2002 Hot-Rod Panhead Custom - Street Chopper Newport Show

After a trip to California for the STREET CHOPPER Newport show that we hosted in June, Paul Hartman returned home to Victoria, Minnesota, with the retro chopper bug. He had to wrap up some of his other projects and get ready for Sturgis, and although he had no free time to work on a bike, he decided to do it anyway. In the corner of the shop was an Ultra Sledgehammer that was just getting dusty. It was donated to the project, and with the help of some good friends, this bike would get some new life with an old look.

The bike was rolled into the shop and was stripped down to a pile of parts. Once the frame was clean and all the fender mounts were ground down, the oil bag was removed as well as the seat brackets. It was then treated to some fabrication to give the backbone 4 more inches and push the neck out to 38 degrees. The next task was welding on all-new tabs for the Choppers Inc. oil bag and Fat Katz rear fender. Paul placed a call to Denver's Choppers to get a 10-inch-over Springer shipped out overnight.

Black Bike Mike laced up a set of red-rimmed spoke wheels for this retro - a 21-incher up front and 15x8-inch for the rear - then had both covered in Avon rubber, with the rear being a 230. To get this bike to stop, a P.M. caliper and rotor were bolted to the Springer, and a rotor-sprocket combo and caliper setup from Exile was placed in the rear.

Now the guys at the shop had a roller in front of them, but it needed power. The task of building a new motor was handed over to John and Berry, at Accurate Engineering. The 100-inch hot-rod Panhead motor was created in almost no time. It started life with a set of cases and flywheels from S&S, Eagle rods and J.E. pistons, an S&S cam, and Kibblewhite valves in STD heads covered with standard Panhead rocker boxes. Both the cylinders and heads were powdercoated fire engine red, and the fin tips on the head were then polished. With the addition of twin DaVinci Fire Power carburetors, a Mallory ignition, and a Paughco exhaust, this retro Panhead was now ready to feed power to the rear wheel. A BDL primary drive couples the engine to the Spike five-speed transmission. It was supposed to be shipped overnight, but the shop missed the drop-off time. Paul jumped in his truck and drove around the clock to get the motor back to Wisconsin.

As Paul was on the road, the sheetmetal guy who was going to do the work on the tank flaked out on them, and so, to keep things moving, Will and Dave got started cutting down the rear fender. With time running out, they got the mounting tabs and accent pieces welded up, and added a cap from Choppers Inc. The sheetmetal was sent over to Don Herring, of Herring Customs. Paul decided that black paint was the only way to go, so Don went with Canadian Black Label Black, and after about 10 coats of clear, it had a super-deep shine.

After the pieces had dried, Don boxed them up and drove them back to Paul, where the DaVinci team raced to get everything put back together in time for Sturgis. They started by bolting the two-piece Yaffe handlebars to the Springer triple-tree. At the end of the bars are hand controls from PM and a mirror from Lollipops. A set of pegs from Choppers Inc. and foot controls from PM were bolted to the frame, and the lighting is taken care of by a Headwinds headlight bolted to the Springer. A retro '59 Caddy taillight wired up with the one-piece license-plate mount was also added. The seat was the last thing to be put on, and a solo Corbin saddle keeps Paul off the fender.

Finally, at 3 a.m., on the day the truck was leaving for Sturgis, all the bikes were on the truck. With a 14-hour drive ahead of them, the trip was long, and Paul could not wait to unload the bike and ride it for the first time. For its maiden voyage, the bike ran like a champ. Paul said that his next bike would be better planed out with more time to spare - we've heard that before.

Specifications
General
Owner: Paul Hartman
Year/Make: '02/Panhead
Fabrication: DaVinci/Pokerville
Assembly: Will Smith/Dave Best
Build Time: Two weeks

Engine
Size/Type: 100ci Hot Rod Pan
Cases: S&S
Flywheels: S&S
Rods: Eagle Forge
Pistons: J.E.
Cylinders: Accurate Engineering
Heads: STD
Cam: S&S
Carb: Twin DaVinci Fire Power
Ignition: Mallory
Pipes: Paughco

Transmission
Year/Type: '03/Six-speed
Case: S&S
Gears: Spike
Clutch: BDL
Primary Drive: BDL

Frame/Suspension
Year/Type: '02/Santee
Rake: 30 degrees
Stretch: 4 inches in the backbone
Swingarm: None
Rear Suspension: None
Forks: Denver Chopper Springer
Extension: 10 inches over
Triple Trees: Denver Chopper