In the course of childhood we make many friends, but few of them stay in our lives during the turbulent transition to adulthood. In many cases, only the very best of compadres maintain the friendship bond as they take on spousal and parental responsibilities; duties that tend to cut down on fun time with the pals. For Jeff Goudreau, he has such a friend in Cory Ness. They've known each other since high school and have stood as best men at each other's weddings. They've also logged a lot of bike miles between them and this chopper reflects that.
Time permitting, the friends rode the scenic North Cali countryside in their youth and during that period Jeff also started customizing his own bikes and, eventually, building them. Jeff was a longtime Softail rider, but after trying out one of Cory's rubber mount steeds, he caught the bug to build a machine with the smooth riding quality of Harley's Dyna, only more stylish: a chopper. And that led him back to his old buddy with an idea-why not make a rubber mount chopper based on Ness' Y2K frame?
It wasn't the worst idea Cory had ever heard. The Y2K was designed to hold a 250 rear tire and with some tweaking, they could set one up for rubber mounting and a dyna-esque swingarm. By keeping the upward stretch down to 4 inches, the profile would still have some height but wouldn't cramp up Jeff's shoulders after a full day's journey. Goudreau made a list of the parts he wanted, placed his order, and after a brief wait, got down to business building his new bike.
He started by bolting up the rolling chassis. Speedpoint wheels with Avon shoes and Ness/PM brake set ups were mated to the rear swingarm and for the front end, 12-inch-over Ness forks were added. With that done, he got to work on the motor.
As mentioned earlier, the frame geometry was set up for relative comfort, but that doesn't mean Jeff's machine is a riding couch with a modest motor; no, no. He shoehorned a 124-inch S&S beast into the frame to give him gobs of power with a twist of the throttle. There, it was connected to a Roadmax transmission and BDL drive set up. He rounded out the V-twin package with a set of Ness pipes.
The rest of Jeff's chopper also takes its styling cues from the Ness shop with a few notable exceptions: an Independent gas tank, Dakota Digital gauges, and a Danny Gray seat.
Once Goudreau was happy with the mock up, he tore it down and gave the raw metal over to Jeff McCann for a healthy dose of PPG black paint. Shortly thereafter, the bike was back together and Jeff was on his way, tearing up roads all over Northern California.
Not only was Jeff stoked with his ride, but it had a bit of a ripple effect with Cory who used it as the inspiration for Ness' rubber mount Y2K, which is now available as both frame and rolling chassis. One friend got a great bike, the other got a great new design for his customers, and both benefited from having a good longstanding friendship.