Today I’m going to becovering on your ride, how to see things better — and more importantly —how motorcycle light bulbs can help you see and be seen better. But in order todo that, I’m going to have to toss around a few electrical terms. You know,like watts and volts and amperage.

Wait! Don’t hit the Back button,because I’m going to try and make this as easy to comprehend as possible.A watt is a unit of measure that takes into consideration themathematical relationship of volts and amperage. What it looks like is this:Watts = Volts X Amps.

The standard motorcycleheadlight that comes attached to most of today’s models has a rating of 55/60.That means the low beam draws 55 watts (12 V X 4.5 A), while the high beamdraws 60 watts (12 V X 5 A). The higher the wattage, the more light issupplied.

How we doing so far? Still with me?Good. Now a great number of halogen headlamps are using a two-piece system thathas a reflector with a changeable bulb. These changeable bulbs are givennumbers like H3, H4, H7 and H13. There are higher wattage bulbs available inthis type that can provide even more illumination.

For instance, J&P Cycles offersGerman Rally bulbs in 55/60, 80/100 and 100/130 wattages. But I digress. Goingback to our formula, a 100W low-beam bulb draws 8.3 amps (12V X 8.3 A = 100W)while a 130W high-beam bulb draws a whopping 10.8 amps (12V X 10.8 A = 130W).

These bulbs add new meaning to theterm bright! However, this is acceptable up to a point. Higher wattages requireheavier components to handle the higher current load. These higher wattagesincrease the amount of heat produced and require a metallic or glass reflector.Some lower-priced halogen reflectors are made of plastic, and these high-outputbulbs can easily melt the unit. In addition, the wiring on your bike is onlydesigned to handle a specific amount of power.

Changing to one of these Rallybulbs will most likely require an increase in the size of the wire going to thelamp in order to keep it from melting or burning up. Sounds like a lot ofeffort in order to get a brighter lamp.

But this brings us toa neat solution engineered by the PIAA Corporation. What PIAA has done, isincrease the light output, without increasing the wattage required. These bulbsare a bit more expensive, but modifications to your bike are not required. Andthat’s a good tradeoff, if you’re asking my opinion.

Another thing to consider withthese super bright bulbs is the effect they have on the bike’s charging system.All ’66-’84 Shovelheads come with 15-,17- and 22-amp alternators, and  ’84-’88 Evo Big Twins have 22-ampalternators.’67-’79s Sportsters have 10-amp charging;’80-’84s have 13 amps;’84=-’90s have 19 amps; and bikes between ’91 and ’05 have 22-amp systems.

Upgrading to thehigher-wattage bulb is impossible on the smaller-amp charging systems. Toupgrade, the 22-amp system would be the lowest amp output recommended. Therejust isn’t enough current output to run everything required, and keep yourmotorcycle battery charged. Big Twins built from ’89 and onward have a healthy32-amp alternator, so this isn’t a challenge.

Now, what’s your opinion of LEDlighting? This acronym stands for Light Emitting Diode, and these little guysprovide a lot of light with minimal wattage requirements. Used as a taillight/brakelight on our bikes, no changes are required. However, when used as a turnsignal, we’ve got issues.

In applications that have aself-canceling turn signal, a load equalizer is required. Since the LED lightchanges the wattage in the circuit, the difference in current draw will confusethe original processor into thinking that the bulb is burned out.

This can cause a no-flash ordouble-flash condition and believe me, we get a ton of calls about this. A loadequalizer, like those from Badlands, will correct this condition by fooling theprocessor into thinking the stock bulb is still in the circuit. Your new LEDturn signal will flash and cancel normally. A load equalizer is also requiredif a small, marker light is used as a four-way flasher.

Due to possible heat buildup in theunit over a longer period of time, it’s a good idea to keep usage down to aminimum. And just a reminder: While these small, marker lights look good on ashow bike, they should not be used on the street, because they can’t be seen aseasily as a DOT-approved light, especially in the daytime.

I certainly hope this sheds somelight on today’s subject, and hope I set things out in an understandablemanner. If not, the friendly and savvy tech staff at J&P Cycles is alwaysavailable to answer any questions that you may have.

Yet another true solid professional is to be found in Jason Ferguson. He will do the actual building of the Bikernet/Cycle Source Giveaway Chopper, sponsored by Xpress, frame, designed by Jason and Gary Maurer of Kustoms Inc. As a second generation bike builder, Ferguson caught the bug at an early age. He grew up around dirty old bikers going to bike shows and rallies.

Ferguson has built bikes for guys like Billy F. Gibbons (ZZ Top), Hulk Hogan and Bo Jackson. After serving apprenticeships with various builders, Jason started Texas Bike Works, LLC in 2006 and the business has grown steadily.

Ferguson, an expert welder, machinist, fabricator and custom fitter said, “It’s kind of a tough time to come up with new products.” Although true, he’s currently working on oil tanks, gas tanks, handle bars, and “all kinds of old ‘70s stuff.”

“Time and effort makes a great frame, “ stated Ferguson. And quality materials definitely help. All of his frames use 1020 DUM tubing steel.

He assures me that the biggest difference between a Chopper and a Bobber is the neck height. It usually takes him 20 hours of due diligence to come up with an outstanding creation. And, with this attitude, he got involved with the Giveaway Chopper program because the quality builders and manufacturers that are part of the build.

Jason Ferguson is the owner of Texas Bike Works. Michael David Milatovich of Bikernet.com interviewed the frame builder and shot him 13 questions.

13 Questions with Jason Ferguson

Bikernet: Besides yourself, who are your heroes in the motorcycle industry?

Ferguson: Well, I’ve always looked up to Arlen Ness. It’s just the bikes. My dad was a big fan of his. And just watching him over the years and having the chance to meet him….A great role model for bike builders…. Very professional, always coming up with new ideas for the industry.

