japan by Misumi Engineering. He bought the wheel components on E-bay and laced the wheels with stainless spokes himself. He hand fabbed and welded the pipes to slip over the transmission ‘cause he had the space to mess with.

Keino’s excited to return to Japan as the guest of the Moon Eyes Show in Yokohama, December 3rd 2006. The Indian Larry Legacy is alive and well with an expanding product line, and a list of customers who want bikes built by the team. “We don’t do service or repairs,” Keino said. “We just build one-off bikes for customers and work on our product line.” Talk about a young biker’s dream come true. May the Legacy never die.

–Bandit” Hey,” Keino wrote after we finished the feature, “I forgot to mention the paint job. I talked to Robert Pradke of Custom Auto Design, in Conneticut, for the finish.I wanted green. I always liked green. I know it was bad karma for bike paint job, superstition, butI didn’t care. One day a soda can on lunch table caught my eye. It was Mountain Dew .

“That’s it! Mountain Dew inspired paint job. But I didn’t want a Mountain Dew THEME bike, so I left it up to Robert Pradke’s creativity to translate my idea into reality, and he nailed it!”

Bikernet Keino Spec Sheet

Owner:Keino Sasaki
City/State:Brooklyn, NY

Builder:Keino Sasaki
City/state:Indian Larry legacy ( 718) 609-9184
Fabrication:Keino Sasaki
Welding:Keino Sasaki
Machining:Keino Sasaki, Knucklehead Steve

Engine

Year:mixed Shovelhead
Make:H-D
Model:
Displacement:88ci
Builder or Rebuilder:Keino Sasaki
Cases:H-D
Case finish:polished
Barrels:unknown
Bore:3 5/8-inch
Pistons:S&S
Barrel finish:powdercoat
Lower end:Evo from Indian Larry
Stroke:4-1/2-inch
Rods:S&S
Heads:H-D
Head finish:polished with modified by Keino rocker covers
Valves and springs:Andrews
Pushrods:stock
Cams:Andrews 2
Lifters:Solid
Carburetion:S&S B
Other:split rocker by keino

Transmission

Year:1978
Make:H-D, thanks to good friend jamie
Gear configuration:stock
Final drive:diamond o-ring chain
Primary:2-inch open belt
Clutch:Barnet

Frame

Year:2003
Make:modified Paughco by Keino
Style or Model:single down tube
Stretch:3-out, 4-up, 7/8 rear
Rake:31-degree
Modifications:a lot

Front End

Make:mixed
Model:39mm Showa
Year:mixed
Length:4-inch over
Mods:a lot

Sheet metal

Tanks:Keino
Fenders:Keino
Oil tank:built in rear fender by Keino

Paint
Painter: Robert Pradke of Custom Auto Design

Wheels

Front
Make: spoke
Size: 21in laced by keino
Brake calipers: two-piston PM
Brake rotor: Custom Chrome
Tire: Metzeler

Rear
Make: spoke
Size: 18-inch laced by Keino
Brake rotor: Custom Chrome
Tire:Metzeler 160

Controls

Foot controls:modified Sportster mid-control by Keino
Finish:polished
Master cylinder:PM
Brake lines:braided
Handlebar controls:modified XLS bar by Keino
Finish:chrome
Clutch Cable:none
Shifting:jockey

Electrical

Ignition:Points
Coils:hidden
Regulator:hidden
Charging:hidden
Wiring:hidden
Headlight:Headwinds
Taillight: Custom Chrome
Battery:hidden yuasa

What’s Left

Seat:Paul Cox
Pipes:Keino
Exhaust finish:chrome
Gas caps:Custom Chrome
Handlebars: Keino
Grips:brass by Keino
Pegs:brass by Keino
Oil filter:side mount Indian Larry style
Oil cooler:hidden
Throttle:internal throttle

Specialty items:Special pushrod collars by silversmith from Kobe, Japan.”Keino, not Chica” hand engraving on master cylinder by CJ Allen.Special shift knob by Dichrome.

Credits:Special thanks to Indian Larry for encouragement and inspiration.