East Meets West

When Vince Doll opened his custom bike shop, Redneck Enginuity, he counted on his background in building hot rods to help him make the transition into motorcycles. Apparently, making the switch from four wheels to two was not a problem. Within no time, his Liberty, South Carolina, shop was making quite a name for itself up and down the East Coast, and as time went on, the shop's popularity gradually spread left into the Midwest.

Vince was very proud of the progress and reputation his shop had attained in a few short years; however, the west coast was still one part of the U.S. that hadn't heard or seen much of Redneck Enginuity. Then, one month before the 2003 Laughlin River Run, Vince heard that there was still vendor space available and he decided that it was time for his shop and bikes to make their West Coast debut. Vince's only problem -- other than limited time -- was what kind of bike to build that would best show off his company's bike building skills. After a brief discussion with Mike Marquart, another Redneck Enginuity big cheese, the two decided on a stretched out, rigid 250 chopper that would show off their frame building skills and also highlight their newly developed New Skool Springer frontend.

The R.E. crew started from scratch by cutting, bending, and welding some round stock to create a 250 rigid frame with 6 inches added to the backbone and single downtube, culminating in 48 degrees of rake in the neck. The frame also sports a couple of Redneck's trademark designs, such as hexagonal axle blocks. When it came time to build the front suspension for the bike, Vince and Mike turned to a specialized CAD program.

All they had to do was input the rake, diameter of the front tire, and height of the neck (from middle of neck to the ground). The program then figures out the best and safest trail for the setup and gives the dimensions for the front and rear legs as well as rockers. After all was said and done, the only suspension for the bike was R.E.'s 16-inch-over New Skool Springer held in place with a set of its triple-trees.

When debating on what wheels to use, Vince and Mike figured the only style that would help accentuate the retro Springer were spokes from DNA. The front of the bike was set up with a 21-incher while out back, an 18x8.5 was bolted in place; both are covered in Avon rubber with the back being the afore mentioned 250. Stopping is made possible via an HHI caliper grasping a DNA rotor up front. The rear of the bike uses an Exile Cycles Sprotor setup.

Figuring out what motor they wanted to put between the framerails was an easy decision. Vince and Mike knew they wanted old-school looks with modern-day horsepower, and the best way to achieve that was to order a RevTech 100ci Xzotic Panhead motor. When the motor arrived, it was secured to the frame, then the R.E. crew added a Mikuni HSR 42 carb and hid the H-D Screamin' Eagle ignition coil inside the cam cover area. Next, they Siamesed two pieces of tubing together to create a curved velocity stack with a bug-eye air cleaner, and then bolted on a set of Santee pipes with a chrome-perforated heat shield to match the air cleaner. Keeping with the old-school style, the horsepower from the 100-incher is transferred to the rear wheel by way of a RevTech five-speed transmission with a kicker, a BDL clutch, and a 3-inch open primary.

With the motor taken care of, it was now time to cover the bike with some sheetmetal. It had already been decided that the best way to showcase their new Springer was to go fenderless up front, so they began working on a rear fender. The R.E. crew started with a Fat Katz blank, and then trimmed and shaped it until it had the proper dimensions to cover the 250. They re-enforced the fender by fabricating some internal fender struts, and then mounted it so that it hugged the top of the tire. Moving on to the tanks, they hand-formed a long and lean gas tank and then mounted it so that the front sat high up on the frame to match the lines of the frontend. The sheetmetal process was finished off with a retro barrel-style oil tank.

Time was running out, so Phil Crenshaw took care of the molding, while the frame and sheetmetal and frontend were handed off to R.E.'s in-house painter, Gary Straight, to get covered in several layers of black basecoat. When the basecoat had cured, Gary finished off the frame and sheetmetal with some traditional hot rod graphics. The R.E. crew felt that some pinstriping would really help the bike stand out, so the task was passed on to Charlie Tyre.

It only took the R.E. crew a short time to get the bike back to its pre-paint status so that they could bolt on the final components. Vince and Mike turned to their CAD program once again to give them the dimensions to make a set of bars with an internal throttle that would run parallel to the backbone. The bars were then mounted to the frontend with a set of 2-1/2-inch risers. At the ends of the bars is a pair of Hurst grips, and on the right is a BDL brake lever.

Riders' feet rest on a set of Hurst foot controls, with the left foot actuating a foot clutch that R.E. fabricated. Slamming through the gears is made possible with a custom-made R.E. jockey shift. A Headwinds Blue-Tri-Bar headlight leads the way up front while out back a CCI Vintage mini cat taillight and a R.E. license mount bring up the rear. After mounting the battery under the transmission, a seat pan was fabricated and then sent over to ADDIS to get covered in black leather with flames stitched into it to match the paint scheme.

To say that Redneck Enginuity's West Coast debut was a success would be an understatement. Its Laughlin bike got so much attention that its phone is ringing off the hook. Now the shop has customers calling from all corners of the United States and everywhere in between.