01. We brought Nick a set...
01. We brought Nick a set of a 39mm narrow glide legs, which still had all the stock fender and brake mounts still attached. Not for long!
For years now guys have been ditching their front fenders and front brakes for the same reason Gloria Steinem ditched her bra: to stick it to the man, make a cultural statement, and be at ease in the breeze.
Even to this day many of those chopped frontends still possess those pesky fender and brake mounts that make the bike and bike builder look sloppy. That is considered a chopper no-no kids. Those legs deserve to be sweetly smoothed just as soon as you get rid of the unwanted parts.
02. Nick wasted no time on hacking the brake mount off the left leg with a band saw. He made sure to leave a bit of material on the leg as not to cut too deep into the leg.
Even back in the day the über-cool chopper dudes took to hacksaws and files and transformed some rather chunky lower legs into silky beauties. In these current times none of us have an excuse, due to technology and power tools, which cut the fab time in half and make for a much cleaner outcome than the old antiquated ways. Sure a lot of us don’t have a lathe or much less even a nice die grinder, but our boy Nick at Wargasser Speed Shop in Simi Valley, California, has you covered with some lowers that he smoothes out for you. Just send your old legs to Wargasser as a core, and he will swap them out for a set of legs already done up smooth for you at a nominal charge.
Though we are sure he would like to sell you some legs, Nick is such a cool guy, he is going to show you the right way to do them yourself if you have the wherewithal to do so. STC
03. Nick then turned his...
03. Nick then turned his attention to trimming the larger parts of the fender mounts off of the legs. He got them very close to the surface of the legs, but not too close as to add any divots in them. We don’t want to have to add any aluminum back on the legs to make them smooth.
04. Nick chucked the hacked...
04. Nick chucked the hacked legs into his lathe and took great care and a bit of time turning each of them down until there was no more signs of any mounts. Both legs were also measured to be at an even diameter to one another.
05. Just look at the difference...
05. Just look at the difference between the stock leg and one that Nick made buttery smooth.
06. Nick also TIG-welded...
06. Nick also TIG-welded those pesky drain holes on the bottom of each leg and ground them smooth.
07. From there the lower...
07. From there the lower fork legs were professionally polished and ready to roll! Check out the next issue of Street Chopper where we build a super-duper 39mm narrow glide using Wargasser Trees and Spool hub.