This bike started out as a pile of parts, as all bikes do. After years of collecting various items I found that I had enough to actually build a bike. So I did. And I did all the work in my dad's shop, Warren's Cycle, so it was a bit of a family affair. Thanks dad!
My Miami Vice started when I traded a frame and a bunch of various items for the set of handlebars that were on my last bike known as The Lowrider. I know, you are asking the same question I did. A frame and some parts for a pair of bars? Even I thought it was a pretty good score and I did feel a bit guilty the guy apparently had to have those bars.
After some researching I found the frame to be a really old Paughco. It had no rake or stretch to speak of, but it was a nice straight frame. Originally I was going to go with an old H-D springer, but opted for a narrow glide frontend I had lying around. I pulled it apart, shaved the legs and freshened it up before attaching it to the frame. To get things really rolling on the build I bolted up a 21-inch spool-hubbed wheel up front and 16-inch rim mated to an old H-D mechanical drum brake hub in the rear.
Powering the bike is a pretty basic, but dependable 1974 74ci Shovelhead mill mated to a 4-speed transmission. The motor and trans were both re-built by my dad, who is one hell of a motor builder if I don't say so myself. To keep the bike lubed, I cleaned up the old flatside horseshoe oil bag that came with the frame and welded up some mounts for it.
In the parts and accessories department, I bought a nice and simple set of pipes from V-twin and did a few slight modifications to them, but nothing too crazy. To further church the bike up a bit I added a white tuck and roll leather solo seat from Rich Phillip. Out back I chopped up a rear fender from an old "Italian" Harley and once I had the seat and fender in place, I made the sissy bar. Up front to make room for my long arms I used a real cool set of vintage risers that I installed backwards. I love narrow bars, so I used a piece of straight 1-inch tubing from my collection of scrap. These are not for beginners or the faint of heart; so don't try this at home kids.
Through some horse-trading, I acquired a cool old Wassell tank from my buddy Derek off of a BSA A-10 and I had none other than Hot Rod Hall of Fame inductee Dick Scully paint it. Dick has painted a couple of my bikes and is a great guy. Once the bike was mocked up and torn down I had my pal NumNuts peak the downtube and rear fender before painting them.
I finished the bike at the end of the fall and was not able to put that many miles on it since then. It gets pretty damn cold in Milwaukee coming into wintertime. On one rather unseasonable day in November I was able to head out in order to get these photos. We shot the bike a couple miles from the shop in Milwaukee in a park above the lake. While we were shooting a woman spotted me riding the bike through the park in order to reach the bluff and called the cops on me. The officer who showed up realized that we were not doing donuts in the park as the "eyewitness" described. Thank god the cop rode bikes (as most do in Milwaukee) so he stood around and watched me push the bike around while Josh finished his camera magic. Then we all left and got some real doughnuts.