Bikernet: EVO or PAN or Twin Cam or Knuckle or Shovel, and why ?

Ferguson: I like Shovelheads because they make a distinct sound. I can’t really explain why, but I’ve ridden flat head, pan head, knuckle, but I just seem to like Shovelheads best. They’ve got more power than older motors, but they still have that nostalgic feel to them.

Bikernet: Katy, Perry, or Taylor Swift?

Ferguson: I don’t even know who Katy Perry is. The only reason I know of Taylor Swift is because all my friend’s daughters go to her concerts. (laughs)

Bikernet: Bud or Jack Daniels ?

Ferguson: Jack Daniels. I hate Budweiser.

Bikernet: If you could ride only one bike, what would it be?

Ferguson: Only one bike? A Ducati….one of the newest Ducatis that’s out.

Bikernet: Who are you listening to on your iPod?

Ferguson: This is starting to sound like a Cheryl Hughes interview. (laughs) I don’t even have an iPod, but I listen to a lot of Metallica. Kind of an old school metal fan, stuck in the ’90s.

Bikernet: MotoGP, NASCAR, IndyCar, Flat track Motorcross, Superbike?

Ferguson: I would say Motorcross, I like that best.

Bikernet: Which one event do you always look forward to and why?

Ferguson: Sturgis is the best one for me. You’ve got the best of both world’s there. You got the best riding…..You can go ride and have fun and see all kinds of cool things, monuments. And then you’ve got the best bike shows. Usually a bike show every day that’s got the best bikes in the world. Plus all the people. I get to see all my other shop buddies from all over the country that I talk to on the phone all year.

I get to see them in person because everybody goes to Sturgis.

Bikernet: What reading material is in the bathroom?

Ferguson: I don’t know, man, probably Bikernet on-line magazine.

Bikernet: What is your favorite adult beverage?

Ferguson: Jack and Coke.

Bikernet: Favorite motorcycle ride?

Ferguson: Riding around the Black Hills.

Bikernet: Favorite bike movie?

Ferguson: Probably, Road Warrior.

Bikernet: Favorite TV show?

Ferguson: I don’t know, I don’t watch much TV, but probably the Biker Build-off show.

817-326.0288
http://www.texasbikeworks.com/

OK, you’ve definitely got some choices ahead of you when it comes to hopping-up your engine. And since the most popular and cost-effective plan is to swap the stock cam, carb, ignition, and exhaust components with high-performance aftermarket items, the combinations seem endless. Well, aside from the business of choosing the right setup, there is also the matter of installing them, and what I want to do here is show you how easy it really is. There’s a feeling of satisfaction that comes with doing a job yourself, and doing it right. For the most part, almost all of the components bolt on the engine. If you read the cam installation story, you’ll see what it takes to properly install a camshaft, and here, we get the rest of the job done. The key parts that were chosen to complete this power combo were the Andrews EV-57 cam and adjustable pushrods we installed in the last story along with JIMS Machine roller-tip rocker arms, a Mikuni HSR 42 carb and intake, a Dyna 2000 HD-1 single-fire ignition with Dyna coils, and Cycle Shack bologna-cut pipes.
Photo 1	Photo 2
We’ll start with the intake manifold and carburetor. Mikuni’s carb kits come complete with the intake manifold, air cleaner, cables and all the hardware and spare jets you’ll need to get running. The intake installs using the stock flanges and o-rings, and has a flange mount. The Mikuni carburetors have spigot-type mounting, so a rubber flange-to-spigot adaptor is provided in the kit. This easily bolts to the flange on the intake manifold (photo 1). Now the HSR 42 carburetor is slipped into the spigot, and a clamp secures the carb firmly in place (photo 2). The Mikuni/K&N air cleaner assembly (not shown) completes the carb’s mounting, and secures to the cylinder heads.	Photo 3
Photo 4	The dual Dyna ignition coils are bolted up to a Yankee Engineuity engine mount and coil bracket combination (photo 3). When this engine is installed in the bike, a polished stainless steel coil cover, also from Yankee, will finish the job. Dyna’s 2000 HD-1 ignition is an excellent system that features four different advance curves for various engine combinations. Dyna has eliminated the need to run a special rotor and pickup, and now the 2000 HD-1 utilizes the stock pieces, cutting down on the extras you’d normally have to buy. The stock pickup is re-installed (photo 4) and the timing will be adjusted once the engine is fired up.
Cycle Shack bologna-cut (pn PHD 114A) pipes were chosen for their exceptional performance in past dyno runs, and are well-suited for this power combo as well. These pipes have channel mount bolts for a clean look and mount easily to stock or custom aftermarket exhaust brackets. Pipes are probably one of the true bolt-on components that anyone can install (photo 5), but care should be taken to wipe them clean with acetone to remove any fingerprints. If you don’t do this, you’ll end up with little blue prints all over the pipes, so make sure they get wiped down before the engine is started.	Photo 5
And there you have it (photo 6). The installation of these parts shouldn’t take more than one weekend day to complete at the outside. All of the parts used here come with excellent instructions for both installation and tuning to help you get the most from your engine and to minimize the downtime. With the tech tips shown here and in the cam installation story, you should be well armed to handle this task yourself. After you have this new found confidence and ability, you’ll have to decide if you want to tell your friends, ’cause once they know you’re able to work on your ride, they’ll probably want you to have a look at theirs. If they do, just smile and tell ’em where you read about it.
Photo 6
…Wordman SOURCES:
Andrews Products, Inc. 5212 N. Shapland Ave. Rosemont, IL 60018 (773) 992-4014 (773) 992-4017 fax	JIMS Machine 555 Dawson Drive Camarillo, CA 93012 (805) 482-6913 (805) 482-7422 fax
Dynatek 164 S. Valencia St. Glendora, CA 91741 (818) 963-1669 (818) 963-7399 fax	Mikuni 8910 N. Mikuni Avenue Northridge, CA 91324 (818) 885-1242 (818) 993-7388 fax
Yankee Engineuity 1520-A West San Carlos San Jose, CA 95126 (408) 275-0203 (408) 275-0204 fax	Cycle Shack 1104 San Mateo Avenue South San Francisco, CA 94080 (650) 583-7014 (650) 583-9154 fax

