White Heat

Last June, while I was at Fabricator Kevin's studio just outside of Detroit, we were discussing how we each go about setting up for a new project build. Kevin asked if I started with a basic concept and let it evolve from there, making changes as I went, or did I start with a concrete idea, with very little deviation throughout the process. I told Kevin that before I start a project, I see the finished bike in my mind, and that mental picture sets the blueprint that I work from. I told him from there, I mentally take apart the bike, almost like someone filmed the whole build process and ran the tape in reverse. That was the case with this bike.

I had three goals in mind for this latest bike. First, I wanted an up-to-date drivetrain that could be serviced anywhere. Next, I wanted to fuse the styling elements of the South Bay freeway cruiser with some typically early Frisco touches that have influenced me from the '60s. And lastly, I wanted a shop bike that would showcase the work that I do, especially when it came to the small details, that I think are my trademark at Shamrock Fabrication.

A West Coast Choppers CFL frame was chosen for the foundation. In my opinion, it's one of the best-built, best-handling frames I've ever ridden. For the drivetrain, I chose a combination of an H-D crate Twin Cam 88A, coupled to a factory Softail five-speed trans, via a 3-inch Primo Brute 4 beltdrive. Final drive is accomplished with a 24/48 chain sprocket combo, with a heavy-duty 530 O-ring chain. Mating this drive to the CFL chassis required shifting the tranny to the left to accommodate the additional 1/4-inch offset that the TC has over the Evo in the same configuration. This was accomplished by moving the trans adjuster slots in the mounting plate a 1/4-inch to the left, and filling the right side of the slots a like amount. An additional 1/2 inch of material was added to the left side of the tranny plate to fully support the case stud mounting bosses on that side. The only additional framework needed, outside of a few minor mounting tabs, was the construction of a battery carrier located behind the transmission, on the lower framerails. This battery relocation enabled me to use the original battery compartment in the CFL oil tank to house all my electrical components.

Once the driveline was in place, an 18x7-inch 60-spoke alloy rear wheel with stainless spokes was ordered from Mark at Black Bike Wheels, located in Northridge, California. I gave Mark my frame/ driveline specs, and he took it from there as far as the rim offset and spacing were concerned. When the wheel arrived, it fell into place -- no additional sprocket spacing was necessary. A Metzler 200 finished off that end of the bike. The next step was the frontend. I used a combination of 5-degree Perse black-anodized trees, Custom Cycle Engineering 8-inch-over tubes, and H-D FLT lower sliders with OEM Softail internals. I chose the FLT sliders over the conventionally used Softail/Deuce sliders because I wanted the lowers to resemble the full taper of the earlier Hydra-Glide pieces. The fender mounts were left in place, but the R/H caliper mount was trimmed off. What I was after was the look of the frontends that I had seen in the '60s in San Francisco, but with a little more extension. This look was further aided by the addition of the rubber fork boots and the 8-inch Panhead-style hubcap on the right side. The front wheel is a combination of 40-spoke OEM FXDWG single-flange hub, an OEM steel 21-inch wheel with stainless spokes, and a 90/90x21 Metzler -- nothing fancy here. The rotors are 11-1/2-inch factory floaters. The front caliper is a Gixxer left/ front Tokico six-piston, and the rear caliper started life as a right/ front VFR Nissin four-piston. Adapter plates to accomplish this were cut by Fab Kevin of Fabricator Kevin's Steel Chopper Parts. The brake lines are clearcoat braided stainless, with a rigid stainless line that connects the front master cylinder with the trick Perse brake line crossover feature that is milled into the lower tree.

Sheetmetal consists of a swap meet '00 OEM Sporty gas tank that had the tunnel dropped, and the filler neck was relocated high to the front -- the classic Frisco treatment. A center rib was also added, along with a Moon gas tank three-blade spinner cap. Because Moon only offers aluminum fillers, Rick LaBriola, of LaBriola Machine, spun me a custom neck from solid bar stock. A Pingel race petcock was relocated to the lower left side of the tank. The gas tank is isolated from the frame with 1-1/4-inch-wide outrigger mounts and OEM Softail rubber isolators bolted to four machined inserts welded into the tank floor. The rear fender started out as a WCC Rigid Two-88 that Mark had fabricated for me with a 9-1/4-inch width to accommodate the 200 rear tire on the 7-inch rim. The fender was shortened an additional 11-3/4 inches when it arrived, and a center rib was added to match the gas tank. The rear of the fender is supported by a short Frisco-style passenger grab rail fabricated out of 5/8-inch cold rolled bar stock. The top loop in the bar was shaped using an old derby cover for a mandrel. Fender mounting lugs for the frame and the sissy bar were machined to match and have nylon washers between them and the fender to prevent damage to the paint.

