That’s right. You can enter by filling out the coupon, subscribing to Bandit’s Cantina on Bikernet, or to the Cycle Source Magazine. With a Crazy Horse 100-inch engine, and a frame from Texas Bike Works this build is already flying together.

From issue to issue you’ll see your motorcycle being built on the pages of Bikernet and Cycle Source. You’ll witness Gary Maurer from Kustoms Inc. and Ron Harris from Chop Docs bend sheet metal, create one-off components, and shoot one of the sickest old-school paint schemes that you have ever seen…




The team will carefully select components from the best in the industry, including wheels from Ride Wright, electronics from Accel, leatherwork by the master, Howard H. Knight, and controls from Tim at Grip Ace.

“Also, please look at Barnett clutches and let me know what you need,” Prince Najar said. He’s the manager of this process and partner at Biker Pros, who is working closely with our builders, editors, and suppliers.

“Also, Blacksmith Baggerville is interested in creating one-off pegs, brake pedal, grip, internal throttle and air cleaner,” the Prince said.

The parts list for XPress lid chopper build, including a Fab Kevin seat pan and hinge, expands daily.




Gary Maurer plans to split a set of stock fat bobs, modify them and mount them to the Texas Bike Works frame. He will take possession of the frame and Crazy Horse engine this week while the Prince searches high and low for forks cups, a springer front end, tires, rear fender, rear axle, final chain drive components, forward controls, a battery, a Mikuni carb from Rivera Primo, a primary drive system, an air cleaner, front and rear brakes, and the list goes on. Of course the Prince plans on using the D&D performance exhaust system.




“Let your wings fly for now,” Gary said to the Prince in his best motivational sounding voice, modulated by Jack Daniels and soaked in wisdom by some of the best Georgia moonshine.




“Wait,” Ron Harris said, “I have a special request. I need a Goldwing Windjammer fairing.”




“Thanks for reminding me,” Prince Najar said. “I found one, if Maurer will let go of his, then we’re all set.”



Gary Maurer with Jason Ferguson of Texas Bike Works initially designed the hand-built custom frame. Gary sent to Jason a custom bent backbone down to Texas. It features a 1 ¾-inch formed DOM steel tubing arched backbone to be integrated the frame. Jason is an MMI graduate who cut his teeth in Southern California with Johnny Pag and the Biker’s Dream folks in 1993. After the Dream fell apart, but with a great deal of hard knocks experience, Jason peeled out to the Lone Star state, and drove in his stakes in 2006, on the outskirts of Dallas/Fort Worth, in Granbury, Texas.




He spent five years perfecting his first frame jig and has been hand fabricating specialty frames for two years. The fabrication bug inspiration came from the first Motorcycle Mania Discovery show by Hugh King. He watched fabricators work shrinkers/stretchers, English wheels, shapers, and benders, and was suddenly intrigued to try his hand with steel manipulation.







Gary bent the curvy rigid backbone and shipped it to Jason. Jason added 2 inches of stretch up and out, plus an additional 2 inches in the rear. He included 34 degrees of rake in the neck. The rest of the 1 ¼-inch tubing design was up to Jason to enhance lines of the frame and make her flow.







“I don’t have a roller to fabricate those soft bends,” Jason said. But I’m sure that tool rests heavily in the back of his mind. As a kid, his dad was a biker, and Jason was inspired by Arlen Ness digger styles. He hopes to build frames, rollers, and complete bikes around Panheads, Shovels, and Sportsters. His next bike project involves a generator 1966 Shovelhead and a bone stock, never touched Arlen Ness original chassis.










So there’s talented crew for the XPress lid Bikernet/Cycle Source Sweeps biker project, and I would be proud to own any bike built with a Jason Ferguson, Texas Bike Works frame, Fab Kevin components, Crazy Horse engine, and by the crazy team of Gary and Ron. But wait, who the hell is that title sponsor? We are very fortunate to have this coffee company sponsor our build. XPress is a custom French Press coffee cup lid technology, by Smart Cup. Have you heard of French pressed coffee? Well, Smart Cup designed a portable cup that makes a French pressed cup of strong Joe whenever you want it. Over the months ahead, we’ll show you how it works and delivers a superior cup of crushed beans on the go.

Hang on for the next report, and don’t forget to enter, goddammit.

–Bandit



Sources:




Xpress
http://mysmartcup.com/


Crazy Horse
http://www.crazyhorsemotorcycles.com/

Texas Frame Works
www.TexasBikeWorks.com


Kustoms Inc.
KustomsInc@hotmail.com

Chop Docs
www.Chopdocschoppers.com


Fab Kevin
http://www.fabkevin.com/home.htm
www.evil-engineering.com


D&D Exhaust
http://www.danddexhaust.com/


Wire Plus
http://www.wire-plus.com/

Barnett
Barnettclutches.com

Rocking K Custom Leathers
howard.knight@montana.com

Accel
http://www.accel-ignition.com/

The King lives again, thanks to the Harley-Davidson Spring catalog supplement. The factory now offers complete blacked out Road King front end components. We replaced the warped nacelle.

With a small brush and a 1/2 pint of gloss black Rustoleum, we touched up chipped fasteners over a couple of Coronas. What’s next? The rear fender needed touch-up. The all-black King was cool, but the damn thing needed some color. That called for old school pinstripping. Finally we liked the new mostly black mags except for the tits around the rim. They seemed out of place. We pondered a solution.

There’s Henry with a Jitter-Bug orbital sander.

We rode over to Henry Figueroa’s Auto Restorations, a steel corrugated building on the wrong side of town. Henry worked for his dad as a kid fixing cars. His mainstay is restoring antique autos and custom paint jobs for four-wheelers from the ’20s through the ’60s (310) 218-9097. Henry said he would fill the holes in the bottom of the fender and prepare it for George, The Wild Brush, to perform his pinstriping magic (310) 488-5488.

Since we didn’t change the color scheme, paying homage to the 100th, we decided to snatch the gold from the edge of the silver band and expand it to other elements of the King. We removed the license plate holder and plastic fender tip in preparation for reworking the fender and filling three holes.

Henry handled the small holes with Z-Grip bondo and welded a plate behind the large quarter-sized hole (used for accessory wiring, then filled it with bondo. With nasty-rough 80-grit sandpaper he shaped the bondo to conform with the fender. Then he used finer sandpaper to continue to smooth the surface until it was as slick as a baby’s ass. Sheet metal and bondo work takes a trained eye and artistic patience. Henry buzzed through it like it was second nature and with a block sander massaging the surface before painting it with House of Kolor primer filler. More sanding with finer, wet-and-dry grits took place before the final black coats were laid over the tip.

It’s the magnificent George, the Wild Brush.

Then we were graced with the talent of George, the Wild Brush, a pinstriper who has been wielding Blue Liner striping brushes for 30 years. As a youngster he worked in the Los Angeles Gasoline Alley. He created wild paint schemes for Mario Andretti, Bill Simpson and Dale Armstrong.

George mixed and matched enamel stripping paints for just the right hue.

He used only enamel striping paints for drying flexibility. He can test, paint and tinker and wipe the surface clean if he’s not happy with the results. “Metallics are much more difficult to work with,” George explained mixing paint and testing the consistency on his delicate brush. “Gold is particularly difficult and may not flow. Anytime I reload the brush there may be a matching problem.” He used talcum powder, to keep his hands from sticking to the metal face being striped, for a pure clean line. With a grease pencil he marked the center of the fenders and went to work freehand, without so much as a sketch.

Sometimes George uses masking tape to find the center of the fender.

Pinstriping is a delicate art form often administered in public.

The front fender gave George the best vantage point and position for striping so it received the finest workmanship.

