If Matt Bastin of Brass Knuckle Choppers (BKC) ever built a bike and experienced no afterthoughts, then he would probably give up bike building. If that wasn't true, this bike wouldn't be on these pages and the shop would cease to exist. But the father-and-son team, dad being Russell, won't go under like that. "Our successes are measured by our improvements," Matt said, "and our joys are derived from the challenges of new ideas." This bike, dubbed "The Street," will attest to that.
We'd be more correct in pointing out that Matt and Russell work out of a barn in Somerset, KY, where the emphasis here is put on work. There's no drama between father and son (OK, maybe a little; it's family, after all) but it's no soap opera. "If I had a dollar for every time someone asked us if we were just like those guys on TV, I'd have about $900," Matt said. They're simply a father and son trying to make a living at what they love to do.
The real point here is that The Street is a purge of afterthoughts, a chance to improve on what their last bike lacked. The culprit: time. Matt and Russell had built the previous bike in kind of a hurry to prepare for a Biker Build-Off, and when that turned out not to be what they expected, they regretted not taking more time to build that bike. "There were a lot of features that we didn't include," Matt said. "I needed to purge the afterthoughts from my head."
Speed and agility were leading forces in this build, not to mention improvements where they were needed. Matt and Russell began with a no-stretch rigid frame from Mid-USA with 30 degrees of rake in the neck. They had a difficult time finding a frontend to accommodate their wheel and tire combo, so they customized a Wide Glide reproduction and shaved the fender mounts. Then they modified a set of Renthal handlebars, accented with PM hand controls and grips, and mounted the bars upside-down to keep the rider's hands low. "I think that 'hood-pin thinking' inspired me to mount the gas tank with turnbuckles," Matt said. "I wanted to do something different without having to reinvent gas, tanks, or gas tanks." They used four stainless steel turnbuckles to position the tank with the assistance of some rubber stops on the frame's backbone.
The oil tank is an updated and improved version of the tank on their last bike. It has three stainless steel tubes running through it, welded on each end, and a custom screw-on cap made of solid brass. They improved the mounting hoops to make installation and removal a lot easier. "The oil tank placement," Matt said, "love it or hate it, it speaks for itself." Moving to the rear of the bike, they wanted a fender that was easy to take on and off without having to remove the rear wheel, so they top-mounted the fender with parallel stainless steel bars. The battery was mounted under the transmission to keep that weight low, and they built a custom battery tender mounted behind the tranny to make charging/boosting very convenient. The bike's electronics are simple, with two switches under the seat: A high/low beam switch and a hot switch for the entire bike.