Jim Coats is one of those guys, who always has a lot to say - you know the type. He's the one who you always know where he stands. It's either black or white - definitely not gray. Jim started hanging around Roger Bergie's A/C Precision shop, asking questions regarding different components; picking his brain as to what type of frame would be able to handle a 200-series tire; whose motor had more torque; what was the hot carb-cam-exhaust setup these days, and so on. Answering the questions as rapidly as they were fired, Roger asked Jim, "Why all the questions?" Jim responded, "I want a bike, and I want you to build it for me." "Why didn't you just come out and ask me," Roger inquired? "I know you're really busy building customer's bikes, and I don't want to get in the way." With this, the two struck up a deal. Roger would build Jim a bike as soon as his schedule would permit.
Jim wanted a stripped-down chopper - nothing fancy, just that classic chopper look. Roger went into his warehouse and emerged with a 2000 MID USA frame complete with a swing arm. The frame had been ordered a few months back, and about the time it arrived at the shop, his customer backed out of the deal. The customer's loss was Jim's gain. The frame just happened to be set up to fit someone of Jim's proportions. The neck was raked to a whopping 45 degrees, while the downtubes had 8 inches of stretch and the backbone had 4 inches - definitely classic chopper geometry.
Roger called one of his buddies at Midwest Motorcycle Parts to see if they might have any frontend parts that they could give him a deal on. It seems a set of triple trees and lower legs had been sent to a customer who changed his mind and sent them back. The returned parts had just arrived as Roger was on the phone. To keep from restocking the parts, his buddy cut him a killer deal on the returns. The boxes were relabeled and sent off to A/C Precision. The tubes were fit with a set of 12-inch-over fork tubes from Forking by Frank to put the front wheel where it needed to be on a chopper - way out there. Completing the suspension, Roger mounted a set of Progressive adjustable shocks to the MID USA swing arm.
Jim was leafing through some magazines when he saw a set of Performance Machines' Vintage wheels; they were exactly what he was looking for. A 21-inch front and 18-inch rear was ordered along with a matching rotor for the front, and a matching drive-side brake setup for the rear. Both front and rear wheels were wrapped in Avon rubber.
In keeping with the minimalist approach, while making sure the bike had plenty of power, Roger ordered one of RevTech's complete 100-inch motors. The polished powerplant shipped with a Crane Hi-4 ignition and a Mikuni carburetor. Wanting to give the motor a little different look, Roger installed one of A/C's billet air cleaners. All that was required to finish the motor up was a set of smooth-flowing Berg custom pipes.
Jim figured a five-speed transmission suited his riding style perfectly, and with that in mind, a RevTech five-speed was coupled to the motor via an H-D chain primary. The H-D clutch was hydraulically operated by a Ness slave.
Since Jim liked the look of West Coast Choppers fenders, a pair of fenders along with a Fat Katz gas tank were ordered. Roger took some shears and a welder to the rear fender and by the time he was finished, the sheetmetal had a radius that matched the wheel perfectly, while at the same time hiding the internal struts he fabricated. Once the sheetmetal was hung and the drivetrain and suspension were complete, A/C Precisions' fabricators, Nathan Guinn and Stan Gross Roger, started disassembly. The sheetmetal and frame were sent to Scott Furris for molding and a basecoat of DuPont's Laser Red pearl. Furris then topped the pearl with multiple coats of Brandywine candy, then finished up with three coats of clear. Once done, it looked fantastic.