Whenever we go to major shows, such as Daytona Bike Week or the Laughlin River Run, there's always a handful of custom bike builders we can count on to bring at least one bike that we'd like to feature in the magazine. Kim Suter, owner of KC Creations, is one of those people. Last year while at Sturgis, Kim pulled us aside to show us one of his latest bikes, which he had just built for close family friend Micah Elliott. As we admired the custom Chopper, we were very impressed because even though the bike wasn't real flashy, it was still an attention-getter with smooth flowing lines and proud stance.
The Chopper project started out with a Kraft-Tech frame with 4 inches of stretch in the backbone and 8 inches added to the downtubes, joined together at the 42-degree neck. With the frame secured to the workbench, a set of Harley-Davidson FXST forks were stretched out to 14-over and were mounted to the frame via KC Creations 4-degree trees. In the rear, a Kraft-Tech swingarm was bolted to the frame and outfitted with Progressive Suspension shocks to help keep Micah's back in proper alignment. To get the bike rolling, a pair of RC Components wheels were added. The 21-incher up front and the 15x7 out back both sport Avon rubber, with a beefy 230 bringing up the rear. To ensure a nice, smooth stop every time, a pair of RC Components rotors and Chrome Horse calipers were used.
Kim wanted Micah to have plenty of power at his disposal, which could be unleashed with a quick turn of the wrist, so an S&S 107ci motor was called upon. All that he needed to do was add the S&S Super G carb, Crane Hi-4 ignition, and Samson pipes to make the motor ready. When it came time to transfer power from the motor to the rear wheel, a JIMS five-speed transmission, along with a Pro-One hydraulic clutch and Primo 3-inch-open primary, were the perfect compliments to the 107.
With the frame ready for some sheetmetal, Kim turned the bike over to the steady hands of his long-time employee Paul Harper. Paul studied the bare frame for a few minutes to try and get a feel for how the lines should flow. Once set on a plan, he went to the back room and pulled out a pair of Russ Wernimont fenders. Up front, Paul went with a long and lean fender, which he mounted so it would just barely clear the top of the tire. For the rear, he chose a short and stout fender with about 2 inches of skirt area. To ensure that the fender would be sturdy enough for Micah to carry a passenger every now and then, Paul welded a pair of Kraft-Tech fender struts to the fender's sidewalls and then mounted the unit to the frame. With the fenders taken care of, he turned his attention to the gas and oil tanks. Paul wanted a nice, fat tank to help even out the look of the long and narrow front end, so he took an Independent Gas Tank Co. gas tank off the shelf and stretched it a few inches so that it would gradually taper down into the seat. To finish off the sheetmetal portion of the project, Paul wanted to throw some old-school Chopper resemblance into the mix, so he went with a Mid-USA barrel-style oil tank.
With the sheetmetal and frame ready for paint, the pieces were sent over to Scott Thomas of Scott's Design in Overland, Kansas. Scott meticulously molded and prepped the parts for paint, then carefully sprayed layer after layer of not blue and not purple, but burple paint on all the parts. Once they were completely dry, Scott ran them back over to the KC Creations shop for final assembly.