When it comes to choices in selecting a new fuel tank -- and there are many -- trying to narrow your final selection down to just one can be almost impossible. You can buy one from the factory, from aftermarket suppliers, or even have one custom built. You also have the choice of the traditional two-piece fat bobs, one-piece tanks, aluminum or steel, standard length and stretched, and let's not forget, capacity. The amount of choices can be staggering.
When you finally do select your tank of choice, why would you just bolt it on and call it quits? After all, you worked so hard to pick out the proper tank that you might as well do everything you can to make it, and the bike it's going on, look as good as possible.
You could just bolt your tank in place and move on, or you could also create filler panels and sculpt the frame of the bike to look as though it flows into the tank and becomes a part of it. It's this type of boxing in open steering head gusset areas and open areas around the upper motor mount that make the difference between a bolt-together catalog bike and a true custom. Turning the tank and frame into something truly unique that will stand apart from any other bike -- even those using the same parts you used yourself -- is what choppers are all about. All it takes is a little creativity and a good game plan.
We dropped in on one of our favorite local builders, Matt Hotch of Hot Match Custom Cycles, in Fullerton, California, to see one of his custom fuel tanks being installed. Hot Match cuts and forms every individual piece of metal for filler panels to suit the needs of whichever bike is being built. No two Hot Match bikes are the same, and Matt's attention to style and detail has garnered more than a few First Place trophies at events all over the country.
Let's watch as Matt Hotch and Rodney install a custom Hot Match tank to one of Matt's frames and then mold it all together.www.streetchopperweb.com