Back to the Garage…

Incredible. It’s been 15 years since we kicked off Bikernet.com. I had the audacity to believe someone might be interested in this history of an eternal search for freedom, the illustrious custom motorcycle holy grail, and the perfect woman. And since we had so many variations of our George Fleming-induced, 15th anniversary logo effort, I thought, what the hell. Let’s put down the searing saga of web site survival, virtually since the beginning of the internet, and the yellow brick road to the world wide web.

Here’s how it started. A crazy man web master approached the offices of Easyriders Magazine almost immediately after the internet exploded onto the scene. He was a long-haired scrawny biker and internet mastermind by the name of Steve Smidlen. Of course, he wanted a small fortune to change the face of Easyriders forever through the internet new age. In 1995, Joe Teresi (the owner of Paisano Publications) tried desperately to sell the company and retire. He didn’t want to invest more cash into the monster, and the internet wasn’t a proven commodity, so he turned the internet mastermind down.

I knew Steve, and of course he pled his case to me. I was a vice president and the editorial director of Paisano’s 14 magazine titles. I was also responsible for the quarterly video and involved in the events, predominately the bike shows and the coverage of the bike rodeos. I did what I could for the internet wizard, so he approached me about starting a web site as an example of his immense talent base and the capabilities of the internet. Since he wasn’t going to charge me an arm and a leg and we were all curious of the web reach, we moved ahead.

We kicked off Bikernet in 1996 with the help of Jon Towle’s black and white illustrations, due to slow-ass modems. We set the site up to sell products, including my paperback books and Bandit’s Bedrolls. We called it Bandit’s Bikernet, and we focused on the one editorial area my boss didn’t care for, fiction, the dreamy side of bikerdom. I didn’t want Bikernet to compete with Easyriders or any of our magazine titles at the time. I stayed true to my word and agreement with the boss to restrict Bikernet to mail order sales, fiction, and Jon Towle’s cartoons. For some unknown reason, the boss didn’t care for the sardonic self-attacking stubby little man with a wry sense of humor.

We banged along for a couple of years and sales were not startling, but brothers seemed to enjoy the site and asked for more. But Smidlen (not sure I have his name correct) didn’t think the vast Bandit empire grew fast enough or paid him enough, and we parted ways, and our crew began the frustrating hunt for a web master who understood business and the internet. I think I started to plug in chapters from my next book, Sam “Chopper” Orwell. At the time, Bikernet fell under the auspices of 5-Ball Incorporated, shared equally by my fifth wife, Rebecca Segal. I was busy as hell with the Paisano empire, Easyriders, and Joe’s efforts to sell the company. Life banged along and Bikernet grew slowly, sort of like notes in a dusty shop manual.

Then in 1999, Joe finally took Paisano Publications public, to become Easyriders Inc., with a partial sale to some heavy hitters who retired with millions from Taco Bell. I received a small bonus for my efforts and decided it was time to retire (escape), seek additional freedom, adventures, write some books and see the world. Sure, the notion was scary, but my timing was right on. Easyriders struggled with a new command structure and ultimately went bankrupt. I blew up my marriage with a psycho redheaded broad who lasted less than a year, and I bought a little house overlooking the Los Angeles harbor in San Pedro and embarked on a new freshly paved metallic road in life.

A couple of Bikernet fans pointed out the need to focus on Bikernet, including an Easyriders staffer, Mike Osborn. Bikernet expanded and I put my panhead desk in my dining room overlooking the main LA harbor channel, and we went to work building this motorcycle web kingdom. We started building bikes and covering every move on Bikernet. Each year, I rode to Sturgis on whatever bike we built. As I wrapped up the 1935 house remodel, I moved into this strange, blue collar union town on the edge of the port, I entered a new phase in life. The girl who said she wouldn’t move to San Pedro moved in, but then grabbed a job at Bartels’ H-D and moved to the more upscale Marina Del Rey.

The year was just turning toward treacherous 2000, and I rode with Agent Zebra to his digs around Point Fermin, then over to Long Beach to see my dear old ma and Dr. Nuttboy, who with his wife, helped me rebuild my home. Other than a couple of folks, I didn’t know a soul in San Pedro, but I loved every minute of my life on the coast. I would get up in the morning and ride to Ramona’s bakery for a muffin and a cup of coffee. I met a wild woman at Cannetti’s fish and chips who would have stormed my abode with her two kids if I didn’t watch my back. Life was good, and I started to build the Blue Flame to ride to Sturgis.

I don’t know if you can imagine this, but I was living in a motorcycle nirvana. I turned one bedroom into a gym and converted my garage into a bike shop. I carefully rolled motorcycles across new refinished hardwood floors in almost every room in the house. Each day consisted of tinkering with motorcycles or writing about them on the web. We started the Thursday news and for a couple of years, there were no images, just text. My psycho ex-girlfriend sent me scurrilous e-mails from time to time, suggesting tech upgrades to the site. I moved slowly, working through the bugs on a tight budget. I published my third book, Sam “Chopper” Orwell, wrote for several mags, including the HORSE, and I consulted for American Rider.

