Most of us have a pretty good idea of what our dream chopper would look like. For those who haven't completely built a mental image of the perfect bike, it is usually built around one concept that gets stuck in your head. Rory Moore, of Independence, Missouri, was one of those people who hadn't come up with a design for his dream bike until he walked into Wolverine Choppers in Kansas City, Missouri. In the corner of the shop there was a frame that completely caught Rory's attention, and he was instantly able to see his ideal chopper sitting before him.
After a brief discussion with Wolverine Choppers owner Tom Shue, Rory found out he was looking at a custom Softail frame that Tom had designed and fabricated. Rory described what he wanted his dream chopper to look like and Tom liked what he was hearing. After striking a deal, Rory gave Tom a deposit and left so Tom could get started on the build.
The Wolverine frame was constructed with 7 inches of stretch in the backbone, along with another 7 inches in the downtubes, culminating in a 45 degree rake at the neck. Tom added another 7 degrees to the mix with Perse triple-trees, which gave the bike a total of 52 degrees of rake. The excessive rake lets a pair of 24-inch-over Forking by Frank tubes in Pro-One lower legs look perfect in this chassis. To handle the bumps out back, Tom bolted a set of Progressive adjustable shocks to the Wolverine custom swingarm. He got the bike up and rolling with an 18x8.5-inch smoothie wheel in the rear, and was lucky enough to get a hold of a one-off, 21-inch Weld wheel for the front. Both wheels were covered with Avon rubber, with the rear being a hefty 250. In order for Rory to slow down his dream bike, Tom went with Russel rotors and Jay Brake calipers at both ends of the bike.
When it came time to get some horsepower into the build, Tom was able to convince Rory that a hopped-up H-D Twin Cam B motor and trans would provide plenty of smooth power and dependability for his chopper. As soon as the 88 arrived, Tom tore it down and had the cylinders opened up to accommodate a set of Keith Black 95ci pistons, and then had the heads ported for oversize JIMS valves. Upon reassembly, Tom used JIMS roller rockers and lifters, Woods cams, and Andrews pushrods. The motor was then finished off with a Screamin' Eagle carb, a Zippers air cleaner, Bassani Prostreet pipes, and a Dyna ignition. The design of Tom's Wolverine frame allowed him to mount the motor and trans without any offset, by installing a JIMS 1-inch extended mainshaft in the H-D five-speed transmission, along with a 1-1/2-inch-wide final beltdrive. Rounding out the driveline is an H-D clutch and enclosed primary.
The next step in the build was to provide some skin for the bare chopper chassis. Tom started by fabricating a pair of fenders to keep dirt and debris from hitting Rory as he sped down the road. The front fender was a sleek design that was mounted low over the tire, while the rear fender followed the contour of the wide 250, but still showed off the tire's massive size. Tom reinforced the rear fender with some internal struts, then fabricated a laid back sissybar into the fender in case Rory's wife ever wanted to ride along. He also made a stretched out fuel tank that flowed with the lines of the bike, and then finished off the sheetmetal portion of the job with an oil tank from Mid USA.