Kutty Noteboom and Duane Ballard are both kings of the chopper underworld. Kutty for his Sinner's Prayer and Hippy Killer bikes, Duane for Funkenstein, his wild Honda-powered chopper and leather working skills. Both of these guys are good fabricators and wanted to build something way-out. Pipe dreams like these happen to all of us, but yet again the two found themselves talking about their next bike build and what kind of bike they wanted to construct. Out came the stack of old chopper magazines and while flipping through a few, they spied an old cover bike in the September 1977 issue of Street Chopper. The bike was commonly known as Snow White "the blown Honda streetster" and even at the time the bike was built it was pretty out there.
After talking further about the design of the bike, Kutty and Duane devised a plan that they would each build each their own versions of the Snow White bike and may the best man win. The bike-build gauntlet was thrown and some very rigid criteria was formulated. Both bikes would have a similar long and low look with internal gas and oil tanks that would make up the backbone of the frames. Also on the menu was a semi-attached rear fender molded into the frame. Other than that, anything else could go and each builder could do their own thing.
Kutty Noteboom's Plum Smuggler
Kutty's frame and fork was built by none other than the legendary Freddie Hernandez of Fred's Frames who whipped up a super secret mix of angles and one super-narrow springer. The frame required a bit of forethought and years of knowledge by Freddie but it was built to exactly what Kutty had in mind.
After Freddie worked his magic, the frame was ready for some molding, so Keith Dean was called in to do the job.
With the frame's metal crafting and bondo being finished, it was handed over to Kutty's longtime friend Billy Crewl, who painted the bike with four different shades of lavender. Dave Whittle of California Designs was employed to do his thing and so he gold leafed and pinstriped the bike to perfection.
One of the coolest parts of the bike was the hand-formed mini-fairing made by Kutty himself. A close second on the cool list was the Mastercraft taillight that was brought back from the dead. The bezel of the Mastercraft was given to Kutty by Billy Crewl and the one-off "69" lens was whipped up by Chopper Dave. Kutty did all the rest of the fabrication and it looks right at home after being grafted to the bike.
The wheels are of the 19/21-inch variety and were built by Kutty using Buchanan's spokes and rims. Kutty also hand-fabbed the handlebars as well as the trick rear sets or "backward controls" as he calls them.
To power the bike, Kutty had an 80ci gennie Shovel motor lying around the Hippy Killer Garage, so he decided to use it on the Plum Smuggler. When it was called into active duty, Kutty had it rebuilt tip-to-tail by Laurens Engine Works. While Laurens was busy machining and polishing, Kutty took the side cover and rocker boxes to gun restorer Mark Cooper for an abundant amount of `70s filigree-style engraving. Believe it or not, the parts on the Plum Smuggler were the first motorcycle stuff mark has ever done.
Once the tightened-up motor was back at the HKG headquarters, Kutty Slapped on a Joe Hunt Magneto and S&S carb topped off with a Chopper Dave/Hippy Killer air cleaner. To escape the gasses the Super E sucks in Kutty called Biltwell and welded one of its do-it-yourself pipe kits into a simple, yet stylish exhaust.
With all the mechanical and coating tasks done and in the home stretch of the Plum Smuggler's assembly, Kutty wired and plumbed the bike all by his lonesome in one night's time to complete the build.