I rode the Blue Flame to Sturgis, but failed to rubber-mount the tank and Randy Aron from Cycle Visions helped me keep it alive to Spearfish. Then Paul Yaffe helped me upgrade the Flame to a better tank, properly rubber-mounted for the long road a couple of months later. We installed a new shapely stretched independent gas tank. What a terrific motorcycle and a great ride. Rumor has it, it’s still on the road in Texas.

Around this time, I met a girl in Harold’s Biker Bar, Nyla, and we started to date. She was a Pedro girl who was married to a mad biker for 15 years, until the abuse put her on the streets and back in Pedro with the support of her massive family of eight brothers and sisters. She lived with her fading, elderly longshoreman father and her three kids in a massive old crumbling clapboard home overlooking the main channel.

As the site began to grow, she worked at Epson Computers, in customer service, and took on part-time bookkeeping duties for Bikernet.

Around 2001, my mom stopped by the little house on Crescent Avenue and told me about her notion to take a ship around the world. At the time, we started on a Buell project to ride to Sturgis. Each time I spoke to my mom, she mentioned the only cruise line to circumnavigate the world. Unfortunately, it went out of business and she began looking into freighter world tours.

After one such visit, I called my 79-year-old mom.
“What’s the deal ma?” I asked in my most respectful tone. “You always mention this trip. Would you like me to go with you?”

“Yes,” she said confidently, as if she had this scenario planned for months. My mother has traveled the world all her adult life. My dad stayed home, drank beer, and went fishing while she roamed through Europe, Russia, and China. We started to make plans for a world tour.

Buell shot here

I was also modifying a Buell into a bitchin’ Joker Machine accessorized hot rod for the 2001 Sturgis run with Dr. Hamster and his girlfriend. It was a terrific ride and we hooked up with the Hamsters in Thermopolis, Wyoming for a party. I had a Wyoming babe in the next town over who always looked after me. She set up a book signing for “Chopper” Orwell, and I slipped out of town. I thought it was just five miles away, but it turned into 35. No problem for the fast Buell to slip through the countryside at over 80 mph.

We had a terrific time, and all the local riders showed up for books and wine in her beauty salon. Since I was involved with the lovely Nyla, I didn’t spend the night with voluptuous Wyoming Deb, stayed sober, and rolled out of Worland at midnight, heading back to the Hamster headquarters at the Holiday Inn in Thermopolis. I scooted along dark roads, comfortable aboard that Buell Lightning, when I spotted a road sign announcing just 8 miles to town. I quickly estimated a five-minute time window at 80 miles an hour. That’s when I spotted the first deer.

It was 50 yards ahead but its stationary eyes still glistened, reflecting the Buell headlight. I immediately backed off the quick Joker Machine throttle when another deer blocked my vision directly in front of me. Unable to even consider applying my brakes, I slammed into its hindquarter. It stopped me dead, totaled the Buell, and I was knocked out by the pavement. I broke several ribs and ended up in a Wyoming hospital for four days. Dr. Nuttboy flew out. Deborah and Dr. Hamster looked after me, and Nuttboy hauled me home.

Within a couple of months, I was back on my feet, flying to Houston with mom, and boarding the nastiest, rustiest tramp freighter in the Houston Ship Channel and prepared for a four and a half-month voyage around the world, with stops at 22 ports.

 

Mom and I spent Christmas in Hamburg, Germany, and New Year’s in Belgium. It was an amazing adventure thanks to the college professor Polish captain and his Polish officers, and a terrific group of Philippino crew members. Of course, we noticed that due to price of domestic labor, there weren’t many American sailors left, and the ship didn’t haul any American products overseas. The tramp freighter left stateside virtually empty.

So began 2002. The captain allowed me to set up a fixed antenna above the bridge, and I continued to write articles for Bikernet, the HORSE, and American Rider, handled the Thursday Bikernet news from afar, wrote World Tour chapters (somewhere here on Bikernet), finished my first Change Hogan novel, Harbor Town Seduction, and wrote chapters for my second Chance Hogan book, about Chance losing his girl to Chinese crime lords.

We passed on Sturgis for 2002 but built the Amazing Shrunken FXR. Nyla became a full-time staffer and we found, for the first time, a web master who understood the business, and was a biker, Jason Douglass. He built web sites for Atlas Frames and Joker Machine, and he set up Bikernet so we could launch our own articles. We were beginning to cook. We could publish the news weekly, publish full techs, bike features and event coverage.

Back in 2002 or early 2003, I was reading The Horse magazine at work and discovered an ad for Bikernet.com. I can still see the ad with the brunette riding the blue chopper with gray flames…tantalizing. My initial exposure to the web site was all it took, I was hooked. The bike reviews, Life and Times of Bandit, the girls, but most of all was the road tales. I read every one, some of them over and over. My favorite was a story called Neighborhood Watch, and another that’s name slips my mind, but the author was named Dowling; it was a Code of the West piece. I ate that shit up and it helped occupy my time working the night shift at the plant. Many a 12-hour shift was spent looking at Bikernet.com on one screen while I also watched the computer controls for the plant on the other. I had gotten so good at my job, the other operators would sleep because everyone knew I was up, either reading a magazine or looking at Bikernet.com.

In December 2004, I graduated from college and started writing more as a hobby now that my time was a bit more open. The kids were getting a little older, so sleeping was easier and I could devote some time to my passion, Harleys. Early in 2005, Bandit sent me an e-mail asking if I’d be interested in writing a few bike features for Hot Bike magazine. Now mind you, while I had been writing for Bikernet for several months, most of my stories were laced with a little bit of bullshit. As a good friend of my dad’s used to say, “Hey, Texans don’t lie. Texans just bullshit.” So, after having a limited amount of experience at writing, mostly bullshit, now I’m getting the opportunity to write for a magazine. Thankfully, there was plenty of great editing, because that relationship stands today and I occasionally still pen articles for Hot Bike today.

