Free Chopper

We were sitting around in a meeting with the people in charge of J&P Cycles when they told us about their new line of proprietary parts named Milwaukee Twins. The very first thing they showed us was a rigid frame that could accommodate a 240 rear tire. Someone on our staff tossed out an idea that we should build a bike based on the Milwaukee Twins Kraft/Tech frame and give it away. The room went silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly everyone at the table was smiling. A new sweepstakes was born.

We kicked around builder's names for a while, but eventually all agreed that Matt Hotch and his Hot Match Custom Cycles shop would be best for the project. Not only does Matt do amazing work, his shop is just 5 miles from our office, so getting pictures of his progress would be easy. Once we all agreed, a call was placed to Matt to see if he was interested. Other than having to work with us, he was thrilled, so the frame was shipped out to him that day.

As you saw in last month's issue, the first step Matt took was put the frame up on a lift and check it out. The rigid Milwaukee Twins-Kraft/Tech frame, shipped for our project, has 38 degrees of rake and 2 inches of stretch. To the front of it a Denver's Choppers springer was placed, and instantly Matt was sure this was going to be a cool bike. Matt went into the J&P Cycles catalog and found that Drag Specialties supplies them with Road Wings 60-spoke wheels that would be perfect for an old-school style chopper. A 21-inch front was covered with an 80-90-series Metzeler, and the 18x8.5 rear was wrapped up with Metzeler's biggest tarmac shredder, the 240.

Since the bike is a Springer, we called on Performance Machine to set us up with one of its ultra-cool springer front brakes and a four-piston rear. While Matt was at P.M., he rounded up a set of hand and foot controls from them as well -- after all, he wants your bike to be really nice when you win it. That Matt is such a giver.

To power the chopper, J&P went right to its catalog and shipped us out a complete drivetrain assembly. Combustion is created by a 100ci RevTech Panvolution engine that is all RevTech and Exotic except for the Mikuni carb, the Joker Machine velocity stack, the Screamin' Eagle ignition and, of course, Hot Match pipes. Just behind the Pan sits a five-speed RevTech transmission and a very aggressive, bold Primo beltdrive connects the two.

When it came to sheetmetal, Matt went around and around. He knew the bike wouldn't have a front fender, but that was all he was sure of at first. Thumbing through the J&P catalog, he saw a CCI 2.2-gallon Sportster tank and a CCI rear fender that looked like it would do the trick. First, he installed a Hot Match pop-up gas cap in the tank and changed the mounting tabs to position it on the frame correctly. Next, as you will see elsewhere in this issue, he mounted the rear fender a couple times until he got it the way he wanted. Finally, he tossed in a Pro-One oil tank and made everything fit just right before sending it all to StreightEdje Custom Painting in Corona, California, for the radical lime and blue paintwork.

The week before we shot these pictures was quite a scramble at Matt's place. He had an assortment of boxes from J&P containing what he needed to finish the assembly. It started by putting 18-inch apes in CCI risers and then installing the P.M. controls. Once that was done, Matt ran the hydraulic lines for both controls (yes, it has a hydraulic clutch) through the bars. From there he put in a toggle switch that has a spring-loaded position that works as a starter button, installed a CCI side-mount taillamp, and created a seat pan. He then ran the pan up to High End Products, and watched as it was padded and covered with leather while he waited. Once back in his shop, Matt fired your new bike up and cruised down to our office. When we looked out the window at Matt with his hands way up in the air, and that cool springer sparkling in the sun, we were sure this was a bike everyone would want to win.