The engine remains pretty much stock, with the addition of an S&S E carb and Screamin' Eagle pushrods. The ignition system was supplied by Altmann Micro Machines, and the spark plug wires were routed through the rear head. The custom 1-3/4-inch shotgun pipes were fashioned out of seven separate sections of tubing, with hand-shaped ice-cream-scoop tips -- my homage to the familiar exhaust style Indian Larry made famous.

All the electrical components are housed in the original battery compartment of the WCC oil tank. The old box holds four circuit breakers, the ignition coil, the Altmann P3 ignition module, and the starter relay. Mounted on the left side of the box are the barrel-key two-position ignition switch and the starter button. The compartment is covered by an aluminum engine-turned access panel. The voltage regulator is mounted to the bottom side of the old battery box, making a nice, compact, central location for all the electrical components. Most of the wires were run through the frame from there. The lighting system uses a 5-inch halogen headlamp, with the early Harley handlebar high/low switch located on the left framerail, behind the gas tank. The taillight is an old style Kitty-Kat, which was converted to 100 LEDs for illumination. A Radiantz LED license plate light runs along the inside of the custom license tag/taillight mount.

Slotted handlebar controls were supplied by Robert Symms Customs, mounted on black powdercoated Flanders No. 2 bars. The bars mount on 6-inch swap meet glide-type risers and Performance Machine Renthal grips. The hand-built, mid foot controls are completely one-off. The right side is a combination of a hand-cut 1/2-inch-thick 6061 plate that mounts to the front of the transmission case, with the JayBrake rear master cylinder mounted to another 3/8-inch-thick 6061 plate behind the transmission, using the original Hellbent pipe mount lugs on the frame. The master cylinder is activated using a shortened early '70s FX brake rod worked by a drilled '00 Softail brake pedal. The right foot peg locates over the brake pedal on a 1-inch-diameter stand-off with a folding clevis. The left side mid footpeg/clevis mounts directly to the custom 3/8-inch-thick 7071 belt guard plate, with additional inside support stand-offs added. The shifter is a heel/toe affair, with the shaft running through a tube between the belt guard and the motor plate, and up to a short custom linkage to the transmission shifter arm, FXR style. Pegs were supplied by Dewey's Custom, as was the heel/toe shifter arm, which is actually mounted upside-down. Both peg mounting points are further reinforced with iron cross escutcheon plates, again, cut for me by Fab Kevin. The iron cross theme is followed up on the custom-made top motor mount. And, tying in with the electrical compartment lid, the mid control plates are engine-turned to match, as is the point cover.

While I tackled the molding on the tank and fender, Brion and Randy from Uni-Tec Custom Paint Center in Englewood, Colorado, finished up the frame molding and applied the final colors. The basecolor is a early '90s three-stage Corvette white/platinum pearl, with kandy purple over magenta base flames. In addition, I asked Randy to add some Tommy the Greek-style teardrops to the front downtubes in the same kandy purple, and the upper and lower frame legs -- again drawing on another Bay Area influence. The final pinstriping was applied by Louie Allison in a specially mixed medium-grey.

The final touch was the solo seat pan, which I made from 14 separate pieces. The seat mounts via a traditional bracket on the front and a combination pin/socket mount in the rear on each side. Once the front mounting bolt is removed, the entire seat lifts off to access the electrical box. The pan was then powdercoated white, and the natural color leather cover was sewn by Brian at Mile High Motorcycle Seats, in Golden, Colorado.

I probably wrote way more than I should have, but there is a lot of special work that went into this build, as it does in all the projects that come through here. I also wanted to give credit where credit was due, because nobody does a bike like this all on their own. There were a lot of people that helped along the way with their special talents, and I wanted to thank them very much for a job well done.