Later in 2005, I was able to make my first trip to Sturgis, riding alongside El Bandito himself. I learned a few things on that trip, but the one thing I will always treasure was watching that giant bastard riding through a rainstorm in Durango, Colorado freezing his nuts off! We had a memorable trip, and I have been back three times since. He started a tradition that I plan to partake in as many years as I can afford to.

Throughout the years, we’ve had several adventures, from him teaching me the ropes on judging at the Texas National Bike Show in Galveston to building my first custom motorcycle to give to my Iraqi veteran brother in 2007. We’ve been through lean times where I know every plug I can do for Bikernet is helping him keep the lights on, to the bountiful harvests where, on occasion, I’ll get a check for 20 bucks or so. Either way, I wouldn’t have traded any of it for the world. From the first custom part I ever wrote about, I always had Bandit leaning over my shoulder if I ever got stuck. Because of my relationship with Bikernet and Bandit, I realized I am really just another RUB with a bike, I just happen to have the talent and time to be able to write a few words about it…and that makes me just valuable enough to keep around.

So here I am now, a pathetic RUB who not only writes on occasion for Bikernet.com and Hot Bike magazine; but I am also a professional writer at my day job. I have been promoted to production specialist, where I spend my days writing SOPs, LOTO lists, standards, safety, training, etc. Basically, I have become a “paper biyatch,” so thanks again, Bandit!

I can’t wait to see what we do next at Bikernet, and while I am sure another 15 years seems like forever away, it’ll be here before we know it.

–Johnny Humble

We kicked off the Bandit’s Cantina department, and Nyla came up with the Sunday Post for Cantina members only, so I could never have a free weekend again. Good God! In our little shop, a small two-door garage riddled with termites, we blocked off the large doors to the street and used the small side door for bikes. When we went to work in the shop, we had to move four or five bikes into the back yard. I wanted to enlarge the shop and build an apartment above it, but city codes fucked with my ability to expand.

About this time, we started to modify a 2003 Road King as a celebration of Harley’s 100th anniversary, and to build me a touring bike for long rides. That bike was blacked out and it made several trips to Sturgis, including one with another Road King, the new 96-inch model ridden by Dale Gorman, a Hamster out of Boston. We rode to Sturgis, did our thing, then rode back to Salt Lake, where we hooked up with the lovely Nyla and her youngest son, Kyle. Kyle rode the 96-incher back, but didn’t follow returning instructions and collided with a car, destroying the King.

Nyla: Bandit’s full of crapola here. He and Dale did Sturgis in 2006 on two Road Kings, the blacked out ’03 and a new 96-inch ’06.

Shortly thereafter, we starting customizing a new 2004 rubber-mounted Sportster with the blessing of Harley-Davidson. A series of articles followed on Bikernet and in American Iron. Each modification was installed using primarily H-D components. We built a very slick customized Sporty. Ultimately, the lovely Nyla was intimidated by the power band and the tall sitting position , which of course we enhanced , preferring a Buell Blast instead. She wasn’t riding motorcycles. She was a passenger.

The Sporty collected dust in the shop until a long-time motojournalist from Easyriders was let go and his freelance revenue stream dried up. He was forced to sell his only running motorcycle, so I turned the Sportster over to a brother so he would have a reliable ride.

About this time, or maybe in 2003, we started to build a bike to support the Beach Ride, through George Hayward, the benefactor. It was a Custom Chrome kit bike, and a very sharp build. Dr Nuttboy helped with the operation. Jeremiah Soto dry-walled the shop, and I believe Jon Towle helped. I had been on the Beach Ride Board for years and always supported it and the Love Ride. I discovered something vast and wonderful about the Interplanetary Bikernet nerve center based in a large brass base anchored to the deck, and topped with a hazy glass globe. It told me that the Bikernet Empire could be used for the good of all bikers, so a code was born out of the globe’s radiant light.

We would do whatever we could to keep motorcycling alive, free, and the industry successful. On a daily basis, we helped spread the word, worked with and supported motorcycle rights groups, and fought for less legislation. Why not? What could be more beneficial to the world than more freedom? We started publishing the National Coalition of Motorcyclist’s Coast to Coast Legislative News, authored by Bill Bish, on a monthly basis. Right around this time, the one major drawback to internet access was replaced. The slow-ass modem was upgraded through cable modem supplied by the local SBC cable TV provider. Suddenly we could publish at warp speed. We thought that it would allow us to launch articles quicker and give us more time to chase broads and ride. Not so; it meant we could launch two and three articles a day on Bikernet and steam started to pour from our window. We were cookin’.

While shooting the Road King for American Rider on a back streets in Wilmington, the next town over and directly behind the port of Los Angeles, with famous photog Markus Cuff, I discovered an old rundown hotel for sale on the corner. An old man gave me a tour of this 1923 clapboard, lathe and plaster hotel. It had been gutted in 1981 and portions were refurbished to become an industrial building and a fish processing plant. The entire building was stuccoed and vast concrete rooms created. As I walked through this wild cavernous hideout, my imagination went wild.

Of course, I had to convince the lovely Nyla that this would be a step in the right direction. She was born in a small home in Wilmington, and never looked back. Most Wilmington residents drink margaritas and dream of how they can escape this third world country between Long Beach and San Pedro. It’s as industrial as a town can get. It’s bordered by the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach, oil refineries, power plants, train depots, and more 18-wheelers roll through the streets daily than cars. Since this is not a white bread, upscale community, over 85 percent of the population is Hispanic. Hell, longshoremen haul ass to the dreaded Wilmington union halls daily to pick up their jobs, then scream out of down.