We wanted an old school appearance and his seasoned talents were perfectly suited for the task. With the rear fender tip touched by the Wild Brush, he moved onto the front Street Stalker fender, then the horn cover and finally a small touch to the jet hot, flat- black-coated Screamin’ Eagle air cleaner cover. George instructed us to wait three weeks before adding protective wax to the finish. He suggested Turtle wax as a polish that works without harmful abrasives or chemicals. That’s it for this issue.

Here’s before and after the Jet Hot flat black coated Screamin’ Eagle Air Cleaner was striped.

Keeping his striping brush loose and flexible before completing the rear fender.

The rear fender, while on the bike, was awkward to stripe without a lift. The paint still needs final polish.

George pointed out a little trick for the powder coated point cover. Instead of striping it, and since our powder crew coated the back side, he rubbed some of the gray enamel into the slots and left it to dry with a light coat of gray on the surface. “That’s not a problem,” George pointed out. “Leave it for a couple of days then polish the cover. It will look as if it was striped.”

That covered the striping but not the wheels. We rode back to the headquarters and jacked up the King on the lift. We dug out a handful of tools, bought some model car gold paint and plain old black enamel.

I sanded the tits on the wheel with 400 wet and dry just to create a surface that would hold the touch up excercise. I was determined that the legs of the wheels are powdercoated flat black, perhaps over a clear coat that covers the entire wheel. This was a test. The right way might include taking the wheels off, machining the tits away and re-powdercoating the entire wheel.

I used a rag and harsh electrical contact cleaner to prepare the surface for touch-up.

This will tweak your mind. I painted the tits on the alloy wheels with the gold paint first. Then I stood back and eyed the job. It looked sharp and added a touch of color. On the other hand it had that gold-trimmed Cadillac appearance. That was a bastard to swallow.

What’s a poor Bandit to do? I went after the other side of the bike with cheap brushes and black touch-up paint. The exact same procedure on the right, but without the gold paint. Let me know what you think.

That did it. We installed the bags with the left side touched in gold and the right handled with hardened black. I still can’t decide what side I like the best. The women lean toward the gold. Let us know what you think? I still might stripe the wheels, machine them, then black powder both entirely. That’ll answer that goddamn question. See ya next time for our oil cooler install that’s currently being featured in American Rider.

–Bandit

There’s two shots of the stripped King by Markus. The remaining amatuer shots were taken of the loaded King after a 650 mile weekend run to Laughlin and back to the west coast.

Over the last year we’ve tore into this classic 2003, 100th anniversary Road King. I figured I wanted a touring bike for the long haul. The notion was designed around maintaining the 100th theme, adding to the blackness and durability. I wanted a tough black bastard to ride, not detail or polish for shows. A bike for years to come. What could be better?

We used 90 percent H-D parts including a modified taillight bracket, Screamin’ Eagle turnsignals and narrow light bracket. Much of it was powder coated by Custom Powdercoating in Dallas

We kicked it off with light styling and safety accessories like a blacked-out dash, lowered shocks, rewired turnsignals, touring components and detachable back rests.

Here’s the lowered backrest which was black powdercoated. More items need to be blacked out.

We worked with a dealer for more involved tech mods and performance enhancements. Our formula was designed around beefing the low-end torque with cams, Screaming Eagle heads, air cleaner and two into one pipes. I ran it directly from the lift to a dyno, for a comparison test, which resulted in 68 horses, an 8-horse increase and 76 pounds of torque, a 6-pound increase.

With 16-inch apes from Custom Chrome and new cams it was a different beast as I rolled the King out of the service area and peeled down the street.

Here’s a shot of one of the Screamin’ Eagle ported heads. I went with the silver heads for the old Shovelhead or Pan look.

My old school notions leaned toward blacking out the king. If the frame had been another base color we might have followed it, but unity was the slogan behind design changes. I worked with Custom Powder Coating in Dallas as we stripped the touring model, inventoried the elements and sent them to the masters of powder (214)638-6416.

The Screamin’ Eagle two-into-one pipes and air cleaner were Jet Hot coated by Engineered Applications in Vernon, California, (323) 585-2894.

I rode over to Henry Figueroa’s Auto Restorations, a steel corrugated building on the wrong side of town. We removed the license plate holder and rear plastic fender tip. The filling and paint came from Henry (310) 218-9097. Henry filled the holes in the bottom of the fender and prepare it for George, The Wild Brush, to perform classic pinstriping magic (310) 488-5488.

Here’s an example of the Wild Brush pin striping on a super clean H-D Street Stalker fender.

I wanted to flame the bastard but paid homage to the 100th anniversary of H-D, reluctantly. We compromised and snatched the gold and silver (or gray) from the edge of the 100th tank band and expanded it to other elements of the King.

Stock horn cover, black powdered and touched by the magic Wild Brush.

We installed a factory oil cooler and tested it on the road to Barstow, California. Every goddamn element was covered in techs right here on Bikernet. Keeping the oil at a resonable temperature is critical to long rang reliability.

Returning from Laughlin we checked the oil temperature after 300 miles and it read a comfortable 226 degrees. This is the tightest H-D twin cam cooler yet.

Since I might ride the King to Sturgis this year and pack a Bikernet babe, we installed a detachable back rest for long distance runs.

The windshield was trimmed for the Custom Chrome 16-inch apes and splattered with bugs on the return trip from Laughlin.

The King was enhanced and prepped for the open road, or it’s capable of being stripped down for around town. What could be better?

The King loaded down for the road to Laughlin.

“It could be flamed and raked,” Renegade shouted from behind his rigid, kicker-only, magneto charged Shovelhead.

That’s all folks, chart to follow

PARTS

H-D Lowered shocks — For coolness without disturbing the ride.
H-D Shock pump tool — For ease of modifying and checking ride ability for singleor double-up runs.
H-D Taillight/brake light mod — To turn the turn signal lights into brakelights for added stopping visibility.

This puppy is golden. With a touch it shows the oil temp. Can’t beat it for monitoring the condition of the engine’s blood.

H-D Digital dipstick — For ease of observing oil temps.
H-D Docking kit — For backrest and fender rack capabilities.
H-D 100th Anniversary Cobra style seat — For coolness.
H-D Blacked out dash panel — For coolness and lack of sun glare on the openroad–get it?

Since I didn’t go for the tour rack or dresser box I needed help.

H-D Crash bar bags — For additional touring space.
H-D Mobil windshield — For low or high touring.
H-D Windshield bag — For windshield storage
Screamin’ Eagle Teardrop air cleaner cover–Style.
Screamin’ Eagle Heads–Enhanced flow and increased compression.
Screamin’ Eagle Air Cleaner Kit–Improve air velocity
Screamin’ Eagle Two Into One Touring Exhaust–Matching exhaust with heads.
H-D Speedo/Tach–More tuning information for the rider.
Screamin’ Eagle EFI turner kit–Tuning software.
H-D SE-203 cam set–Specific low end/mid range performance enhancement.
Goodrich Hydraulic lines and fittings–Extended lines for highbars.
Barnett’s Tool– Extended throttle and clutch cables.
Custom Chrome 16-inch High Bars–Changing the nature of the beast.

I still want to have these wheels machined and completely black powdered for a solid black look.

H-D black mag wheels and floating rotors with black centers–Adding to the blacked out look.
H-D fender brackets–Allowed the solid black Street Stalker fender to be bolted to the touring front end.
Screamin’ Eagle teardrop turnsignals and the narrower light bar–All style
H-D fender, license plate mount–Moved the bracket out of the way.
H-D New oil cooler for 1999 and later touring models–essential to cool the King.
H-D custom billet tab for the rear of the stock seat–We needed an extra one.
H-D Front and rear detachable docking hardware kits–Allows for detachable touring accessories to be mounted
H-D Lower backrest/sissybar–Designed to pleasure the ladies.

