The First Place winner of the Canadian Championships of Bike Building (sponsored by Belt Drive Betty's Busted Knuckle Chronicles, MID-USA'S Canadian Division, and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) this year was a bike that Brent Law from Manitoba, Canada's Cycleboyz has had in his head for a couple of years.It was something that he always wanted to build for himself.
When he came across an old shovelhead motor with the cam out of it, he bought it and got started. Inspired by Indian Larry's one-off motors, Brent knew that he wanted a half-pan/half-shovel motor. Naturally, he couldn't go to all that trouble and leave it with a cast finish. Brent tore the motor down to the cases and spent a week of nights grinding, sanding, and polishing. He had a set of stock 80-inch Harley cylinders that a buddy had given to him, so Brent took a hammer (his favorite tool) and broke the bottom three fins off both cylinders to give them more of a race look. After a few more nights of grinding and polishing, he had some killer cases, cylinders, tappet blocks, and one good shovel rocker. This far into it, Brent fired up the lathe and spun up some cool finned pushrod tubes and clips. He then spun some solid-brass pushrod cups and had Brent Graham, a knifemaker friend, overlay them with the Cycleboyz winged V2 logo in copper and brass. Finned parts in both copper and brass would be a motif carried out over the entire bike.
All the headwork, machining, and assembly was done by Jake of Jake's Cycle. The panhead received some work to get it flowing as well as the shovel. All valvetrain parts are AVV. Roller rockers were used in the shovelhead to get the rocker ratio to equal that of the pan. With the combination of the 74-inch bottom end and 80-inch cylinders, Cycleboyz ended up using Wiseco 9:1 pistons for a total displacement of 77 inches. A JIMS oil pump takes care of all the oiling duties. With that worked out, all Brent and Jake needed was fuel and fire. A Morris M5 magneto was also sent to Jake. He aligned it and installed it on the right case.
With the motor back in his hands, Brent added the new SU Eliminator carb, along with some coiled external copper oil lines and a Custom Cycle Engineering finned pan cover. A Moon oil-pressure gauge lets him keep an eye on the important stuff. The exhaust system was handmade and also inspired by the hot rod culture.
The frame was built by Brent and Carlyle Jorgensen from three original Ford Model-A drop axles given to Brent by Rick Johnson of Low Boys. The axle adjusters are one-off stainless pieces, and the transmission plate was welded in 1 inch higher than the stock location. The Boyz then drilled the frame for that lightened hot rod look. The frontend is a reproduction '36 VL springer that was curved and gusseted. All pieces were then ground and polished for chrome. The wheels were made by Black Bike, and were actually both wrong, since they were blemmed and needed to be replaced. Who knows when that'll happen, since it's been more than 10 months since the bike was built, and they're still hanging on there. They're of the 120-spoke radial-laced persuasion.