Once upon a time there was a bike built called the Shrunken FXR. Keith “Bandit” Ball, of Bikernet and other assorted fame, built it. By a stroke of good fortune the bike became mine through the generosity and trust of Keith Ball. This bike was my daily commuter for a handful of years. It was and is always a challenge and a ton of fun navigating the streets and freeways of Los Angeles on two wheels and especially on a custom built motorcycle. I decided it was time to update the look of the bike as well as do some fine-tuning of a few mechanical items I wanted to switch up a bit. Below is a brief summary of what ...

 I needed an oil tank for this build that would be rather unique. It had to hold a full size battery from a late model electric start Dyna or Softail as my large high compression stroker motor would need all the starting power it could get. It had to completely hide the battery because I didn’t want any of it to protrude above the frame rails and it had to hold lots of oil.
My preference was round oil tanks so I started looking for cylinder like containers to see what size might fit.
After testing a variety of ice cream containers and my wife’s Tupperware I found a one gallon paint can to be perfect. (once I cut the bottom out ...

I wanted rear belt drive on my new retro modern chopper. All the old rigid framed bikes from the factory were chain drive and they were messy and always need adjustment.After doing a little research I chose the shortest belt available. It was 123 tooth and had been used on the very first rear belt drives Harley offered on Shovelhead models.After installing the back wheel and belt I discovered I had two problems. The belt was too long and too wide.Later Harleys have narrower belts so I purchased a 70 tooth narrow rear belt sprocket and slit my belt on the milling machine to fit the late sprocket.  I wanted rear belt drive on my new retro modern chopper. All the ...

Here's the link to Mudflap Girl Part 11: http://www.bikernet.com/pages/Mudflap_Girl_FXRs_part_11_The_First_Road_Test.aspxMy son’s Mudflap Girl FXR is running and partially broken in. I even, finally, dialed in the Wire Plus Speedometer, and it’s working. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong, but that puppy works like a champ. I enjoy the tightness of the display and ease of installation. In that small cylindrical Wire Plus display, I get a speedo, a tach, trip gauge, neutral light, turn signal indicators, oil idiot light, and what else?Okay, so it’s time to turn the Pro Street version of the Mudflap over to my son, Frank, but first we couldn’t leave the bone stock remanufactured 80-inch Evo engine alone. I reached out to S&S for ...

  Having been in the aftermarket Harley business since 1969, I have pretty much done everything  from lacing wheels and custom painting to establishing a performance specialty manufacturing company known as Head Quarters.  Over the years everything in Harley-Davidson aftermarket world has evolved. Today finds old timers like myself better skilled with better tools and far better parts to work with than we had back in the day. I have built probably thirty motorcycles from the frame up  and they have all been builds that kept pace with what the current factory offerings were and the style of the day. The latter builds being Evos and Twin Cams in rubber mount swingarm frames. That being said, I didn't find I got the same buzz ...

We have a goofy Shovelhead in the Bikernet shop called the 1928 Shovelhead. It has 21-inch wheels front and rear in a Paughco rigid frame, but some 1928 elements were used, including the re-pop semi-flat sided tanks, the rear fender and perhaps the seat. The bike was conceived by Bandit the bastard, built by the crew at Rick Fairless’ Strokers Dallas, with the help of Randy Simpson who manufactured the handlebars. The bike has contained a couple of hiccups and hasn’t been ridden much. Recently, one of Bandit’s friends needed a ride, so Bandit shipped this puppy to Washington. Richard Kransler installed new Avon tires and took it out for a spin. Unfortunately, the early Rivera-Primo belt, stuffed into the ...

After the engine was removed from the frame, I mounted it on an engine stand and clamped it to a work mate. This worked perfect, as I have limited working space due to all my daunting, ongoing projects. I got lucky with this engine, as I later found out it had recently been rebuilt and had just .010 over in the bore. However, the rocker covers were both leaking and the front head gasket blew. This was a perfect time to for a complete top end job. I planned to replace all the old leaking OEM gaskets with state of the art new gaskets and seals, and check all the tolerances, while looking for any potential problems. Tear down was straight ...

Here's the link to Part 12: http://www.bikernet.com/pages/Mudflap_Girl_FXR_Part_12She_meets_SS.aspxOkay, so my Mudflap Girl FXR was running fine and I enjoyed every ride with the bare chassis, but I got a hair to treat the frame and powder coat some parts, but the corrosion treatment made the frame look almost black, and I didn’t want to build another black motorcycle.I also had some tech obligations. I needed to test the new Centramatic wheel balancers. I needed to install new Spitfire rocker axles in the girders and tack weld them into place. Then the bros at Digital Dawg contacted us and told us about their new keyless ignition. Suddenly I was inspired. I had installed a marine ignition switch in the backbone of the ...

Eric Bennett grabbed the shop door chain and hoisted the roll up door for the first time, in 2000. He started his mechanical career as a certified diesel mechanic with 60-weight always flowing through his blood stream. Finally, he gave into his entrepreneurial spirit and his desire to make motorcycles his life—he opened his own shop on Signal Hill. The rest is motorcycle history, much of it spent at the Bonneville Salt Flats with his dad, Bob.S&SJIMSBranch O’Keefe    

Not too long ago, my good friend Timbo approached me with a proposition, restore his 1964 Harley FL, I agreed. Problem was, it's in a box, literally! So after a brief discussion on exactly what we wanted to do, how much it would cost and the possible value at the end of the rainbow, I started the Hard Ride back from Hell with the old '64. I picked up the bike, basically a roller and all the boxes of parts that came with it. As you probably expected, this will be a frame up restoration as close to factory specs as I can get it. There will be some minor changes, which I'll talk about as we go along. First ...