When ya can’t go black, there’s only one place to go, but chrome details.

H-DClassic hexbolt covers and stainless Allen caps to begin an engine detailing process.
H-DClassic Chrome Axle caps–Factory styling additions that prevent chrome shop runs.

It runs well. I’ve got proof. A ticket for 92 in a 55.

I couldn’t think or speak. I had a week and a half to insure that this puppy ran. I could sense fangs growing under my upper lip. I began to snarl as my fingernail extended beyond my cold hard hands. My eyes reddened, and I wanted to ride. Without the throttle cables I could use the cruise control, if it still worked. I could jam it into gear and fly. Frank hit me with a torque wrench. “We’re burnin’ daylight,” he snapped, “Let’s measure the cables and install the left Knuckle style grip.”

After wiping the grip end of the bar down with alcohol, the grip interior was coated with the rubber cement, that came with the grips. Then it was immediately slipped into place.

I snapped out of my Werewolf London fog. We measured the clutch cable then compared our findings with the throttle cables. As I suspected, lucky 13 inches to make up for the 12-inch taller bars that were an inch wider than the stock units. Frank made a B-line for the phone to call Barnett’s and ordered the cables. We were scheduled to roll up to the fleet center for a performance upgrade on Friday. It was Tuesday and the cables wouldn’t arrive until Thursday. It was going to be a close call. “Barnett has been around since Moby Dick was a minnow,” Frank said. I’ve been ordering custom cables from them since I was in my 20s and first influenced by Apehanger madness. “They are as reliable as the sun on the coast,” Frank continued, but I was still nervous.

We weren’t done yet. We torqued (15 foot pounds) the bars into place and began to cut and fit Goodridge brakes hoses, distributed by Barnetts and Custom Chrome. Another delicate operation.

The King has dual disc brakes and the fittings had to be installed just right, tightened properly and finally torgued into place. From the bottom of the triple-trees we used the stock measurement to the calipers from the existing junction under the trees. The new lengths of Goodridge hose were cut with the largest, strongest side cutters I had. Before any fittings were installed we slipped a 2-inch piece of black 3/8-inch diameter shrink tubing over the hose. Next a chromed pinch fitting was slipped over the cable. Frank brought the tools and supplies including a tool to spread the braided hose after the rubber housing was stripped away to allow the new fitting to be installed.

Stripping the rubber sleave back from the end about an inch.

Here’s all the components involved in the process.

The tool used to spread the braided steel shield.

Then a small brass round furl (like a brass ball-bearing with a hole in it) is slipped over the plastic lining. It must be pushed to the point where the internal brass ridge meets with the end of the plastic liner. The other half of the fitting with the long tube is shoved into place. In each case we clamped the fitting between two sheets of leather then began to tighten the sleeve onto the fitting. In each case they were a bear to tighten down indicating that we had succeeded in a strong, secure grip.

The spreading process involves shoving the tool into place and swiveling it to make sure the braided area is spread consistently.

Installing the furl is simple, just slip it on carefully then push it into place. But, inspect the inside to make sure the plastic hose is against the interior ridge.

Now tighten the pinch fitting. Note the leather pads in the vice to prevent damage to the banjo fitting. These puppies are tough to tighten down, take your time.

Here’s another way to hold the banjo fitting for final tightening. Be careful not to bend or damage the sealing surfaces.

Note the two bronze washer/gaskets on either side of the banjo fittings for proper sealing which is critical to your brakes.

After each line was carefully constructed, they were installed on the bike after some jockeying with the Goodridge billet junction under the tree which fit precisely.

For some reason, this Goodridge junction mounted extremely snug between the fork tube guards. For awhile we thought we were in trouble.

We followed the original routing of the stock brake line through the nacelle. With the lines in place we torqued them down (17-20 foot pounds). I took the easy way of bleeding the brakes. I pulled on the lever gently allowing the bubbles to pass through the master cylinder. It took a while, and I had to keep filling the reservoir as the the lines drained the supply.

We used the stock 12-point fittings which torqued down easily to 17-20 foot pounds, which seemed like a lot.

We had completed all that was possible for Tuesday and I swung my leg over the saddle once more. As fire and smoke poured from my ears Frank crept out of the garage and into the night.

Thursday morning I paced the vast porch in front of the headquarters waiting for the UPS man. The truck sped past without a hint of slowing. I called Frank, he called Barnetts. I called the Fleet center after finding that the cables wouldn’t arrive until Monday morning, guaranteed. We had an American Rider magazine deadline, but more importantly I had a run-to-Arizona-deadline for the following Friday. I started pacing the garage and bowing to the new 16-inch apes. I knew, by the power of the Ape, we would succeed.

At 9:00 a.m. in my boxer shorts, Monday morning, I met the UPS man and signed for the Barnett package. I started to lube all the cables then decided that I should get dressed.

In order to install a new clutch cable the face of the transmission must be removed. I was surprised that this was the first item that I ran across on the King that was a pain in the ass to install. The entire exhaust system had to be loosened all the way back to the rear muffler isolator. before the clutch release housing could be removed.

With large clip ring pliers the throw-out mechanism was set free to release the clutch cable which virtually snapped into place. Then the cover was spun to allow the cable housing to unscrew. Next the new cable was fed along the same route as the stock job.

Once the clutch release cover is removed and the clip ring snapped out, you can see the outer ramp with the coupling ready for the cable.

If you look close the cable has been fed through the hole and is heading towards home.

Now with the new cable attached the outer ramp heads back into position. Watch you don’t tilt the case. The ball bearings will escape.

This shot shows the entire clutch release assembly complete. Remember as you reposition the clip ring to put the sharp edge up for the most secure bond.

We discovered that we had a lot of slack and rerouted the clutch cable outside the front motormount to eliminate some. Then the tranny cover gasket was wiped clean and the cover replaced (torqued to 10-12 foot pounds), then refilled with tranny fluid to the appropriate level with the bike upright and the dipstick threads just touching. We filled it to the top dipstick mark, about 3/4 of a quart capacity.

With this assembly you spin the cover onto the cable, not visa-versa.

According to the book, the torque specs call for 10-12 foot pounds of torque to snug up the clutch release cover.

With a 9/16 box end wrench snug the cable housing down with a new o-ring attached.

We jacked-up the gas tank to afford us access to the fuel injection throttle cable routing. With the three tank mounting bolts removed the tank was lifted easily until a chunk of wood could be wedged under the front of the tank. Then I figured out which cable was what. With a small Crescent wrench, I loosened the throttle cable adjusters and took out all of the adjustment to allow lots of cable slack.

The unit with the small spring around the cable at the throttle body end was the push cable. I fed the braided cables through the runners as if they were stock cables. You will note, if you attempt this, that there is a Cruise Control connection in one of the stock cables at the neck. We unplugged it with trepidation. I wasn’t sure what havoc it would cause. I hadn’t tried the Cruise control. As it turned out, it’s a sensor to kill the control, if you back off the throttle abruptly.

Lubing throttle cables starts with wrapping the cable housing with a little masking tape to create an oil container. Fill it with a light 3-in-1, silicone, or Marvel Mystery oil and let it seep into the housing. Fill it several times.

Feed the cables up through the throttle casing. With a little force they will snap into place.

Make sure to grease the brass barrel before installing it to the cable end. The grease will help hold the barrel in place.

With the Barnett cable set at the most slack position, slip the barrel and cable onto the greased throttle guide grove.

This is not a good shot of installing the cables into the guide slots in the intake module, but it’s easy. Just make sure you have the right cable in the right slot. It doesn’t hurt to grease them which we forgot.

Here’s the cables in position. That odd short cable on the side is the cruise control job.

