As you look at the next custom bike that passes you on the highway, ask yourself about how much work went in to building it. Scott Manchan had been driving down the road in his hometown when a full custom chopper passed him, and it got him thinking about how he would do it different. For the last four years, Scott has run a shop called Valley Custom Cycles of Palmdale, California. The shop has done a few ground-up customs for customers, but Scott knew that to get some attention, he was going to have to create something flashy with some custom sheetmetal.
It happened that Scott had some down time in the service department, so he decided it would be the perfect opportunity to finally build himself the bike he had been thinking about. He had completely finished the basic design of the bike in his head, so to get all the ideas out of his brain and on the road, he started with the frame.
He ordered a Diamond Chassis frame with 44 degrees of rake at the neck, 8 inches added to the single downtube, and 4 inches added to the backbone. This bike was going to have a wide tire, so he had a swingarm built to carry a big 250. When the frame arrived at the shop, Scott assembled an inverted Mean Street frontend with 7-degree trees and 12-over tubes, and secured it to the neck.
Next, he started thinking about what kind of wheels would add to the look of the bike. As he was thumbing through the PM catalog for brakes, he came across its Hustler wheels, and he knew he had to have them. He ordered a tall 21-incher for the front and an 18x8.5 for the rear, both covered in Avon rubber, and just as Scott wanted: a massive 250 out back. To smooth out the road in the rear, a set of Progressive Suspension Air-Tail shocks were bolted to the frame. In the same UPS box that the wheels came in were PM calipers and rotors with the rear being a drive-side setup.
In the power department, Scott ordered a 113ci Ultima Evo-style motor from Mid-West that had all the power he wanted. Once it was unboxed and set into the framerails, Scott completed it with an S&S G carburetor, a Crane Hi-4 ignition, and a set of Arlen Ness exhaust pipes. When it came time to transfer power from the motor to the rear wheel, a Baker six-speed transmission, along with a Rivera hydraulic clutch and a 3-inch-open primary from BDL, were the perfect complements to the 113.
Things were moving along great, and it was time to put some sheetmetal on this bike. Scott knew that if it was going to stand out, he still had a long way to go. The necessary sheetmetal was ordered from Diamond Chassis: two fenders, the rear with internal struts, a gas and oil an tank, though none of the metal would stay looking like bolt-on stock parts. Scott worked day and night shaping the metal into flowing panels to create the style he was after. To cover the bike with color, Scott turned it over to Dave Little, of Little Designs, for some serious molding and wild paint. When it came back to Valley Customs Cycles, Scott was happy and shocked at just how well it turned out, the base color was purple with green and orange flame graphics.
Getting the bike back to its original state before it was sent out to paint was easy. The final components that completed the frontend came by way of an ACC Unlimited headlight and BDL hand controls on one-piece Arlen Ness handlebars. Set down low on the frame were BDL foot controls and pegs, along with a CCI side-mount taillight and license mount. Scott made a seat pan, and sent it out to AV Upholstery. When it came back to the shop, it was tucked behind the gas tank.
The concept for this bike was to build a clean-looking chopper that is an attention-getter that would show off Scott's talent, and in our opinion, he did it.
Spec SheetGeneralOwner: Scott ManchanYear/Make: '03/ Valley Custom CyclesFabrication: Valley Custom CyclesAssembly: Valley Custom CyclesBuild Time: 90 Days