Motorcycles and guns—two of the five best things in life! You can fill in the blanks on the other three. A while back, my friend Sean had told me about this kickass gun shop in Easton, Massachusetts, called Zero Hour. I made a mental note to get there as soon as I had the time. Now, if you follow theories of synchronicity, you’ll dig what happens next. A week or so later this guy named Marc comes in asking us to work on his Triumph chopper. And of course he’s one of the guys from Zero Hour! So it all starts to click. A year or so later, Marc decides that he wants to ditch his long bike and get one of our classic-line-style bikes. He persuaded us with guns and green. Both of which are always accepted currency here at Choppahead.
So here’s the 1965 Triumph we built for him. We call this type of bike our “classic line,” because we’ve been building this style of bike for over 10 years now. A lot of this design has to do with customer demand. These bikes appeal both to the custom/chopper cats as well as to the more purist crowd. We keep ’em simple, clean, and retaining important classic Triumph styling elements.
Here’s the rundown on this one: She has a stock 1965 Triumph front frame section, with one of our Choppahead Spade City 4-inch hardtails welded on. The aluminum oil bag, battery box, and motor mounts with stock mid-controls are all Choppahead as well. The frontend is a completely rebuilt ’60s Triumph with a Triumph 500 front wheel that has smaller brakes.
Fab Kevin hooked us up with the seat, and all the leatherwork was steadfastly done by Truckalope Jay—our mountaineer brother! He works out of a small hunting shack in the backwoods of the Granite State. He’s a notorious cow predator and hunts cattle with nothing but a rusty knockoff Bowie knife. He tans the hides at a clandestine location using solar power and a mixture of preservatives diluted with yak urine. So no two seats are alike!
As far as the sheetmetal goes, the gas tank is stock Triumph. Why mess with something so perfect? Out back, the rear fender is a British aftermarket piece with late-’60s Triumph front fender mounts modified to work as the struts.
The rolling stock consists of both front and rear wheels being completely rebuilt, powdercoated, and laced stainless spokes. We wrap them in classic rag tires so you can feel every pebble and crack in the road.
The paint on the bike was done by us here at Choppahead. It’s a timeless combination of black and charcoal, with hand-laid striping by New England’s finest pinstriper, Charlie the One-Armed Bandit!
The engine is a ’65 T120-R, with a TR6 single carb (Amal 930) head. The complete top and bottom end rebuild was done in-house. We used a Boyer electronic ignition with a PODtronics voltage regulator on most of our builds, including this one. The pipes are from Cycle Shack.
We love building bikes like this—they are a blast to ride, especially on twisty backroads. They have a timeless style that transcends fads and trends. What more could you ask for? And a word to the wise, if you see this one on the streets of Massachusetts, don’t mess with it because Marc owns more firearms than a Third World nation! SC