Make sure you oil the throttle cables before they are snapped into the throttle housing on the bars, because the spring clips that hold them into place are a bitch to remove. The cables were both put into place with brass rollers, “After you grease the throttle and cable runners with a Q-tip,” Frank reminded me. Be careful not to lose those tiny brass suckers. I was told later to try to adjust the cables evenly under the throttle and make sure you have slack in both lines so you don’t have continuos drag on the cable fittings.

Here’s the throttle body in place waiting for the front brake mastercylinder.

According to experts, you should adjust the cables so that the adjustment screws are approximately equal in length. My adjustment had to be straightened out at a later date.

Finally we replaced the air cleaner backing plate using Phillips screwdrivers to hold the gasket in proper position. Next the breather hoses had to be pushed onto the head fittings and lined up with the air cleaner element. Lastly the cover was installed. It was time to ride.

But not so fast Kimosabe. We had to install the riser cover, the nacelle trim and the headlight assembly. We were hauling ass.

The actual breather fittings hold the air cleaner backing plate into place.

Use small Phillips screwdrivers to hold the air cleaner gasket aligned.

Push the hoses into place keeping in mind that they feed into the air cleaner element.

This little nut and screw are a bear to replace but must be handled before the nacelle strip can be installed.

This slightly out-of-focus shot shows the little stud that slips through the nacelle. Make sure the strip is locked into the riser cover slot before you tighten the nut.

Tighten the nut lightly with blue Loctite to keep it from rattling loose.

Don’t forget to plug the headlight in before you install it, like I did.

Install the headlight assembly with all eight black screws. Leave the bright adjustment ones alone, unless you lowered your bike. Then it needs adjustment.

We could screw the riser down with the Phillips screws and replace the snap-on ignition ring last. I still don’t like the way it fit and need to check it again.

By noon on Monday we had completed the Highbar installation and I was itching to hit the road. We had moved our appointment at the fleet center from Friday to Monday morning, then to Monday at noon. We didn’t roll up to their doors until 1:30 p.m. and Alan, the master mechanic announced that he was leaving at 4:00. We were burnin’ daylight once again. Would the pressure every end?

The final Frank shot with one hand hanging outside of a van window. I want to thank Frank for the use of his tools and his photographic and technical skills. Those elements and my bumbling hands make these techs as complete as they are. Believe me, it’s a bastard to build a bike, write a tech and take the shots at the same time. We’ve done it before, but a team efforts helps a helluva lot.

Next, we’ll install a performance package with Screamin’ Eagle heads, cams, air cleaner and two into one exhaust that we had jet hot coated. Hang on.

–Bandit

Yep, these techs will be backwards. I just rolled in fromArizona after the first 1,000-mile test ride after installinghighbars, performance parts, and modifying the windshield to fit thehighbars. So why publish the techs backwards starting with thewindshield? We’re lazy. This one will be short and the next two,since Frank Kaisler was involved, will be mammoth techs withthousands of photographs. Hang on for them, but if you’ve installedhighbars on a Softail or a King model and have long arms like myself, the windshield may be a problem to attach, but there’s acareful, simple cure.

First put the shield in place and decide if you can endure ahandlebar adjustment or not. If you pull the bars back in line withthe front end, the windshield will fit without a problem. You mightcheck it for 80 mph flexing which could cause rubbing against thebars, cables, brake hoses or wiring (if you didn’t run the wiresinternally). I took short wire ties and held small soft stripes ofrags around the cables that would have been damaged.

So I shoved the bars forward until the windshield would havefallen off the front-end. I’m not a big fan of windshields, but whenyou plan a ride through a 1,000 miles of rain, cold and wet highways, it’s a plus. I used the adjustable windshield from Harley-Davidson which allowed me to raise or lower it. I discovered that the lowered position is actually more comfortable in the rain. If I had raised it, I would have looked through the shield which was scattered with water and streaks. Visibility sucks and distraction wasoverwhelming, so I lowered it and my visibility was perfect while stillmaintaining the comfort and protection of the shield.

So what the hell did I do? I cut scallops in the plasticshield. First I marked off the area of the shield that had to beremoved with 1/4-inch masking tape and began to grind through theplastic with a bench grinder, the finer of the two stones. I tookcare to keep the edge of the plastic aimed down so the stone wouldn’t grab the sonuvabitch and crack it. I ground one corner then the next to search for a basic rounded feel. I avoided sharp edges or grooves that could crack. Since this was no perfect established science, I took my time slicing notches then slipping the windshield into place. I went back and forth to the grinder over and over. You might want to wear a breathing filter during this process and eye protection.

Once I was close to the finished area on one side, I took thewindshield to the vice and with leather pads on either side of themounting bracket clamped it down. Then with a high speed drill and a burr bit began to cut and shape some more. This, I found was difficult and took care not to allow the bit to grab and cut into theclear surface, but I was able to clean the edge some more. Ire-installed the shield again and determined that I was damn close.

Keep in mind that this was a last minute operation onThanksgiving day, between writing projects and packing for a run tothe desert. As the evening closed in it began to rain, a rarity inthis neck of the woods. I jogged in the house and flipped on theweather channel. The gods of the Roulette table had decided that Iwas not supposed to ride this weekend. The only rain east of theMississippi was dead over the 10 interstate from Los Angeles to theArizona State line. That made the windshield project even moreparamount. I dashed back to the garage.

Once I was close to the necessary fitment, style andprecision matching became a consideration. I ran a piece of maskingtape up the side of the stainless steel strut straight up the shieldas a measuring guide. Then I measured up from the horizontal strut to where the cut began. With these measurements I was able to compare them on the opposite side for an even scallop into the shield. I went back to the grinder and to the burr device for the final shaping. I continued back and forth a dozen times from the grinder then the high speed drill and back again. Once I had it nailed down, predominately with the grinder, I used an emery bit to smooth the edge of the Plexiglas.

That completed the cutting and shaping although the unitdidn’t lock entirely into place. I knew that once on the road thewind would prevent it from escaping. One small wire tie held thespring lock on the detachable windshield to the clutch cable foradded insurance. Just under 1,000 miles later I pulled back into SanPedro with a completely successful ride under my sore ass, provingthat careful mods to the Plexiglas windshield are completelypossible. Rah, rah.

–Bandit

SADDLEMEN MODS TO THE SHRUNKEN FXR–In a world where over promising and under delivering has become all too common here is a gem I must share. The Bikernet built Shrunken FXR has become my daily rider and needed a couple small adjustments to be just perfect for me.

One detail was the too small seat or the bike was too fast (pick one). So I rode my bike over to meet the nice folks at Saddlemen and see what they could do to help me out with my seat. Upon arriving at the Saddlemen facility I spent time with guys from the front office to the guys in the shop ( all of whom took great interest in my motorcycle and the seat they were going to design and build). I noticed from the get-go these people were all riders. I shouldn’t be impressed by that, but there are so many folks in this industry who don’t even ride anymore.

We discussed what I needed (lumbar support) and a lip on the edge of the seat to keep me from being bucked off or sliding onto the rear fender. We also discussed the lines of the bike and that in the case of the Shrunken FXR , less was more. After the team and I spent a great deal of time figuring out what we wanted and didn’t want I was able to walk around the shop and see the whole seat making process from start to finish. man was I impressed!

So many talented folks all working together to put out an amazing array of products designed by and for riders! It was a real treat to see this and made me truly appreciate what they do much more. Great companies, in my opinion, are made of the people who work for them. So I left my bike for mock-up, and received a call back in a week.

When I showed up I saw the foam of the seat had been formed and pan had been constructed. We discussed coverings and stitching, again less is more. They got it and even pointed out to me the lines of the bike would be reflected in the seat.

