If you're reading this magazine, you must know who Jasin Phares is…don't you? Yeah, that one dude originally from Kansas that builds killer bikes up in Northern California. Well, there's no better way to get to know him than by checking out this Q&A we rattled off on the side of the freeway.
Where did this bike start?
It's a 1960 Panhead called "Going Through The Purse." It's a tribute to El Duce of the band The Mentors. I already had the motor and transmission in another bike, the one with the Z-pipes. Felt like I had my fun with four years of riding it. Man, I rode some distance on it too. It had its publicity and I just wanted it to sorta stop in time. Didn't want it to get thrashed, fucked up, or sold, you know? So I ended its life. Pulled the motor and tranny out and kept the frame and springer and put the pipes on the wall.
I wanted to re-do it, end that chapter in my life, so a little bit of the spirit of that bike carries over. It's really just the motor and tranny but I did run a 23-inch front wheel again.
What about the other parts?
I share a shop with Brandon Casquilho from Mullins Chain Drive so I wanted to use as much as I could of what he manufactures. Even though some of his stuff might be more modern looking, I thought it'd be cool to make it work on an older style bike. So I'm running his trees, narrowed spool hub, and his single loop frame.
This frame is really impressive, among other things on the bike.
The geometry is just right for this panhead, no stretch or rake. It's a little different from the original Motorshop frame, subtle differences, but some similarities. The loop in the back is a little tighter too.
Tell us, what else you got going on with this bike.
The ignition is a neat old single-fire Blu-Arc made by Sifton. I thought it was a neat deal; I just love the way they look. Nicke Svensson from Sweden gave it to me as a baby shower gift. It already had the drive shaft from a Harley adapted to it, just a bolt-on deal. He really hooked it up, it even came with a coil. Nicke also rebuilt the L-Series carb too. I made a few things and a lot of fabrication went into it. Some things I had to cut corners because I was running out of time to finish it for the Born Free show, but I did make a bunch of things like the inner and outer primary which is from scratch.