We have all heard the story of being put to the task of pulling off the impossible building a custom bike with costs and deadlines to deal with. But, what would you do if all the parts were given to you and the only thing you couldn't do is add to them. You could customize the given parts any way you want and are given 30 days to do it. Well, the team at Stinger Custom Cycle in Cedar City, Utah, was given that opportunity - to build a custom bike from a CCI Hardcore bike kit. The bike needed to be built, painted, and road-ready within the allotted 30 days so that it could be on display in the CCI both in Hollister, California, for the Independent Rally on the fourth of July.
As the boxes arrived at the shop, Butch and his girlfriend, Dawn Mitchell, started to plan out this build. The frame, a Santee rigid with 43 degrees of rake at the neck and 6 inches of upward stretch along with 4 more added to the backbone, was placed on the lift and filled with the powerplant. The motor that comes in this kit has a black-finish 100ci RevTech with a Mikuni carburetor, and Santee LAF exhaust pipes. The trans is a RevTech six-speed, also black finish to match the motor. To mate the two together, a 3-inch BDL beltdrive was cut down to a 2-inch-wide belt and pulley setup.
Being a rigid frame, the only suspension on this bike is the 10-inch-over CCI frontend with 7-degree triple-trees to push the front wheel way out there. Butch was not running a front fender, so he placed the lowers on the mill and shaved the mounts off for a clean look. The wheels that come with this kit are spoked - a tall 21-incher up front and an 18x4.5 out back. Covering the wheels in rubber is a set of tires from Avon. For braking power, a set of CCI single-piston calipers and smooth rotors were bolted the bike. Butch wanted the bars clean so he ran both lines from the master of the foot control to feed both brake lines.
That is just about all the stock parts that fit into this story. To get the bike to stand out as a custom from a kit, many modifications were made. Too more guys from the Stinger shop, Andy and Matt, began on the sheetmetal, with the gas tank getting re-worked first. Both sides were cut down the center then re-welded inverted for a concave look. The tank was then stretched back to fill the space on the backbone, about 3 inches; even the gas cap was modified. For the rear, the fender was cut to half the length and the leftover was cut down the middle and the two pieces were welded in as struts. The front fender was just sitting on the floor when the idea of cutting it down and turning it to a custom air cleaner was talked about, and before they knew it, it found its way to the band saw.
The frame and all the sheetmetal were sent out to The Paint Shop, where Gary Crisp took on the task of molding and coloring this bike in House of Kolors Hot Rod Red. As the paint was still drying, Gary and Butch were drawing up the graphics for yellow flames on the sides of the tank and a silver leaf pinstripe along the edge. And to keep with the old hot-rod look, a flying eyeball was added to the top of the tank.
Time was running out for team Stinger, and with only three days left, Butch and the guys went to work on re-assembly. A set of Chica bars were also in the kit but were too long, so they to had a date with the band saw as well. The bars were then mounted under the triple-trees. To keep it clean, no wires were run from the bars, except for the throttle cable. The foot controls are a set of CCI stockers that were turned into a foot clutch and jockey shifter. With the rear fender and gas tank re-worked from the stock kit, a new seat was needed, so the seat pan was cut from the leather, and Matt made a new fiber-glass pan to fill in the space between the two. It was then sent out to a leather shop to get covered.