Three days later I returned to pick up my bike and see my new seat! A seat is the finishing functioning touch to any motorcycle (much more than something you sit on) it must reflect the bike while being comfortable and a key suspension element.

I was so happy to see the seat. It looked amazing and really I could not have imagined it any better than they had built it. I put my helmet on, thanked them and jumped on the bike to ride away. First thing I noticed was the lumbar support made the bike so much more comfortable to ride and kept me in the perfect position to reach all my controls.

The biggest difference was when I hit a huge pot hole (tons of em’ in area) was my ass stayed firmly planted in the seat and the impact was minimal. The seat made my bike complete.

Can’t say enough about how impressed I was with the Saddlemen crew and facility, in short they made my custom bike have a perfectly functional and stylish seat. The perfect blend of function and form. I suggest anyone who needs a seat built or customized give them a call. They are a family team of bikers designing and building products for bikers. I like it!

–Buster

Suddenly we’re smoking on the Mudflap Girl FXRs, but the week after I received the frames, I had to jump a plane to New Orleans and ride a Victory to the Smoke Out. I was itching to work on these bikes.

I survived the Smoke Out, and since I just spent 1000 miles in a Victory saddle, I was motivated to get back in the wind. We looked down the barrel of the ticking calendar as I returned from the East Coast on Sunday and Monday the 27th of June I stepped back into the Bikernet shop and faced two Mudflap Girl FXRs on lifts ready to rock. I dove in making lists and started to assemble my frame and the Spitfire girder front end.

Building a bike is like falling in love. We all have our dream of the perfect woman, and each time I build a bike, that notion is the driving force. I’m building the perfect romance, with all the best intentions. I want this one to last forever, take me anywhere I want to go, and be my Mudflap girl baby in spirit, appearance, and function.

I would imagine the same mental scenario applies to a home building architect. In fact, we have focused some of our efforts on creating a vintage motorcycle coffee shop in the front of our building, Bandit’s Barista. Talk about a daunting process involving several city agencies. Let’s leave that one alone. Sin Wu came to a meeting this morning and immediately quizzyness engulfed her and she was forced to leave. “It’s too daunting,” she said.

We are so fortunate to be able to rely on our friends and compadres in this industry and build whatever motorcycle we want, then go for a ride without severe governmental restrictions. Meanwhile, back in the shop, I was completely astonished at Paul Cavallo’s talents and shop capabilities. He designed and manufactured every element of this classic girder front-end. As I installed his internal fork stops and began to assemble the front end with the Foose-designed MetalSport 2D wheel, I was constantly blown away at every intricately machined piece.

Although Dr. Willy bitched about the top motormount on the frame, I didn’t have a problem with it. It just forced us to face another brief obstacle, which will ultimately create a very cool linkage issue with a 7/16 pivoting rod end on the top like most FXRs.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I installed the fork stops, then the Biker’s Choice neck races, the Timken neck bearings, and the Metal sport front wheel on the Spitfire ¾-inch axle. Paul set up his frames to take stock Harley 2000-2007 front and rear brakes. We are going to use factory brakes on my son’s FXR, but I’m running with GMA brakes currently manufactured by BDL.

I had to come up with a mounting system using Paul’s stock H-D brackets. It was a trick but worked out, with brass rod and steel spacers. I messed with it for a couple of hours. Ultimately the GMA caliper was centered over the MetalSport rotor and in a terrific position for bleeding.

Then I started to install the girder rockers and bronze bushings. I was careful to grease every component, and again I was impressed by the precision fit with each bushing and axle. I installed the trees on the fork stem and rolled closer to installing the girder structure. Everything just slipped together.

Unfortunately, I was missing one element of the front end, the brackets holding the shocks in place, so I shifted to something fun, installing mudflap girls on the Spitfire side panels. They make these Zeus fitting fastened aluminum panels out of street signs. The mudflap girls came from 2Wheelers in Denver, but the Arlin Fatland and Donna team is currently headed for Sturgis to the rally, which reminded me that Sturgis is just around the corner. If I had another month, we’d be riding the Mudflap Girls to the Badlands.

Next, I needed to install the rear MetalSport wheel and driveline. FXRs are tricky in this regard. The entire driveline from the engine to the rear wheel needs to be installed at the same time. We started with the swingarm, using the Custom Cycle Engineering swingarm axle and retrofit kits. Here’s what CCE says about these conversion kits.

SWING ARM RETROFIT KITS

Custom Cycle Engineering has developed a swing arm conversion kit that replaces the stock Cleve Bloc style swing arm bushings with spherical bearings. The conversion covers all the FLT and FXR models from 1980 to 2001. The swing arm conversion kit coincides with Harley-Davidson’s change from the Cleve Bloc bushing to a spherical bearing in all the 2002 and up FLT models.

The conversion over to spherical bearings in the early models dramatically changes the handling and tracking of all the FLTs and FXRs. The sticksion at the swing arm pivot is greatly reduced with the new spherical bearings. This allows for the swing arm to react quicker to any harsh road conditions, keeping the wheel in contact with the road. The use of spherical bearings also helps negate any lateral and torsional movement in the swing arm by the shear dynamics of a spherical bearing.

The swing arm bearing conversion kit is one if the positive answers to the inherent ill handling problems of the popular dresser models.

It was easy to install the new spherical bearings using our shop press and the special tool CCE provides with their kits. We pressed them into place with the CCE guide tool and red Loctite. Then we installed the swingarm on the transmission and the whole tamale in the frame, since the oil tank was out for sealing and some flat black protection. Ray C. Wheeler gave me a hand. We slipped the JIMS transmission and swingarm through the back of the frame sideways, then turned it level and aligned it with the frame mounting system. My son scored some used bare aluminum cleave blocks, and I ordered new H-D rubbers from Biker’s Choice. Watch how the rubbers and cleave blocks are mounted. They are like a small four-piece puzzle with guide pins in particular locations.

With the JIMS 6-speed transmission in place, we jacked up the trans for engine installation. With a centered Biker’s Choice front motormount bracket in place and the rubber biscuit we were ready to rock. Willie helped guide us through the process. Willie is a master with FXRs. He’s worked on bikes, and rebuilt engines and transmissions forever. He knows all the tricks.

With the driveline in place, I started to monkey with the D&D pipe mounting, mounting brackets, and mounting the GMA rear brakes. The brakes became tricky, since Paul designed a tougher and wider swingarm, but it worked out perfectly. I’ll get to that puppy in a minute. I noticed that the trans didn’t come with the final seal and locking nut, plus we needed to reach out to JIMS for a proper offset sprocket for the 180 Avon tire. Since this is an 80-inch Evo, I wanted some gearing advice for the 6-speed overdrive transmission.

Here’s what James Simonelli wrote while packing for the Sturgis Rally and preparing for their install facility. Call them quick, if you want an upgrade while you’re in town.

MUDFLAP GIRL GEARING ADVICE FROM BAKER DRIVE TRAINS–

22-51 with normal 37-24 primary is 3.57, pretty lively! In 6th (.86)
you would have 3.07

23-51 37-24 gives 3.42 and 2.94 in 6th. I think that’s where I’d start.

To compare, most stock late models with 70/32 belt and 36/25 primary are
3.15 overall in 5th.

It’s nice to be slightly below 3.0 in 6th for 75 mph cruising. If it’s a
stoplight burner, go the other way.

Baker will be set up in Sturgis on Lazelle performing installs. If you would like your 5-speed modified into a 6-speed, or a special Baker oil pan added to your dresser, set up an appointment soon, and tell ’em Bikernet sent ya.

