Lady Luck Is A Trophy Killer

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Prolonged immersion in the vibrant andintensely creative universe of classic cars and custom motorcycle is bound toleave a pretty profound mark on anyone. Take for example Chris Richardson, theowner and builder of the magnificent Knucklehead showcased in today’s BikernetBike Feature. Chris was touched early on by the custom fairy’s wand: as a6-year-old he was named official nut and bolt sorter in his father’s shop. Thiswas just the beginning. As years went by, Chris learned all the ropes fromthe old man and even from his grandfather—a retired railroad mechanic—whoshowed him how to fabricate and weld like a pro. Armed with these valuableskills, young Chris set out to customize anything he could get his hands on.

Many custom cars and bikes later, Chrisis fortunate enough to have turned his passion into a career. He now runs hisown business, LA Speed Shop, a family joint, where you can get your motorcycleserviced. It goes beyond that though, because Chris also specializes in turning out stylish vintage choppers andbobbers, one after the other. Attention to detail and a very keen sense ofstyle and purity have led to Chris scoring a number of awards and trophies forhis work. No stranger to strobe lights, his two-wheeled creations have gracedthe covers and glossy pages of print publications such as Easyriders, IronHorse, Dice and Powerglide.

This particular bike came to be whenChris found out he was one of 20 builders invited to display their work at ArtistryIn Iron during the 2010 Las Vegas Bikefest. Rather than showing up with one ofhis previous custom jobs, Chris decided to “push the pedal and melt the metal”to come up with a completely new scooter.

He started off with a 1953 FL frame hehad lying around and bolted to it a 1941 springer front end that he hadscored on eBay. He stretched the frame’s backbone 3 inches and extended thefork until the front wheel touched the ground—that’s the scientific method…Actually, Chris points out that there’s more to the fork than meets the eye:the rear legs are made out of 1940 Ford radius rods, narrowed 3 inches andlengthened 5 inches.

Nestled between the frame rails resides aexquisitely detailed Knucklehead motor, complete with polished brass plumbing,a vintage Buck Rogers Bird Catcher air cleaner, and complimented by a set ofPaughco straight chromed pipes. There’s just enough chrome there to balance theengine’s painted, polished and cast parts without making it look like it’s apiece of “bling”. Less is more; nice touch. Connecting the venerable V-twin toa suicide-shifted 4-speed gearbox is a Primo-Rivera open belt drive. Whateverhe didn’t barter for, or find under a pile of junk, Chris obtained it from CustomChrome, who was on board with the build and offered him a generous discount.

In the shop until the wee hours of themorning for days on end, Chris juggled his time between working on hiscustomers’ bikes and the Lady Luck; a project he had only 6 weeks to complete in time for Las Vegas Bikefest. He continued fabricating, making a very uniquecustom oil tank from an Offenhauser finned aluminum 409 Chevy valve cover.Next, a Sportster gas tanks was hacked and chopped into submission until it fitLady Luck like a glove. Keeping up with the bike’s proportions, Chris selecteda BSA fender for the rear; it’s supported by a simple and elegant chromedbracket.

With all of its minimalist componentsfabricated and in place, Lady Luck was torn apart one last time and sent toHeadcase Kustom Art, where Casey Johnson spent the next 7 days applying a paint schemethat would tie everything together.

Building this bike specially for ArtistryIn Iron show turned out great for Chris, who came home from Las Vegas with top awards. LadyLuck wowed the judges once again at the Dave Mann Chopper Fest in Ventura, CA,last fall, gathering two more awards: 1st Place Old School Scooter and Best ofShow.

Far from resting on his laurels, Chris isback at the shop, keeping busy. In fact he’s so busy that when I tried to catchup with him for a quick Q&A about the bike, his wife, Fiona, told me he wason his way to display Lady Luck at the prestigious Grand National Roadster Showin Pomona, CA. We hope he has enough room in the van to bring back anothertrophy…

Spec Sheet

Owner: Chris Richardson/ LA Speed Shop

Website: www.laspeedshop.com

Make: Harley Davidson

Year: 1947

Model: FL

Type: knucklehead

Year: 1947

Fabrication: Chris Richardson/ LA Speed Shop

Finish: Chris Richardson/LA Speed Shop

Time: 6 weeks

Assembler: Chris Richardson/LA Speed Shop

Clutch: Rivera Primo open belt drive

ENGINE:

Type: V-Twin Replica Knucklehead

Year:1947

Heads: Newly casted

Valves: Sifton

Pistons:8.5:1cast pistons with Hastingsrings

Cylinders: Cast iron

Camshaft: Sifton lightning cam

Lifters: solid lifters

Pushrods: Sifton solid push rods

Carburetor/Injection: Linkert M 74

Air Cleaner: Vintage Buck Rogers BirdCatcher

Transmission: RevTec w/ jockey shift

Ignition: Distributor mechanical advance

Exhaust: Paughco

Finish: Chrome

Frame:

Type: Harley Davidson

Year: 1953

Builder: Chris Richardson / LA Speed Shop

Stretch: stretched back bone 3 inches and stretched front legs5 inches

Rake:52 degree

Molding:

Finish: Casey Johnson/Headcase Kustom Art

Forks:

Type: Springer

Year: 1941

Builder: Harley Davidson/LA Speed Shop

Finish: Chrome

Triple Trees:Top tree and handle barsmade by LA Speed Shop

Modifications: rear legs are made out of1940 ford radius rods and narrowed 3 inches and lengthened 5 inches

Wheels Front:

Rim: Excel

Size:21 1.65

Hub: Custom spool hub by LA Speed Shop

Builder: LA Speed Shop

Finish: chrome

Tire: Avon Speedmaster

Brake: no front brake

Wheels Rear:

Rim: dropped center

Size: 19” front rim 2.00

Brake: mechanical

Builder: LA Speed Shop

Finish: chrome

Fender: Vintage BSA

Tire: Replica Coker

Hub: Star

Handlebars: Custom made by LA Speed Shop

Risers: Custom made by LA Speed Shop

Headlights: 4.5” mini light

Taillights: mini bullet

Turn Signals F/R: My hands

Electric’s: Bike wired w/ cloth wire byMobile Custom Wiring

Seat: Riff Raff Leather

Footrest F/R: Front pegs and mid controlscustom made by LA Speed Shop

Oil Tank: Custom made by LA Speed Shopusing an Offenhauser 409 Chevy Valve cover

Fuel Tank(s): Narrowed & Tunneled byLA Speed Shop Sportster Tank

Paint, Chrome, and other F/X’s:

Colors: Metallic sea foam green basecoat, green micro flake with green candy and variegated gold leaf with limegreen pin striping

Type:PPG and House of Kolor

The Painter: Casey Johnson/ HeadcaseKustom Art

Address: www.headcasekustomart.com

Chrome: New California Bumpers

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One of the most commonly asked questions we hear at Delkron is: “If I use these parts what will my engine’s compression be?” This seems to be one of the most misunderstood areas of building a performance engine. In this short series of articles we will discuss both types of compression ratios—Mechanical and Corrected—and how to calculate them.

First let’s understand just what compression ratio means and how it affects the internal combustion engine. Compression ratio is simply the volume of the cylinder and the volume of the combustion chamber of the cylinder head when the piston is at Bottom Dead Center (BDC) and the volume of the cylinder head combustion chamber when the piston is at Top Dead Center (TDC). Let’s use a hypothetical engine to make things a little simpler. If we have an engine, at BDC that has a swept volume of 900cc in the cylinder and a combustion chamber volume of 100cc, then this volume is reduced to the 100cc of the combustion chamber at TDC this would be a compression ratio of 1000:100, or reducing it fractionally, a compression ratio of 10:1.

Compression ratios can be a double-edged sword in many ways. First, the higher the compression the more power the engine will make. This is due to being able to extract greater mechanical energy from a given amount of air/fuel mixture that is created by its higher thermal efficiency. Higher compression ratios place the molecular structure of the fuel and air into a smaller area, along with the adiabatic heat of the compression, which causes a greater evaporation and mixing of the fuel droplets in the combustion chamber.

High compression engines make great power, but it needs to be understood that engines with higher compression require fuel of higher octane and grade. Low octane, low grade fuels can cause severe and irreparable damage to an engine due to detonation. Detonation is caused when the fuel self-ignites under compression—not during the firing phase of the ignition system. Detonation can be the cause of connecting rod failures, piston failures, and more.

Just as high compression wants better fuel, the other side of the coin is running higher octane fuels in low compression engines. Running high octane fuel in a low compression engine is, well, throwing good money down a black hole. You are not going to make any more power than you would using the correct, lower octane fuel due to the fact that the lower compression engine just simply does not have enough compression to support the higher octane fuel. Running high octane fuels in a low compression engine is many times the reason riders bitch and complain about tuning issues of carburetors, ignition systems, etc. In many cases the only reason that the operator feels more power is due to the fact the he has spent more money so it must be working!

A simple rule to remember is that the lower the octane the faster the burn, and the higher the octane the slower the burn. This is why high compression engines like higher octane fuels because they burn slower and are not as prone to self-ignition, or detonation. The same rule applies to low compression engines liking lower octane fuels; lower compression engines do not have to work as hard to light the fuel mixture due to the lower octane fuel burning faster with out a lot of compression.

*RESOURCE
DELKRON Inc.
Bedford, Ohio
440-786-8820/866-335-5766
www.delkron-mfg.com

Story and Photos by Steve “Posie” Pfaff, Delkron

2010 National Motorcycle Museum Raffle Bike

Written By: Iron Works

Click Here To Visit The J&P Cycles Website

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