Since I was somewhat involved in some community efforts in Pedro, I made a couple of phone calls and was introduced to the Wilmington Waterfront Development Committee. I discovered that this building was at the corner of every future corridor to the water project being discussed. I made an offer. Nyla foolishly agreed, then panicked. We moved in and a new adventure began, plus we started to develop the Bikernet Independent Motorcycle Noise Study, since bikers were being harassed with roadblocks in Pedro and across the country. Suddenly we had a joint that allowed us a large shop. I was awarded the Silver Spoke award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, then inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Sturgis for God only knows what. I have always supported the Sturgis Museum.

About this time, Jesse James called and asked me to be on the 50th Anniversary Monster Garage Team, building a wrecked Softail into a mighty fine custom chopper. The team was made up of Mark Rowe, the master welder and frame designer, John Reed the master Custom Chrome builder and parts designer, Don Hotop, one of the finest custom bike builders in the country, Carl Morrow, the master engine builder, who doubled the horsepower of this twin cam, and me, a so-so mechanic. I was the guy who recommended Jesse for his first Discovery Channel gig. We had a blast and built one very cool chopper.

A Word from the Bikernet Official Copy Editor :

Shit, when did I get involved with Bikernet? Must have been 2004 or 2005 near as I can figure. Like the Robert Hunter-Jerry Garcia song, The Wheel says, “You can’t slow down and you can’t stand still; if the thunder don’t get you, the lightning will.”

The last economic downturn about ten years ago found me divorced and unemployed for a year back in Allen, Texas, but I got the itch to ride again and bought a 2000 XL1200C Sportster anyhow. A couple of contract consulting jobs came my way that summer and put me in Columbus, Ohio. I swapped the Sporty for one of those rare (not), black, 2003, 100th anniversary edition FXST.

Jobs took me back south to Baton Rouge, Louisiana; north again to St. Louis, southeast to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I picked up a 2007 Road King. Currently, I’m still single and living and working in Colorado Springs.

Me and my big mouth; back in 2004 or 2005, I sorta broadsided Bandit one day about sloppy editing and missed deadlines. Next thing I know, I’m editing tech features, Cantina episodes, World Tour chapters, Building a Bonneville Salt Flats Racer, Harbortown Seduction, Bandit’s biography of the international president of one of California’s 1% clubs, and contributing articles of my own now and then.

Mostly, I do it for fun; it’s a welcome respite from the insufferable pricks and pompous asses that I have to deal with in my real job as a proposal manager for a defense contractor. But it has its perks, too, and it allows me the creativity that’s lacking when you make your living writing, editing and managing dry government documents.

And somewhere before and during all of it, I left an ex in Texas, lost a few girlfriends in Louisiana, Missouri and North Carolina, slid on my ass down a patch of black ice in Ohio, got splattered with bird guts on a Kansas highway, and got to ride and party with a lot of kick-ass brothers and sisters from around the country. On the flip side, I buried a father and a few friends, too, but I choose to celebrate their lives rather than mourn their deaths.

So, yeah, it’s been a helluva ride. I’ll be 60 next fall, and I’m looking forward to riding and celebrating the next 15 years with the Bikernet crew.

– Bruce Snyder, 2011, Colorado Springs, CO

In 2005, after spending a year as the editorial director of Hot Bike, Street Choppers, and another Primedia title, I started on the Sturgis Shovel, my first ground-up project in the new Bikernet Interplanetary Headquarters. We rode to Sturgis.

In 2006, I built the first Sportbike Panhead, with a partial Custom Chrome, John Reed-designed kit bike and an Outlaw 120 engine from Accurate Engineering, and we decided to ride to Bonneville. I met Valerie Thompson, a professional drag racer and a very pretty face in the motorcycle racing community. She wanted to race Bonneville, so I offered her my ride, the Salt Shaker. We didn’t know what the hell we were doing, but we did it. I believe our first pass grabbed us a speed of 152 mph and I was impressed. As it turned out that year, we took home a world land speed record at 141. That same year, we watched the World Land Speed Record for motorcycles broken for the first time in 16 years, from 321.5 mph set by the Easyriders team in 1990, and I was on that team. Interesting. I believe Dennis Manning took the record at about 345 mph. What a year! We were hooked!

After Sturgis 2006, I jumped into Dr. Hamster’s ’53 modified Lincoln and we drove to the bottom of Mexico, then raced in the 2006 LA Carrera PanAmericana vintage road race to the top of Mexico. Then with our 2nd class award in hand, we drove home. All the other teams had rigs, trailers, and tool sheds. We were the only bastards to arrive in our car and everyday, we threw our luggage in the back and went racing. What a ride!

In 2007, we decided to build an aerodynamic bike to fit Valerie, and go after a 200-mph Worlds Fastest Panhead Record. At the same time, Jeremiah Soto rolled into the shop and started his Shovelhead bobber project, and we went at it like mad dogs, building his bike and the Panhead. We hit a top speed at Bonneville at over 160 mph and set another partially streamlined record at around 156 mph. We knew the bike was capable of much greater speeds, but the salt conditions prevented strong runs.

In 2008, I finally published my first Chance Hogan book. We were also contacted by Tim Remus of Wolfgang Publishing to publish a book about our 2007 run to Bonneville, based on the rough chapters about the build on Bikernet. Every year, we were fortunate enough to sit back and make a list of goals we wanted to accomplish. As we rolled into 2008, I was turning 60 years old. I rode to Monterey with Billy Lane and the boss of Sucker Punch Sally Bikes for a vintage meet. Billy traded me a 1926 OHV 350 cc Peashooter engine for my 1913 Pope engine, and we started to build a vintage single cylinder engine bike for Bonneville the following year.

But the stars weren’t aligned for the 5-Ball Racing Crew in 2009. Barry Wardlaw forgot to send us a set of rings for the Assalt Weapan and we couldn’t take it back. We rolled to Bonneville with just the Peashooter and Ray Wheeler’s turbocharged Dyna. He had handling problems and we blew a head gasket with 14:1 compression. We had a great time, but stumbled home early.

