2004 Alley Kat Cycles' Goldfinger Chopper - Black And Gold Standard

At the dawn of motorcycle customizing, bobbers were the original choppers. Of course, this is when chopping a bike meant taking all the extra crap off of it, instead of adding pounds of billet aluminum doodads to it. At Alley Kat Cycles, proprietor Gar Frye likes to work in the same vein as the founding fathers of customizing - keeping his bikes clean and simple. Eyeballing his latest creation, Goldfinger, it's clear that Alley Kat Cycles built something more radical than a standard bobber, without compromising its clean design aesthetic.

Starting with a Santee frame, the first thing that Frye did was cut out the downtubes, which were then heated and twisted like so much soft putty with the help of his friend Jim. After plug welding the downtubes back in the frame and polishing all of the frame welds, the initial plan of powdercoating the frame black was thrown out the window. After all that hard work, the frame needed to be a color that would accent the many facets of the tortured downtubes. After considering a myriad of options, Frye hooked up with Gold Coast Plating out of Sunrise, Florida, and its 24-karat gold-plating kit, which allowed him to electroplate the frame and any other parts that he desired. Soon, Frye was plating like a madman, spending countless hours toiling over the noxious batch of chemicals.

An old-school-styled Paughco Springer with no shocks was bolted on up front and topped off with a set of homemade Z-bars. Frye black powdercoated a stock 21-inch rim before assembling it to a brakeless star hub with gold nipples and diamond-cut spokes. In back, a dual 7/16-inch flange hub holds gold nipples, diamond-cut spokes, and the machine's only way to slow down, a full floating Screamin' Eagle rotor squeezed by a Performance Machine four-piston caliper. Skinny tires with whitewalls round out the rolling stock.

Meant to be affordable and ridden hard, Goldfinger sports an Evo crate motor between the framerails instead of a more expensive vintage motor. Parts are updated from old-school standards as price and performance warrants. Along with some help from Jacks Mufflers, Frye crafted the unique left-side-exit exhaust. With whopping 2-inch pipes, Frye says it is perfect for interrupting the cell phone conversations of those around him while commuting. Covering the Mikuni carb is an air cleaner that Frye made out of an old Shure Microphone that a jazz musician friend had passed along to him. Another hand me down is the skinny belt drive and five finger clutch hub that mates the engine to the five in a four-kicker trans. Good examples of the Alley Kat Cycles take on old school/new school are the BMX footpegs mounted to the forward controls and the chain that connects the foot clutch to the transmission. Once you work that out, you can try your luck pulling the slot machine handle shifter.

Not content to mount a plain sporty or peanut tank to the frame and call it a day, Frye stretched his imagination and took a jigsaw to the King Sporty tank that he had. Thinking of the scalloped paintjobs of the past, Frye decided to add a three-dimensional element to the classic design. Cutting out a scallop and insetting the remaining panel with a tapering dish, the effect was completed when Gar's friend Simon applied the black paint and gold leaf to the tank and rear fender. Supporting the flat fender are a pair of hand-twisted, gold-plated fender struts. Perhaps one of the most unusual parts on this bike is the rear taillight, which was built by cutting the top off of a cocktail shaker and stuffing a '59 Cadillac taillight inside.

Alley Kat Cycles' Goldfinger proves that with some ingenuity, creativity, and days and days spent over a toxic batch of chemicals, you can build a bike that stays true to the old school without being a knockoff. Watch out Gar, once they find out how many parts you made on this bike, they're going to want to put you on TV.