We ordered a rear sprocket spacer and a dished 51-tooth sprocket from Biker’s Choice. It’s always somewhat a roll of the dice and I try to build a selection of spacers to allow me a variety of spacing options. With the JIMS ½-inch offset 23-tooth sprocket and the centered wheel, the transmission lined up perfectly with my brand new O-ring chain. It had never been removed from the crumbled box after a trip or two to Bonneville. I pulled it free from its container and the bastard was covered in rust.

Chad from JIMS sent me a photo of the mainshaft seal-installing tool. I also ordered the seal spacer, but had an installation question.

“Tech says bevel side faces into trans,” said Chad. “I have attached an image of the
needed tool, #786.” I dug through my special tool bins and found something from JIMS that would handle the trick.

In the meantime, our sheet metal returned from Jim Murrillo, who sealed the tanks with Caswell and gave the exterior a protective primer coat. It was a rush to slip the two gas tanks into place but we ran into a problem with my oil tank. I almost had to take the engine and the trans out of the bike to return it to its rubber mounts. Ah, but we succeeded.

Now all the major elements are in place, but the Sturgis Run is moments away. We plan to load my Sturgis Shovelhead onto our trailer, with the 120-inch Panhead, the Salt Shaker for Mr. Wheeler to ride. We will snap the trailer to the Bikernet hearse and cut a dusty trail in a couple of days. While I’m in the Badlands I’ll be thinking of Mudflap Girls and getting back to the builds. I’m sure I’ll return with more ideas, and next year will be the year of riding FXRs to the Badlands.

Hang on for the next installment as we mount up the Trock-modified CV carb on my ride, and the Mikuni 42 mm on my son’s bike. We have wiring harnesses from Wire Plus, and I have a rare intake manifold from H.E.S. and Branch, that was ported by John O’Keefe. We’ll be rolling close to final assembly as I install my BDL belt drive system and Frank’s mid controls. Goddamnit, I can’t wait.

Sources:

Spitfire

Biker’s Choice

JIMS Machine

MetalSport

BDL/GMA

Wire Plus

Branch O’Keefe

Bennett’s Performance

Custom Cycle Engineering

Wiring is always a treat, unless you use one of those systems in a box like Phil’s speed shop systems. I ran one on my factory racer, and it was a breeze. I’ll try to find a photo. It was designed to mount to the frame seat post. Inside it contained the circuit breaker, the starter relay, the ignition switch, the starter button, high low beam, and horn button. Then a ream of wire rumbled out of a hole. I guided them to the appropriate spots and hook them up. Nothing to it.

In this case, we worked with Wire Plus since they are the masters of wiring kits, Speedos and assorted equipment. They sent me a complete wiring harness with a starter relay, flasher system for turn signals, a 30-amp circuit breaker with mounting strap and rivets. They also included an installation and operator manual for model Wp192, Mid Frame Mount System, with Chopper style harness, with or without turns.

Their manual affords the reader a lighting circuit flow chart, an ignition flow chart, and an accessory flow chart. It demonstrates several ignition switch wiring circuits and handlebar circuits. It even comes with a Wp143 lighting control system for auto-canceling style harness. Actually, I checked the Wire Plus web site and they do make a seat post ignition switch wiring system unit, in a coffin shape, classic, and old school. They also make a cylindrical shaped engine mounted ignition switch housing, and ignition and toggle switches. They have systems that include compression releases–Amazing.

Wire Plus also makes individual wiring products, like their lighting control modules, power modules, plus custom power ports, for plugging in accessories. There’s a reason for going on and on about Wire Plus. Wiring can be a nightmare, and I’m a lazy. I want to be as minimal as possible, for ease and reliability, but I’m fulla shit. Just about the time I think I need to cut turn signals out of my system, someone is wiring in heated grips, or a heated seat, a some sound system, or neon lights under the engine. I avoid anything extra, like the plague. Hell, wire plus make engine mounted electrical port systems, so you can plug in your heated vest, helmet sound system, or whatever.

This is going to be a terrific test. My son’s bike will contain more bells and whistles, and Grip Ace controls in the bars. Tim from Grip Ace from Rivera is coming over to show us how easy it is. On Frank’s bike, we will install turn signals, so anything is possible. We will also wire a metric bike, the XS Yamaha bobber. So, over the next couple of months you will witness three variations, with Wire Plus products.

I start wiring by finding all the components and placing them somewhat in position. Then I search for a place to hide the circuit breaker and a circuit board, or bank of connections. First, we made a trip to the local Marine store and ordered an ignition switch. This included a starter switch, but we were using the Spyke push-button starter mounted to the solenoid. It eliminated the starter relay and any starter switches.

Once I determined a handy location behind one of the Mudfap Girl FXR panels, I drew up a wiring schematic, while referring to the Wire Plus handy manual for guidance. I came up with this nuts notion of hiding the ignition switch under the seat nose, which would position it perfectly for some of the wiring, and run some of it through the backbone of the frame. I grappled with a mounting notion, but Danny came up with the final notion, which took a lot of work, but was highly secure.

Wire plus makes several digital speedos, and several mounting systems for different applications. It was a breeze to mount and wire once I found the mysterious neutral switch connectors, which I ordered from the factory. The WP speedo mounted like a dream on the bars, once I plugged the wiring harness into the rear of the unit, ran the wires under the tank, back to the nerve center for power, then to the speedo sensor, and the neutral switch. Nothing to that one, although I wouldn’t mind running the wire loom through the frame in the future.

Since I was thinking about the rear brake pressure switch, I started to work out my GMA brake systems, and we made some measurements. I ran over to Baker Performance products and in five minutes we had new brake lines cut to size. This was probably the easiest bleeding process I have ever encountered. They were bled and working in no-time. Unfortunately, GMA doesn’t make a clutch lever to match.

On rubber-mounted bikes, I run two grounds. I welded one to the frame and I use one of the Spyke starter mounting bolts as an auxiliary ground. I don’t want to take any chances with the charging system, or the ignition system missing a grounding connection.

I needed to mount an On-On switch in the headlight bucket. It took some hunting for the correct sized switch, then a headlight seal beam from Biker’s Choice, and a lot of digging for a three blade connector. My headlight came from a spot on a police car in the ’30s.

Almost all of my electrical components came from Spyke or Compu-Fire. The Compu-fire ignition system is a breeze. This time I’m running a Compu-Fire single fire ignition system, with their single, dual wound coil, which mounts between the heads, in the standard stock position. It’s all too tight and convenient. Two wires to the coil and one to power and the system is good to go. It’s about that easy to time.

My son showed up with the missing parts for his Bub Bare exhaust system, and we started mounting it. I wish the exhaust guys would make kits with the flanges and retainer spring rings. Some systems come complete, but it’s a drag to run to the dealership, when you’re ready to rock. I understand why they don’t supply them with many system. If the system is replacing a stock system, we just switch out the parts. And these four pieces would jack up the price, but give the customer the option, and the manufacturer could make an extra buck and save the builder time and hassle.

This system slices damn close to $350 and you paint it with whatever heat paint, or heat wrap you like. It’s very similar to my D&D system.

Sources:

Spitfire

Biker’s Choice

JIMS Machine

MetalSport

BDL/GMA

Wire Plus

Branch O’Keefe

Bennett’s Performance

Custom Cycle Engineering

Saddlemen

Bub

Click here to read the chapter 6: http://www.bikernet.com/pages/story_detail.aspx?id=10268

This is a blast. The year is just starting and shit is flying at us everyday. Gary and the gang from next door delivered enough steel I-beams and C-beams to build a deck, and in two days a gang from Long Beach will deliver a pool table into the Bikernet barracks and gym. And if we are lucky, (today is Wednesday the 3rd of January 2012) we will have all the elements in place to fire my son’s Mudflap girl bike on Tuesday, while IKustom films the event for his TV series. We may even have a live Mudflap Girl in the shop.

