Spartan Sporty

With all of the big-name bike builders out there who are willing to put together choppers, we sometimes forget how cheap and easy building a chopper really is. It isn't necessary to throw down $30,000 for a cool chop. A good example of this fact is Rich Nogueira's custom chopped Sporty.

Rich had been into bikes for the majority of his life and always had a least one Harley in his garage at any given time. He had never been able to afford a new bike, but he still loved what he did have, even though they all had previous owners. Similar to most H-D enthusiasts, Rich went to local bike shows and often dreamt about owning a chopper whenever he drooled over the pages of his favorite custom bike magazines.

Early one weekend evening, while riding home from a show, Rich realized that he was less than satisfied with his current mode of transportation -- it was time to get his own chopper, but he wasn't sure how he was going to do it.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Rich started to save up some money and began his search for a chopper. First he looked through the local Bike Trader to see if he might be able to pick up a used chopper from somebody at a reasonable price. But he found that choppers don't go up for sale very frequently. Next, he called some people he knew who had choppers, and they referred him to certain builders who might be in his price range. Talking with the builders was quite discouraging as well; they quoted him numbers he knew he wouldn't be able to achieve on his wages. Eventually he came to the conclusion that if he wanted a chopper he was going to have to build it himself.

Rich couldn't chop his existing Sportster because it was his transportation to and from work. He needed to get another bike to get his project started. With the little bit of money he had saved, he was able to get a slightly used 2000 Sportster. When he had the Sporty in his garage and the paperwork finalized, he knew he only had to contact one person to get the wheels of his project turning: his brother-in-law Rod.

Rod works at Twisted Metal, a bike building shop in Irvine, California. He knew that all he had to do was cruise down to the shop and explain to Rod what he was looking for and he would be more than able to help him achieve his chopper vision. The project began by tearing down the entire bike, so Rich and Rod could take some extra time to check each part of the Sporty because there were many pieces that would be going back into the project.

The first major modifications they made were to the frame. Rich had talked to some chopper builders for advice on rake specifications, and the suggested consensus was 43 degrees. Next, the downtubes were hacked and then raised 8 inches. To connect the rest of the frame to the downtubes, the brothers had to stretch the backbone 6 inches and then set the neck at the predetermined 43 degrees. With the welding completed, they molded the entire frame to make it look like it had been crafted from a single piece of steel.

Looking at the finished frame, the pair needed to figure out the stance of the chopper. They began by slapping the rear wheel back in the swing arm and figuring out how much longer they would have to make the front forks to keep the bottom framerails parallel with the ground. They calculated that 16-inch-over forks would work perfectly and, once again, Rich knew who to call to keep things moving: Forking by Frank.

Rich's request for 16-inch-over tubes was met with hardly any concern at all; that kind of thing is easy for the king. Once they had the tubes back in the shop, they rebuilt the frontend and attached the fork to the frame with the stock triple trees. The front wheel was bolted up, and they finally had a roller to test their work. As it turned out, they had calculated their geometry correctly and the Sporty had a downright mean stance.

When Rich started to think about what to do for an engine, he knew he wanted it as soon and as inexpensive as possible. He could have performed a rebuild on the existing 883, but it still ran very strong, so why fix what isn't broken? He weighed his options and felt that the fastest way to get his chopper on the road would be to throw the hard-working and reliable stock motor back in, with the only exceptions being a Crane ignition coil and Bassani exhaust. To keep it low-cost he also felt all the drivetrain components would work well in his chopper, including the stock primary, the trans, the belt, and the rear pulley -- they hadn't failed him yet.

The next order of business for the chopper was metalworking -- by far the brothers' favorite aspect. Both had plenty of background in the area and had some good ideas on what to do with the Sporty. However, because it was about to be a chopper, there would be little to do.

First, they sanded all the pieces back down to the metal and rid the bare steel of any imperfections or burrs that had been overlooked by the factory. The gas tank's forward mounting brackets were hidden and the rear fender was molded so that it smoothly transitioned from the front of the tire to the rear. The factory had included the chromed oil bag, and they felt it wasn't necessary to fool with something that already looked good. Later they decided to add a sissy bar to balance the high neck stance. In order to keep with the Spartan theme, Rich meticulously welded the stock fender struts to the new sissy bar and made them appear as though they had been manufactured from the same piece of metal.

With the metalwork finished and kept within the budget, it was time to get some paint for the chop. Rich thought that a traditional flame job would fit the bike perfectly -- in non-traditional colors. He toyed with different color schemes, but settled on a candy apple green base with white pearl flames. Now he just needed to find someone to prep and shoot it.

Throughout the build they had spoken to a large number of individuals regarding a painter, and many in the area referred him to Mark Lavallee at California Hot Rod Harleys. Rich approached Mark with his idea and Mark loved it, but he had a few suggestions. Mark thought that the Sporty would look a little different with painted lower legs, swing arm, and handlebars -- small accents that would make a big impression on the general aesthetics of the machine. Rich loved the idea and left the majority of the bike with Mark.

While most of the bike was with Mark, Rich daydreamed about riding his new chopper and realized that he had not yet figured out what wheels he would need. After careful consideration and some catalog research, he knew that he couldn't afford any of the billet wheels, so the stock H-D laced wheels would fit the chopper just fine. Along those same lines, the stock rotors were still bolted up and since they perfectly matched the original calipers, he kept them as well. The original Dunlop tires were replaced with new Metzeler rubber, back and front, because they were well used from daily pavement punishment.

When Rich finally received the finished product from the paint wizard, he was absolutely overjoyed. As he began the reassembly, he used the original headlight, hand controls, and forward controls. The taillight, however, was replaced with a custom unit that Rich had in the garage. For a posterior perch, Rich contacted Bitchin' Rich's Shop to pick up one of its custom gray suede seats. It gives the chopper a look that isn't seen everyday, and it wasn't too expensive.

When Rich fastened the last bolts on the chopper, he knew the first place he would ride was to his brother's shop to show him how well all their hard work paid off. When he arrived at Twisted Metal, a realization hit him hard: He had a cool chopper and the build wasn't difficult or expensive at all.