About eight years ago, Brian Klock had a guy working in his Klock Werks shop named Chris Weber. This went on for five years, until Chris struck out on his own and founded Pico's Garage in Sioux City, South Dakota.
He loves having his own shop and does a lot of work making bobbers like this one, which he created for Scott Young. The Minneapolis resident came into Pico's and asked Chris to do what he loves: Surprise him with a cool bobbed chopper. Chris got down to business doing just that; he gave Scott a bike that's a cool mix of old and new.
Take the motor for example. Chris chose a 93-inch S&S shovelhead for Scott's ride; a great balance between old school looks and modern reliability. The same can be said of the transmission, where Pico's used a RevTech 5-speed with a kickstarter and also ran a jockey shifter. Beyond that, when you combine the mill's naked finish with the header-wrapped pipes, it just screams "raw." The exhaust end caps, though, add a touch of class to the overall look of the motor.
You can't say the chassis is naked, though. Paughco, long known for vintage replica chopper parts, provided Chris with a rigid frame, and they did it on extremely short notice. When Scott originally told Chris what he wanted (rigid frame, Springer forks, and apes), he didn't ask for a chromed chassis. He changed his mind at the last minute. Luckily, Chris was able to get Dirty Joe's to coat the frame and have it sent overnight to make the deadline. When it got there, Chris' shop got it rolling with its own 40-spoke wheels, then added in an Exile sprotor to clean up the back wheel with a PM set up in front for additional stopping power.
Pico's next nod to history came from the sheetmetal. The shop created it all, from the round oil tank to the XL-style fuel sack and the chopped back tire skin. Bike builders in the '70s made a point of adding precious metals to some of their two-wheelers, gold flake and brass trim chief among the touches. Chris carried that over to Scott's scoot by sprinkling brass here and there throughout the chopper (take a look at the foot controls and pegs he made). He also made the 14-inch apehangers and 3-inch risers that may or may not be legal, depending on where Scott likes to ride (we're thinking that's not a big concern to him, though).
Insofar as the finishes go, the paint is a direct contrast to the frame but works very well to offset its shiny chrome surface. It's a flat black with white on the sides of both tanks and red pinstripes. Not only does it look good with the frame, it also complements the motor and makes the brass jump out a bit from the rest of the chopper.
Scott named this bike LD, and we still don't know why. When we asked Chris, he just laughed and said, "Only a couple of our friends (and a few ladies) know what LD stands for." Come to think of it, maybe it's better that way...