Earlier this year, up and coming bike builder Jesse Rooke amazed us with his first attempt at a custom bike. In fact, the bike was so extraordinary and off the beaten path of anything we had ever seen, we ran it on the cover of the Jan. '03 issue of HOT BIKE. Then, several months after Jesse's cover hit the newsstands, he called to tell us that his Phoenix, Arizona, shop had just finished another bike, and wanted to know if we'd be interested in taking a look at it.
We made arrangements to check it out while in town for Arizona Bike Week this past April, and upon first seeing his latest creation we immediately knew it would be perfect for STREET CHOPPER. This latest bike might not have the same astonishing single-sided features that Jesse wowed us with last year, but his newest rigid is just as clean and eye catching as his first bike.
Jesse started the project by building his new mongoose frame that features 3-inches of stretch in the backbone with 1-inch added to the gooseneck downtubes, culminating in 43-degrees of neck rake. The only piece of suspension on the bike is a Denver's Choppers 4-over springer. Jesse got the bike up and rolling by adding a set of his own custom wheels; the frontend is held up off the ground by a 21-incher, while a 17-inch solid aluminum wheel brings up the rear. Both wheels are covered in Metzeler tires, with the rear being a 210. In order to slow down or stop when necessary, Jesse went with a P.M. rotor and caliper up front, and to keep the right side of the rear wheel clean, he used an Exile Cycles sprotor.
When it came time to look for a motor for this rigid, Jesse recalled how satisfied he was with the 120ci Merch that he used in his first bike, and decided to go with another. However, this time he increased the displacement by ordering a 125ci motor. When the polished engine arrived, Jesse wasted no time bolting it between the framerails and then added a Mikuni carb, a set of Hot Match pipes, and a Wimmer air cleaner. To finish off the driveline, Jesse procured a Baker six-speed transmission, and BDL clutch and 3-inch open primary.
Now that the power was in place, it was time to give some definition to the naked frame. Jesse started with a pair of Fat Katz fenders - the front is a long and lean piece cut and mounted so it completely hides the top half of the tire. He cut the rear fender to be short yet sturdy with the addition of internal struts. To match the old-school look of the springer frontend, Jesse went with a Diamond Chassis gas tank that was reminiscent of traditional XL-style gas tanks. He then enhanced the flat bottom design so that it rested high up on the top frame tube. The sheetmetal portion of the build was finished off with the addition of a Diamond Chassis barrel-style oil tank.
The next step for the rigid was to get it covered in some liquid luster. Jesse sent the frame and sheetmetal over to the guys at Miguel's Psycle Paint where they were given a good molding session before they laid down the shiny stuff. Miguel's sprayed the frame with several layers of deep red flake, then hit the sheetmetal with silver flake. When the silver dried, Jesse looked at the bike and felt it needed a little more flash, so he had the paint crew add some red flake racing-stripe-style graphics to the tank and fenders.
When Jesse got his hands on the painted parts he immediately got to work on putting the bike back together. He looked at the front of the bike and decided that with the front of the gas tank up so high, it would look cool if the bars mounted flush with the bottom of the tank. So, he fabricated a set of custom bars with the master cylinder hidden internally, and then re-engineered how he would mount the top triple-tree so he could mount the bars as he wanted.