I also jumped a jet for the annual meeting of the minds meeting produced by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based legislative group that’s the federal arm of motorcycle rights groups across the country. Bikernet presented several efforts, including our popular Independent Motorcycle Noise Study, a freedom movie effort, and our effort to start an aftermarket motorcycle rights group to support the industry. We are a sponsor of the MRF and run their news releases often in the Bikernet news. We publish legislative reports from any state or national organization. Actually, Rogue, a brother and freedom fighter I’ve known since 1972, has sent me reports daily since 1999 from all over the country. He is now in the Sturgis Hall of Fame and still rides like a madman at over 70 years of age.

During this period, every extra dime we could muster went into refurbishing one room at a time in our vast 10,000-square-foot building. I started to build a Crazy Horse Indian engine, 5-Ball Factory Racer with primarily Paughco parts. The frame was initially designed by Rick Krost of US Choppers and he was having a problem getting his board track frames built, so I introduced him to the legendary Paughco family, and immediately he had frames whenever he needed them.

Somewhere along here, Mike Jones called me and invited me to be apart of his movie effort, Born to Ride. I tried to memorize a handful of lines and play a motorcycle journalist, asking the hero questions in an interview. This summer, the biker film will be released in Phoenix. Branscombe Richmond plays one of the slap-stick bad guys. Mike is already working on another film.

“Bandit was always the one who always got away, the one they could never catch or censor. May Old Glory wave over the Bikernet headquarters another 15 years.”

In 2010, we suffered through the economic downturn, but completely rebuilt Bikernet. I moved it to a new location in Columbus, Ohio within a family operation. They oversee over 300 web sites and said they could handle the vast Bikernet empire. We are still grappling with them to upload all of our features onto the new platform. Sure, it’s better, with more bells and whistles, but it means more work. We could work on this bastard 24/7. When one of the bosses, Joe, started to monkey with Bikernet, he called me.

“This site is amazing,” Joe said. “We have designed sites with millions of dollars and they don’t have a fraction of your content or your readership numbers.”

 

 

Every year, we made a list of adventures and goals, and flew at them like rabid dogs. In 2010, I was approached by Motorbooks to write a book about a 1%er, the international president of a club for 24 years. I was still writing features for American Iron, the Horse, Cycle Source, and Heavy Duty in Australia. A handful of righteous brothers in the custom motorcycle business, including Kiwi Mike and Billy McCahill were still trying to assist the industry by forming an aftermarket motorcycle organization to support motorcycle rights and motorcycle freedoms. Nevada is trying to repeal their helmet law. Other states are trying to pass helmet laws. California is trying to smog test motorcycles, and the noise battles are being fought all over the country.

I try to spread the word as much as possible, and we even considered trying to make a film about freedom in this country wrapped around motorcycling. That’s another adventure we may embark on as we move forward. I may have slipped in the above timeline and scrambled the dates, but that’s basically the story. I don’t want to go into the goals for 2011, since you see them mentioned every week on Bikernet, but I would like to thank about a thousands folks for their support, leadership, talents, and contributions over the years. I know I’m going to forget someone, but this is the internet, not a page in a magazine. We can correct or add to any aspect of an article, anytime night or day. Just ping me and I’ll make it happen–I hope.

I was interviewed last week by a writer from Random Lengths, the local newspaper. He mentioned that I was blessed to have created a pure custom motorcycle paradise and live smack in the middle of it. If anything is green, Bikernet is. We don’t destroy trees; we don’t even commute to an office. It’s fuckin’ amazing. Thanks for stickin’ with us, and maybe we’ll hook up on the ride to Sturgis 2011.

Bob T.
Chris T.

Jason Douglas
Chris Kallas
Doc Robinson
Johnny Humble
Paul Garson
Kirk Willard
Jeff Hennie
Sin Wu
Jeremiah Soto
Jon Towle
Peter Linney
Markus Cuff

Rebecca Segal
Uncle Monkey
Nyla Olsen
Eric Herrmann
Ray C. Wheeler
Cigar Marc B.
Joe Tripp
Tedd T.
CarlR
Bruce Snyder
Ladd Terry
River Rat
Vickster
Patty Hamster
Myron Larrabee
Agent Zebra
Tramp Scotty
Uncle Monkey

Barry Wardlaw
Holger Mohr
Richard Lester
Pepper Massey
Mike and Vicky Pullin
Jim Gufra
Rick Krost
Ron Paugh
Danny Gonzalez
Lorenzo Lamas
Branscombe Richmond
Edge
Robin Hartfiel
Bikernet Betsy
Genevieve Schmitt
Paul James
Charles P.
Jenn Gruber
Michelle McCarthy
Lisa Pedicini
Buster Cates

Wordman
Frank Kaisler
Dick Allen
Quick Throttle Art
Ian
Donna
Arlin Fatland
Marilyn Bragg
Charles Young
TBear
JoAnn Bortels
Buckshot

Okay, you have the story behind this build, and Chris Kallas is refining the concept drawing. My engine arrived from the factory, and Eric Bennett immediately noticed the return address, in Viola, Wisconsin.

As it turns out, the factory hired the S&S crew to assemble their Evo line of engines. What a natural. I liked that notion all the way around the block. First, it means more American hands in my new engine. Plus, what could be better than to have the best performance engine company on the planet working with the factory on the last and most refined V-twin configuration?

For this crew, and lots of riders all over the world, the FXR Evo is the best of the best. So, for Bikernet, this became the year of the FXR and the Evo engine. I asked the factory about their Evo engine program and received the following information.

