Motorcycle shop owners spend most of their time wrenching on other people's bikes, leaving very little time to do any work on their own. If you hang around motorcycle shops as often as we do, you're guaranteed to hear the owner say that as soon as they get some free time, they are going to build a bike for themselves. Jason Evangelista of Raging Iron Choppers in Concord, New Hampshire, was one of those people. While he enjoyed building and working on bikes for all of his customers, he would often get frustrated because he hadn't built a custom for himself. Anytime he wanted to go for a ride, he would have to borrow one of his customers' bikes.
Finally, the frustration was too much and Jason decided he would work on building himself a bike after his shop closed each night. Even though he knew he was going to be putting in a lot of long days for the next couple of months, he justified it by thinking about how much happier he would be having a bike of his own. Plus, he could use it to show off his building and fabrication skills.
Jason had been building a lot of choppers for his clients, and he really liked how they came out, so he decided he needed a chopper. He'd seen a couple of frames built by Redneck Enginuity, and felt that one of its rigid frames with 3 inches of backbone stretch and 6 more in the downtubes - culminating in 40 degrees of rake at the neck - would be perfect for the chopper project he had in mind. When the frame arrived at his shop, Jason set it aside so he could start working on it after he closed up shop for the night.
When it was finally time, Jason put the frame up on one of his lifts, and added Hawg Halters triple-trees. The only suspension for the bike comes in the form of Pro One 10-inch-over tubes with H-D Deuce lower legs. Knowing spoked wheels look good on any chopper, Jason bolted a 21-inch H-D hoop that was left over from one of his customer's old bikes between the Deuce lowers. The rear of the bike was treated to an 18x8.5-inch 60-spoke wheel from RPM. Both wheels were covered in Avon rubber, with the rear sporting one of the popular 250s. In case Jason needed to come to a quick stop, he went with HHI calipers and Russell rotors at both ends of the bike.
Jason has a real appreciation for the quality motors S&S builds; so putting one between the framerails of his chopper was the obvious decision. The only problem was figuring out how big he wanted to go. After a few days of thinking about nothing but horsepower and smoking tires, Jason finally decided that one of S&S' monster 124ci Evo-style motors would have more than enough muscle to fulfill his needs. When the motor arrived, Jason added the S&S Super G carb, along with a Dyna ignition and a set of Grumpy's Twisted Sister pipes, for looks and sound. To help keep the rpm's down on his large displacement motor, he went with a RevTech six-speed transmission coupled with a BDL clutch and 3-inch open primary.
Working late into the night on his chopper was starting to take its toll on Jason, but when it came time to add some sheetmetal to his project, his excitement and energy picked up. Starting at the front of the bike, Jason spent several hours working on a WCC front fender so it would fit over the tire exactly as he wanted. Over the next couple of nights, he stretched a WCC gas tank so it would fit better on the extended backbone. Jason liked the look of the Redneck Enginuity wraparound oil tank that came with the frame, so he bolted it up under the seat. The rear fender he picked for this bike came from Russ Wernimont. However, before mounting the fender to the back of the bike, Jason reinforced it with some internal struts so it would be strong enough to support a passenger.
After spending several weeks assembling his bike and making sure everything looked and fit as he wanted, Jason tore it apart in one night so he could add some color to his soon-to-be chopper. He shipped the tanks and fenders to Spray Katz in Phoenix, so it could take care of laying down the basecoat and some graphics. Meanwhile, he took the frame to the back of his shop where he has a small powdercoating booth set up, and covered the frame with a black powdercoat.
When the sheetmetal came back from Spray Katz, Jason admired the silver, red, and orange tribal flamejob as he began the reassembly process. He started by bolting a set of Redneck Enginuity's pull back handlebars with built-in risers to the triple-trees. The ends of the handlebars received a set of BDL controls, while down below forward controls from Accutronix take care of his feet. To help keep the bike well lit at night, a CCI headlight was used, and out back, Jason fabricated a side-mount license frame to hold a CCI taillight.
Finally, after three months of burning the midnight oil to get his personal chopper built, Jason secured the seat he made to the frame. It was late at night on a Tuesday, and Jason was too tired to take his chopper out for its maiden voyage, so he figured he'd just go for a ride at lunch the next day. Before lunchtime even came around, a new customer stepped into his shop and tried to buy the bike from him. Jason declined the offer but promised the guy he would build him one just like it. It was at that moment that Jason knew he had a bike that many people would want. All the time he had planned to be riding would again be spent in the shop.