While my Mudflap baby is waiting on a custom Saddlemen seat, I hurriedly shifted back to my son’s version of the FXR. We needed to wrap up some minor elements, and hit the Ace Grip/Wire Plus wiring. Then we would be ready for another Saddlemen seat.

Before I could finalize the primary system, we needed to order a rear belt from Biker’s Choice. One of the major benefits of chains over belts is the mechanics. We had to pull the whole motorcycle apart to install the belt. It had better be the proper length–it was.

It took a while to clearance the outer primary around the Rivera Primo Inc. inner belt drive system. I needed to have the mid controls in place before I could install the weld-on Mr. Lucky kickstand that contoured the frame. All the appropriate elements needed to be in place. With the final linkage in position through a plastic tube that acts as a bushing, we moved forward, we installed the Primo Rivera belt and clutch system, but I still had to make a clutch pushrod. I removed the tranny pipe-side cover and checked the throw-out bearing type.

We finally made it, although my hard-working son was absent. At first, I grappled with the mentoring scenario. I shouldn’t lift a wrench without him on hand. Two elements pulled me from the tough-love fatherly position. Frank is struggling to support two ex-old ladies and three kids. This is a lesson to every young man. Beware.

You can imagine the tug-o’-war that goes on constantly. I’m not completely innocent. I was predominately an absentee father. A decade ago, I spent some time on the board of three group homes for abandoned kids. These kids had no folks and the effects were manifested in their lives like that tsunami in Japan. Kids need parents. Our society is all jacked up when it comes to sex and kids. I won’t go there, but the bottom line is simple: Kids need to be carefully planned and looked after. They need both folks and a stable family. So, I said, “Fuck it!”  I’m moving forward to finish Frank’s bike, whether he’s on site or not.

Besides, we are rolling into 2012 and need to wrap up these bikes, road test them, break them in and prepare for the ride to Sturgis. Actually, I started to bug two of my grand kids who are 16 and 18, and very sharp, but ditched high school. Frankie or Frank Jr. is working as a tattoo artist, and I encouraged him to set some goals for 2012. He stepped up to take over the XS project, and came over to help with his dad’s bike. It was good to see him involved.

With the mid-controls in place, I could breakout Mr. Lucky’s weld on kickstand and begin the installation. I needed to make sure to assemble it is a safe location. Any time you have springs, ball bearings, and tiny setscrews, you need to be careful. It’s not a bad notion to perform assembly over a soft rag, so parts can’t vanish into a black hole.

This is actually a simple operation, but it takes 220 volts and a welder, either TIG or MIG. I slipped the supplied spring in the body of the kicker arm, then the ball bearing on top of the spring. Then the bare metal piece is carefully slipped into place. It’s easy to tell how to position the arm and the ball, since there are just two ball indents. So, the flat side of the bare chunk faces forward. Before final assembly, I will completely grease the ball, the spring, the mating surfaces of the weld-on portion, and the axle pin.

With the kickstand arm pushed and held against the spring and the ball, a second set of hands slipped the axle pin into place and started the fine threads. Again, upon final assembly I will blue Loctite the pin threads.

Then I faced the delicate, do, or die job: positioning the weld-on portion. We fitted it several times, then marked the position with a felt pen on the bottom frame rail. Then I loosened the lift clamp, strapped, and rolled the bike over toward the primary side with a strap, until I had it positioned at just the correct angle. This is always a trick. Too far adds dangerous weight to the kickstand and makes the bike awkward to maneuver. If the bike sets too upright, it’s iffy to park, and as with my Shovelhead, I can’t park it in many positions. It wants to pop over. Even the wind can push it over.

With all the touchy elements considered I positioned the Mr. Lucky kickstand against the frame, and folded it up to see how it fit in the running position. It ran smack into the mid controls system, so I adjusted, and we are thinking about running a piece of hose, or even shrink wrap up the kickstand arm to prevent vibration.

With the bike leaned and the arm in the extended position I made two guide marks on the weld-on portion and on the frame rail. Then I could straighten the bike for tacking. I tacked the weld-on bung on both ends, and then tested the position against the straps. Then I ran a bead along both sides with my MIG welder. I plan to double up on the welds with the TIG, once we pull the bike apart.

We were cranking along, but had to step back to my Mudflap girl bike, since the shocks faded and we needed 1-inch longer shocks. We had to pull them apart and add to the bumpers so that the fender would not hit the tire. Progressive has various bumper lengths. The key here is to dismantle the shock, install them, lower the bike until it hits the fender, and make a bumper measurement. Progressive makes hard plastic bumpers in various thicknesses. We made a special tool, used a drill press, and took the shocks apart several times, until we had them dialed in. The key when measuring for shock length is to consider about 1-inch of fade once the shock is installed. We shifted back from a 12-inch shock to 13-inch Progressives.

So, my Mudflap baby was hauled to Saddlemen for the gurus of seats to evaluate. I’ve toured many companies over the years, and the Saddlemen operation is impressive. I met guys who have been making seats for 25 years, and their sons are now working with them. It’s truly a family of operators. They’re very involved in an ongoing hunt for the perfect seat technology. First, they studied foams, and then gels, and now this new design that affords a buffer area to relieve pressure on the spine. We discussed styling and design. Then we peeled out to let the masters consider the options.

We faced an open warm, clear, SoCal day and jammed back into the shop. I started by installing the Biker’s Choice regulator bracket and the Spyke regulator into position. Ray turned to install the S&S carb, since we were faced with the opportunity to install and complete the Crane cam and lifter system. Most Crane products are manufactured by S&S, including their roller rockers for twin cams.

We discovered a crazy tough oil cooler system from Baker Precision, on Signal Hill, and I tacked studs into place on the front frame rails. It’s made in Canada for automotive power steering oil cooling applications. After we installed the belt, we discovered a problem with the rear fender and the belt slot. The fender needed to be removed and reshaped. I also needed to develop a rear brake anchor.

That was the day Buster came by and we decided to go for a ride. I crashed, returned to the shop bruised, but the Shovel kept running. I thought about kicking back and watching Sunday night football, but I needed to pause it, and jammed back to the shop to keep the program rolling on Frank’s bike. While Ray installed the S&S Super E carburetor, I removed the rear wheel, the rear fender, cut a new slot in it, and drilled a hole where the Choppers Inc. Mudflap Girl taillight stem hit the fender.

So here’s the snafu. It surfaced the last time Frank came over. “I didn’t want mid controls,” Frank said. “I wanted forward controls. It’s all your fault.”

In the next segment, we will deal with his changing desires–kids. Then we’ll fire his bike, with the ACE grip wiring system to lead the way.

Sources:

Spitfire

Biker’s Choice

JIMS Machine

MetalSport

BDL/GMA

Wire Plus

Branch O’Keefe

Bennett’s Performance

Custom Cycle Engineering

Saddlemen

Bub

S&S

Mr. Lucky

Life is nuts, but we are scrambling on the Mudflap Girl FXRs, at least mine. Us old farts constantly have discussions about how unmotivated kids are. I want to work on my bike constantly. Every waking minute I’m thinking about it, about new ideas, innovations, and who I can reach out to for resources. My son just complains: “I’d have to drive over there…”

I constantly come up with Plan B, another connection, or build it myself. We crawled out of the Sunday sack at 6:00 a.m. to haul ass to the Long Beach Swap Meet, just to scour rows of vendors for parts, to find a handful of pieces, and we scored. If it wasn’t for the Sunday Post, I’d comb the isles once a month, at least.

Whatever, I’m about to wire and fire-up the first Mudflap Girl creation with Spitfire, H-D, and JIMS.
But let’s back up to installing the Trock-modified CV carburetor. I ran over to Branch O’Keefe next to Bennett’s Performance on Signal Hill to discuss an intake manifold. I don’t have anything against most dealers, but I like to work with the talented independent shops, owned by guys with history, who go the extra mile for performance, quality, and their customers.

