Life has a nasty habit of putting peoples dreams on the back burner, which explains why it took four years for the bike in John Franco's mind to become a reality. John is not new to the business of building either. In fact, he's been working on and building bikes for over 25 years and is one of the owners of Wicked Bros. in Phoenix, Arizona.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), John's shop has been successful at selling a whole lot of custom exhaust pipes; therefore, he didn't have the time to wrench on the wild bike that he envisioned. Frustrated with the lack of personal build time, John cut into his profits and hired a few guys to help him out so he could get back to what he loved.
With an idea in his head, John set out to find a suitable frame so he could get his project started, and was disappointed with what he found: nothing. Instead of building just a frame, he built a frame jig first and then a softail-style frame--stretched 3 inches in the curved backbone with 4 inches subtracted from the downtubes, and raked 45 degrees. Attached to the frame is a custom swingarm that holds almost 3-quarts of oil, although it's hard to tell because the filler cap is hidden from direct view. Suspension for the swingarm is handled by Legend Air shocks, and in the front, John used a clean mid-glide inverted 54mm fork with 7 degrees in the triple-trees from Mean Street. A set of clip-on handlebars was fabricated and fit with PM hand controls mounted on the top of the legs of the front end with no risers, so the lines of the bike continue to flow.
It had come time to get some wheels on the bike, but John wasn't going to have to search this time for what he wanted because he already knew where to get it--Precision Metal Fab Racing's three spoke race wheels. He called PMFR and ordered a skinny 21-incher for the front with no hub provisions for a rotor (he didn't plan on running a front brake) and a monster 18x10.5-inch rear wheel wide enough to hold a 280 tire. Mounted to the rear hub is a PM rotor and four-piston caliper; the only brake.
Motivation for the machine had to be found before the bike could be skinned, but John didn't want to get any ordinary powerplant. He decided to get an S&S 124ci monster fit with an S&S G carb and velocity stack, and Wicked Bros exhaust pipes, of course. A Baker drivetrain six-speed right side drive transmission was fit behind the motor and the two were mated together with an enclosed CCI primary and Barnett clutch.
One of his favorite parts of building a custom bike is the sheetmetal, so John got his friend, Matt Heaselden, working on it as soon as the driveline was mocked up in the frame. He designed matching front and rear fenders with an assortment of skinny points and cut-outs. He knew the gas tank was going to have to be something special, so he built a small capacity tank that is big on style. Yet again, he ran into a roadblock when he tried to hide the electronics in the tunnel of the gas tank. There just wasn't enough room to fit it all in and he was running out of place to put other components. However, his problems were solved when he moved actual fuel tank duties to a tank he managed to fabricate and squeeze under the seat (like a V-Rod). The tank resting on the backbone holds no fuel, just electronics, a battery, ignition coils, an electric shift control box, and wires.
The bike was painted in-house by the Wicked Bros. crew, layered with Cobalt Blue over Cadillac Silver and a ton of clear. No graphics were used because John didn't want people to be distracted by fancy paint and miss all the metalwork and innovation that went into the bike.
At the end of the build, John and the Wicked Bros. crew were stoked to finish the bike, but nobody was happier than John. He was finally able to touch his four-year-old vision.
THE VITALS:
GENERAL:
Owner: Wicked Bros.
Year/Make: '04/Wicked Bros.Synister
Fabrication: Wicked Bros.
Assembly: Wicked Bros.
Build Time: Six months
ENGINE:
Size/Type: 124ci/S&S
Cases: S&S
Flywheels: S&S
Rods: S&S
Pistons: S&S
Cylinders: S&S
Heads: S&S
Cam: S&S
Carb: S&S Super G
Ignition: Mallory
Pipes: Wicked Bros.
TRANSMISSION:
Year/Type: '04/Baker six-speed
Case: Baker
Gears: Baker
Clutch: H-D
Primary Drive: H-D
FRAME/SUSPENSION:
Year/Type: '04/Wicked Bros. Softail
Rake: 52 degrees
Stretch: 3-inch-up backbone, 4-inch-out downtube
Swingarm: Oil in swingarm, modified
Rear Suspension: Legends
Forks: Mean Street Inverted
Extension: N/A
Triple Trees: Mean Street
WHEELS,TIRES, & BRAKES:
Wheels/Front: 21-inch PMFR
Rear: 18-inch PMFR
Tires/Front: Metzeler
Rear: 280 Metzeler
Brakes/Front: N/A
Rear: P.M.
FINISH/PAINT:
Molding: Wicked Bros
. Painter: Wicked Bros.
Color: Cobalt Blue overCadillac Silver
Graphics: N/A
Chrome Plating And Polishing: Pete's Custom Metal Finishing
Powdercoating: N/A
ACCESSORIES:
Bars: Wicked Bros.
Risers: N/A
Hand Controls: P.M.
Headlight: TBI
Taillight: N/A
Gauges: Moon
Electrical: Wicked Bros.
Fuel Tank(S): Wicked Bros.
Dash: N/A Oil Tank: Wicked Bros.
Front Fender: Wicked Bros.
Rear Fender: Wicked Bros.
Fender Struts: N/A
Pegs: Accutronix
Foot Controls: Accutronix
Seat: Kerry