'02 The Wrench Phat Daddy Custom Chopper - Heartbreaker

While working at her husband Brad's shop, The Wrench, in Riverview, Florida, Karen Ruel saw a lot of cool bikes roll off the shop floor and into the waiting hands of anxious customers. As time went by, the itch to have a bike designed and built for her became uncontrollable. After a brief discussion with Brad, the two of them came up with the perfect theme for her bike: the Heartbreaker. Since this was going to be Karen's personal ride, Brad decided that this would be the perfect opportunity for her to get some hands-on experience building bikes.

The basis for Karen's bike is a Redneck Enginuity single-downtube rigid frame. Brad and Karen immediately extended the frame's dimensions by adding 4 inches of stretch to the backbone and 2 more in the downtube, culminating in 38 degrees of neck rake. To handle all the bumps in the road, a 41mm Mid USA Wide Glide frontend was secured to the frame with a set of RC Components triple-trees. Every bike needs wheels, and for this one, Brad and Karen used a 21-incher from WCC for the front, while out back they bolted up an 18x8.5-inch from RC Components. Both wheels are covered in Avon rubber, with the rear running a 250. Braking duties are handled with an Excel caliper and Russel rotor up front, and to clean up the rear wheel, they went with a drive-side conversion setup from GMA.

Now that they had a rolling chassis, Brad and Karen turned their attention to getting some heart into her Heartbreaker. There was a 113ci motor that the Wrench crew had built that was sitting in the back room waiting for a home. However, rather than just bolting the motor between the framerails as is, Brad tore it down so that he could send the S&S cylinders and heads over to pre-coat for a thick red powdercoat and then to Diamond Heads to dress up the fins. Upon rebuilding the motor, Brad used Delkron cases, S&S flywheels and rods, Wiseco pistons, JIMS rockers, Pro One rocker box covers, and a Crane cam. Once Brad had the motor in the frame, he added a Mikuni extended runner carb, a Rivera air cleaner, a Dyna ignition, and his own set of custom pipes that wrap around the transmission and pop out directly behind the primary. To finish off the power portion of Karen's project, Brad set the bike up with a RevTech five-speed transmission and Primo clutch, and 3-inch open primary.

Covering the bare frame with some sheetmetal was the next order of business. Brad and Karen started by picking up a pair of Wernimont fender blanks, and then spent hours working them over, so that they would fit the bike exactly how he and Karen wanted. The front fender hugs the tire and has a point cut into the tip to give it a more menacing look, and the rear fender had a V cut into the tail that would later incorporate the brake lights. A HotMatch flush-mount gas cap was welded into an Independent gas tank, and then the unit was mounted low on the frame. After modifying the Redneck oil tank, it was then attached to the frame to finish off the sheetmetal.

Now that they were finished with the mock up, Brad and Karen tore the bike down so that the frame and sheetmetal could be sent over to Bryan List, of List Designs, to get covered in paint. Bryan prepped and molded the parts, then he laid down several coats of black. Once the basecoat had cured, he added some tribal and barbed-wire graphics, then capped off the rear fender with a traditional heart and dagger design with the word "Heartbreaker" running though it.

When the parts came back from paint, Brad and Karen immediately went to work on final assembly. Brad fabricated a pair of custom handlebars with built-in risers and then bolted them to the triple-trees. At the ends of the bars, a set of Excel handcontrols were used with the right side incorporating an internal throttle. Down below, forward controls from Excel were used with sword handles incorporated into the footpegs. To continue with the Heartbreaker theme, Karen found some Baelin Dagger fangs that Brad used for the motor mount. Brad also fabricated a custom license mount. Lighting is taken care of by a Headwinds headlight up front, and out back, the V-cut in the rear fender was fit with custom LEDs from Radiantz. When the seat arrived from A.C.R., Brad let Karen secure the final component to the bike.

After eight months of welding and wrenching, Karen jumped in the saddle, fired up her bike, and took off on its maiden voyage. Brad tells us that building a bike with his wife was an excellent learning experience for the both of them. He also says that Karen learned how to lay down a pretty mean weld - who knows, maybe there's a Heartbreaker Cycles in the works.

Specifications
General
Owner: Karen Ruel
Year/Make: '02/Wrench Phat Daddy
Fabrication: The Wrench
Assembly: The Wrench
Build Time: Eight months

Engine
Size/Type: 113ci Custom
Cases: Delkron
Flywheels: S&S
Rods: S&S
Pistons: Wiseco
Cylinders: S&S
Heads: S&S
Cam: Crane
Carb: Mikuni
Ignition: Dyna
Pipes: The Wrench

Transmission
Year/Type: '02/RevTech
Case: RevTech
Gears: RevTech
Clutch: Primo
Primary Drive: Primo

Frame/Suspension
Year/Type: '02/Redneck Enginuity
Rake: 38 degrees
Stretch: 2 up, 4 out
Swingarm: None
Rear Suspension: None
Forks: Mid USA
Extension: None
Triple Trees: RC Components