We love the awesome-looking choppers people build. The creativity and hard ork that goes into making these rolling sculptures commands respect and appreciation. Unfortunately, radical bikes don't aiways handle as beutifully as they look. This is why Mike Phillps, owner of Grandeur Custom Cycle in Jonesville, North Carolina, decided to build a chopper that looked as good as it rode.
Mike started with a Rolling Thunder Softail frame to give the bike a rigid appearance without sacrificing suspension in the rear. He wanted the chopper to have an aggressive stance, so he ordered the frame with 40 degrees of rake, 6 inches of stretch in the single downtube, and 4 more inches in the backbone. Once he received the frame, Mike and crew went to work creating the front end -- a glide-style piece with an 8-inch extension and triple trees that sport 3 degrees of rake for a little better trail. After the front end and frame were united, he put in Works Softail shocks, making the suspension complete.
To roll his chopper around properly, the right combination of wheels and tires was a necessity. 60 stainless steel spokes were laced between a billet hub and 21-inch rim, creating the front wheel; 80 spokes were laced between the rim and hub for the rear. Both wheels are shod in Avon tires, but the rear is a monster 250 that makes a huge contact patch with the road. Mike's people made the stainless steel rotors for the wheels and finished off the brakes with Hawg Halters calipers to bring his baby to a stop when called upon.
When using a wide rear tire, you either have to offset the motor and transmission for the beltdrive to clear the rear tire or do what Mike did -- use Baker's five-speed right-side-drive transmission. This makes the wide tire chopper much easier to handle than if the shop had offset the motor and transmission an inch or more to the left.
This was the point at which Mike's shop turned its attention toward building a high-performance heart to make the chopper move with enthusiasm. He'd ordered a TP 107-inch motor kit, and when it arrived, his guys assembled it after flowing the heads. Grandeur finished the hp package with a Mikuni carb, Crane ignition, and Samson pipes. After the motor and transmission were at home in the frame, they were connected via Barnett clutch and a BDL open beltdrive with Grandeur's covers.
Once the performance platform was completed, Mike took a good, long look at his chopper project before going on to the fenders and tanks. He knew he wanted the fenders to fit as closely as possible to the tires; this criterium wasn't as big an issue with the front tire as it was with the back. In order for the Softail suspension to work with its full range of motion while the fender was fit so close to the tire, Grandeur mounted the metal tire cover to the swingarm instead of the frame. The next ingredient in the sheetmetal recipe was the gas tank. For this purpose, Grandeur fabricated an extended tank with a flush-mounted gas cap and Sportster styling. After a Rolling Thunder oil bag was tapped for the bike, the sheetmetal and frame went into Grandeur's painting booth for color treatment. What emerged was a stunning collection of metal art, coated in House of Kolor Orange with purple flames.
Happy with the way the chopper was progressing, Mike gave the go-ahead for the final items to be installed. Grandeur's bars, risers, and mirror with Joker Machine controls comprise the hand control part of the final build. The foot controls are from Billet Concepts, and the lighting was made by Mike's shop. With the addition of a Hot Tail custom seat, the chopper was done and ready for riding. Coincidentally, Biketoberfest was right around the corner; which was fortunate for us, since that's where we ran into Mike and his smooth-riding Softail chopper.