A Modicum of Harley Engine History
The first 74 cubic-inch V-Twin engine on the JD and FD models was introduced in 1921 and the 45 cubic-inch side-valve V-twin engine (later to be known as the Flathead) on the D model debuted in 1929. The Flathead engine proved so reliable that variations of it were available on Harley-Davidson motorcycles as late as 1973 (servi-car trikes).

In 1936, Harley-Davidson introduced the EL model with an overhead valve, 61-cubic-inch engine. With increased horsepower and bold styling changes, the motorcycle earned the Knucklehead nickname, due to the shape of its rocker boxes.

New features were added to the 61 and 74 overhead valve engines in 1948, including aluminum heads and hydraulic valve lifters. New one-piece, chrome-plated rocker box covers shaped like cake pans earned this engine the nickname Panhead. The engine introduced on the Electra Glide models in 1966 to replace the Panhead became known as the Shovelhead, again due to the shape of its rocker covers.

Sources:

Bennett’s Performance

Branch O’Keefe

Ultimate Builder United States Championship in Daytona Beach, FL
 
The Ultimate Builder United States Championship of Custom Bike Building is held at the Daytona Progressive International Motorcycle Show during Daytona Bike Week, March 9-12, 2011. This elite competition crowns the definitive national champions in Free Style, Modified Harley and Performance Custom.
 
The winners of the series get an automatic bid to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Sturgis, SD later this year.
 
 

Free Style Class
 
Kenny Williams wins the Free Style class of the United States Championship with Tantalizer, his 2011 KW Customs Bagger. Tantalizer sports a Mike Garrison 127ci mil, front and rear air ride suspension, Performance Machine 23” front wheel, and chrome by Chrome Masters. The flawless paint was provided by KW Customs.  

 
 Modified Harley
 
McPhiz out of LA Speed Shop wins in Long Beach and at the United States Championships. Chris Richardson’s bike is a 1953 H-D Panhead FL with paint by Headcase and chrome by New California Bumpers.
 
 
Chris Richardson wins Modified Harley, cash and a Harley-Davidson 120″ Race Motor
 
  

Performance Custom
 

Jack McCoy built the rowdy alter ego of the stock Suzuki B-King. Sitting in the state-of-the-art chassis and suspension platform is a dual turbo engine that pumps out 515HP.  The KING of the  B-King showcases an imposing engine that is really out there… for all the world to see.
 
 
  

MOB Rules  
 
 
Steve Galvin of Wikked Steel wins MOB RULES with 2010 Wikked Steel Area 51. Paint by Jason Trimbach, Chrome provided by Space Coast. The engine is a 120ci Ultima engine with extensive Wikked modifications.
 
 
Gary Maurer: 1st Year Recipient, Ambassador Award Winner
 
 
This award is for the individual that has provided support to the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show during the series. Gary promoted the show and assisted builders in getting their bikes to Indianapolis Dealer Expo as well as getting Bob Kay into the Slippery Noodle Inn, Indiana’s oldest continuously operating bar, having opened in 1850.
 

 
 
The United States Championship is an affiliate competition to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building.
 
Free Style Class

1st – Kenny Williams, 2011 KW Customs Bagger
2nd – Steve Galvin, Wikked Steel, Area 51
 
3rd – Robbie Closson, CamTech Customs
 
MOD Harley Class

1st – Chris Richardson, LA Speed Shop, 1953 Panhead

2nd – Bob McAreavey, 2001 H-D Fatboy

3rd – Jason Bochniak, 2006 Harley-Davidson

Performance Custom
1st – Jack & Autumn McCoy, Inferno: 2008 Suzuki B-King
2nd – Jamie Luczak, 2006 Suzuki Hayabusa
 
3rd – Nick Visvardis, 2008 Suzuki GSX-R1000

Australia has started a love affair with Victory motorcycles and after only two years they are the second highest-selling cruising motorcycle in the State of Victoria, where the first company store was opened about two years ago. At present their Melbourne store is the number two dealer in the world, but it is expected that within a year the recently opened Sydney store will overtake it. We are not talking Polaris dealerships. These are pure Victory supported stores, much like a Harley-Davidson dealership.

Currently the Melbourne and Sydney stores are the only company owned Victory dealerships in the world. The new store was opened on Saturday the 29th of January 2011. The dealership address: 554 Parramatta Road Ashfield.

Somewhat stunningly – in this old biker’s opinion – the clarion call for the opening of the Sydney facility was the sound of eighty Victory motorcycles that had been ridden 500 miles up from Melbourne to celebrate this event. This is a powerful demonstration of the brand loyalty Victory is building in Australia, as it required the owners to take several days off work in order to participate.

But make no mistake; this event was a very big deal for not only a heap of rabid Aussie enthusiasts, but also for a power pack of American executives who flew down under for the celebration. They included Bennett Morgan, President and COO of Polaris Industries Inc, Steve Menneto, General Manager, Victory Motorcycles, Mike Dougherty, VP Global New Market Development and Ross Clifford, Director International Motorcycles. This was also a big deal for the struggling American market. If these shop work out well down under, they are obviously destined for the United States, as soon as the economy is ready. It’s also a terrific indicator of the Australian marketplace, and the faith Polaris placed on this marketing gamble. Recently Kevin Alsop, the boss of Big Bear Choppers, mentioned that his largest market currently is located in Australia.

A highlight of the event was the unveiling by Steve Menneto of the new Victory Highball which was launched only one week earlier in New York, with Australia being the first country outside of the USA to land one. This is one hell of a cool motorcycle and I predict great things for it. Well done Victory.

You can check out video of the ride at the web site of the Victory Riders Network on http://vrnetwork.ning.com/ and it makes pretty entertaining viewing, even if you ride another brand.

Doc Robinson is the highly esteemed Tech Editor of Heavy Duty Magazine, the largest cruiser publication in Australia, and a regular contributor to Bikernet.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

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