Heavy Cycle Customs

Most of the bikes you read about in STREET CHOPPER have some interesting story explaining why the bike was built. Typically, they fall somewhere between a guy selling everything in his garage except his tools to finance a project all the way to some lucky guy having much more money than time and having the luxury of paying a shop owner to build his dream bike for him.

There is no story even close to that behind this bike. It was built by Mike Maldonado just to see if he still had it in him after taking a few years off from bike building. Right up front we will say he still has it, and judging from this incredible rigid, we doubt he could ever lose it.

Similar to all the bikes that Maldonado pumps out of his Heavy Cycle Customs shop, the majority of parts were handbuilt. Mike started by building a rigid frame that would be the foundation for his comeback bike. He set it up with 43 degrees of rake and 4 inches of stretch in the front tubes. The goal was to get the neck up in the air in comparison to the rear section, and once the 12-inch-over Heavy Cycle inverted frontend was connected to it with HC triple trees, the neck was sitting way up in the air.A set of Black Bike wheels, 21- and 18-inch, was wrapped up in Avon rubber and put into the chassis. Maldonado decided to make 10-inch rotors for both ends of the bike and to position JayBrake calipers on them. Before he knew it, he had a complete roller ready for some metalwork.

The bike was a chopper and there was no question about it. Making sheetmetal for this bike required a minimalist approach. Mike started by building a gas tank that would sit high on the frame tube, adding to the tall line of the bike. From the top of the tank you can see how he made it flow into the frame. Then he shaped a fender to hug the contour of the 200-series Avon tire and end exactly at the exceptionally tall sissy bar he built. One of Heavy Cycles false barrel oil tanks was used to hold the battery and all of the electronics. Finally, Mike hid an oil tank under the transmission for extra-clean points.

Mike consulted with RMW Machine to build a motor for his chopper. Nothing too big and nothing too small, just enough motor to make the bike fun around town or for the occasional freeway blast. An unassembled 96ci S&S was selected and the wheels of production started instantly. The cases hold S&S wheels and Carillo rods that are topped with S&S cylinders and Arias pistons. S&S heads with Black Diamond valves and an RMW flow job are topped with Merch rocker boxes and Crane roller rockers. AB Tech pushrod tubes are found behind an S&S E carb; a Spkye ignition and Headquarters cam work with a Maldonado exhaust to deliver a lot of power.

Getting the 96's output to the back wheel involves a lot of top-line equipment. It starts with a Karata 4-inch beltdrive that looks like a million bucks. A complementing Delkron transmission case filled with Spyke gearssits on top of the oil tank, and AB Tech makes yet another appearance on the bike by supplying top and side covers.

Now it was time for Mike to have some fun. He started by building a set of 1-1/4-inch bars that rises 18 inches into the sky and sits in his own risers. A set of JayBrake hand controls rides at the end of the bars; a billet headlamp and a spike under the trees give the front end some attitude. A Maltese Cross taillamp was built to ride in the sissy bar and a Heavy Cycle license plate holder finishes up the rear.

It was time for paint and Mike was into it. He spent the better part of a few weeks molding and prepping everything to make sure that the paint would look like glass once it was applied. Once satisfied everything was as smooth as it could be, Mike applied the House of Kolor Tangelo basecoat. Then he flamed everything with House of Kolor Burple and finally covered it with about a zillion layers of clearcoat.

As he was assembling the bike, he found just two things missing -- a seat and more spikes. So he built the two seats that he needed for this bike. A very, very low-profile single seat and a special two-up seat that mounts on a rail system that Mike developed to protect the paint. Then Mike made spikes -- make that a lot of spikes. He placed them all over the bike just for fun.

When Mike finally got the seat covered, he dropped it in place, stretched way out there for the bars, and took off on a test ride. He knew it was cool. He hadn't lost a thing during his layoff, and we're glad he didn't.