I feel Bennett’s and Branch O’Keefe work hard to keep guys on the road, with high performance motorcycles. John O’Keefe dug around and came up with a very rare H.E.S./Branch Evo intake manifold. I helped Andy Hansen get Harley Engine Specialties off the ground in the ’70s. Andy passed, as did Trock a few years ago. He was a great guy with veins full of 60-weight. John told me he still has a few of these rare, tested, flowed performance intakes and wanted me to try one.

With John’s assistance, these guys are building hot rod twin cams with some very special confidential products. I’m hoping to bring you the story and access to some of these secret products in the near future. I mounted his intake with stock clamps.

After installing the rear wheel, we discovered the oil tank could not be installed from the front with the engine and trans in place, and we had to remove the rear wheel. It wouldn’t install from the rear without removal of the wind guard and one frame-mounted rubbermount. We made it work without removing the engine and trans.

At this point, we jumped around the bike looking for any project affording completion, without trips to suppliers, missing fasteners, or parts orders. We took a hard look at Spyke’s new BDL starter jackshaft fix. I’ve used BDL systems for ten years without a problem, and no starting hassles. It took us a while to understand this system. Basically, it allows the starter gear to bounce, not jam into the ring gear. Once we understood how the Spyke fix operated and the lack of spring travel in the BDL system, we came face to face with the benefits. We moved on to fitting the fender.

This tough 9-inch fender fit perfectly with some slight modification grinding on the Spitfire fender rail tabs, but the bottom front of the fender smacked the oil bag and prevented perfect alignment. With some heat and our shop press, we pushed a buffing groove in the fender. Then we cut the massive notch for the chain and the fender was getting damn close. Ray took up the grinding duties after I cut the notch with the plasma cutter.

Then we turned back to the oil bag, which we had grown nervous about some characteristics. This was a one-off, first attempt by the Spitfire motorcycle crew. They did a helluva job, but we noticed that the return and vent oil bungs were down the face of the bag, restricting oil capacity. We stopped by Gard Hollinger’s LA Chop Rods facility and asked for a couple of 1/8-inch pipe threaded bungs. Gard doesn’t manufacture that size, but he does make ¼-inch pipe thread bungs, which seemed foreign to me, but we stepped up.

This was a tough, and scary operation. I didn’t want to risk drilling and dropping metal shavings in the tank. Jim Murillo recently sealed the tanks and coated the interior. The alternative was a 2.2-quart oil bag over a 4-quart oil bag. We swallowed hard and started the operation of drilling the holes in the top of the tank. I turned the bungs down slightly so I didn’t have to drill ¾-inch holes in the tank.

Ah, but for every obstacle, there’s an opportunity. We discovered a perfect exterior clear oil gauge, fucking beautiful. We started to drill the holes in the top of the tank for the return lines.

We also had a squirrelly obstacle with the top motormount. The frame came with a chunk of tubing protruding directly down from the backbone under the tank. In the end of the tubing, the Spitfire crew welded a hearty bung, and it was drilled and tapped to 7/16 fine threads. I went on the hunt for some 7/16 hiem joints and McMaster Carr had a couple in stock. That was my initial direction, but it had its drawbacks.

I kept looking for alternatives and discovered a tab that was part of the Biker’s Choice top motormount kit. The slot in one end was 7/16-inch, and it pushed the hiem joint anchor spot out far enough for the pivot point to reach the stock hole in the top motormount. I went to work welding it, but Dr. Willie didn’t like my fix. I want to give it a shot.

We also ran into a return line problem with the stock Softail engine configuration. The return oil line from the filter pointed directly at the transmission. We straightened it and ran the line, then thought about running an oil filter. We went on a search for an old Cadillac power steering oil cooler. This turned into an afternoon excursion, hitting junkyards in our ghetto area and all the auto parts stores. At the last Auto Zone, we scored this Cadillac power steering oil cooler and made a mad dash back to the shop.

We considered running one of those front motor-mount regulator brackets, but I didn’t like the way it interfered with the mount and the engine fasteners. Since the frame was built perfectly for this application, we cut and fitted a chunk of rectangular tubing stock between the frame rails to house the Spyke regulator.

We drilled it, installed fasteners from the back, and welded them into place, forming studs on the front. It was good to go once we tacked it into the frame. This project has a devilish twist, since we plan to build it, then test ride for a month or two before a paintwork teardown. I’m not using nylock fasteners this time around, just lock washers. Some items will be TIG welded, whereas some will be MIG spot welded for the tryout period.

When I grappled with the Biker’s choice CV carb mounting system, including breathers, I discovered the Branch/H.E.S. intake difference. I was forced to slice and weld the bracket in an alternate position. That puppy will need to be ground and reshaped before powder coating. We moved ahead and I discovered my Goodsen Fantasy in Iron air cleaner was built for a Mikuni, so I traded with my son for his Roger Goldammer, hand-pounded, stainless steel unit.

What a sharp, well-thought-out chunk of artistic workmanship. Everything about his air cleaner was well configured, from the backing plate to the position of the fasteners. It came with all the necessary fasteners and two foam sock-like filter elements.

I have never liked the single bolt rear axle adjuster. It allowed the axle to float and shift from its required setting, which can be downright dangerous. I ordered some special fasteners and set to drilling and tapping the stern of the swingarm bosses. They were massive, solid chunks of Spitfire steel. It took some time, but now the axle is locked into position.

Then we started to grapple with the kickstand. The obvious choice was a weld-on unit from Mr. Lucky, but he didn’t have any in stock.

I needed to install the 3-inch BDL belt system, to see where the kickstand would hit. Some kickstands can be a bear to reach, or take up much needed ground clearance. The more I looked at the Spitfire forward controls, the more I didn’t want to mess with that area. The only kickstands available that might fit this configuration were pricey jobs, and I suspected they wouldn’t fit. I started to dig around.

This new BDL belt drive fell into place after I drove the pins into the engine pulley. The clutch slipped right into place, and then I carefully selected washers and shims behind the engine pulley until both pulleys were aligned.

This new system has just two big, tough, 3/8-inch stud fasteners and stand-offs. One has a step in it, and it took very little time to determine which position it was machined for. The rear stud hung over the ring gear and needed additional clearance, but I goofed. I used red Loctite on the stud, and I should’ve stuck with blue. I’ll have to remove the aluminum stud anytime I remove the clutch.

Then inspiration surfaced with the notion to run a rear kickstand. In searching my parts bins, I came across a wild kickstand base. Unlike the old ones from the ’30s to the ’70s, this one worked the same, but was heavy and cast. With Ray’s assistance, we came up with the materials and the notion to bolt it to the swingarm cap, which is held with two 7/16 fine bolts. I went to work while Ray peeled out for Cook’s Shootout in Bonneville.

I tacked and tested it until I was convinced I hadn’t completely fucked up. Then I cut off the tabs, and ground and shaped the massive chunk of steel. I TIG welded this puppy together, mounted it, and made a cool stop threaded into the frame.

Next, I’ll start wiring with Wire Plus products and the bike should run within a week or two. Then it’s off to Saddlemen for a seat. Hang on, the Mudflap Girl will live.

But wait, I forgot that we installed the Spyke Push-Button solenoid starter. It eliminates weak connections, starter relays, and starter button wiring. It’s a breeze to install, but it’s important to make sure, once the button is released, it’s fully clear of contact.

Sources:

Spitfire

Biker’s Choice

JIMS Machine

MetalSport

BDL/GMA

Wire Plus

Branch O’Keefe

Bennett’s Performance

Custom Cycle Engineering