Title: THE SOUL OF A BUILDER
Photos by Al Conte
Gilroy, California, home of the Garlic festival and now Indian motorcycles rests on the edge of Silicon Valley. Up until 15 years ago, it was a dry agricultural community between San Francisco and nowhere. That’s where Al Conte lives, the owner/builder of this putt. It’s his first custom.
Al recently turned 50. Some 22 years ago Al married Debbie and proceeded to raise a family. His priorities changed. He set aside his wild days and went straight, like so many brothers do. He became an engineer in the semi-conductor industry and kept his clean snooze to the grindstone, as they raised three sons. Twenty years past, and their anniversary drifted onto the calendar. His wife nestled up to him one day and whispered, “The date’s just around the corner. Do we get diamond earrings or a Harley?”
His sons, Matt, Jeff and Doug, had no notion of what really flowed through their dad’s veins. To them he was another computer nerd, buried in an air-conditioned, cubicle industry.
Startled, Al turned and gazed deep in those knowing eyes and a smile crossed his lips, “A Harley,” he said without hesitation. That was 1998 and he is still riding that Fatboy. In touch with his feelings for riding, Debbie had no notion of his desire to build a custom. “I just wanted to build one,” Al said.
This project took him a year and a half. He spent two months just laying out the design, making plans and checking mags. “I built the bike 30 times mentally before I purchased a single part,” Al said. He kicked off the street sweeper with a ProOne chassis with leading link swingarm. “I encountered no problems fitting the unit together, but they hadn’t allowed chrome clearance in machining the threads, so the chrome chipped off as we attempted to assemble the unit.”
Al figured the project carefully and decided to spend the big candy on two areas of the bike to maintain a billet theme. “I spent $2,000 on the inner and outer primary from Pro One and $750 for the Yaffe taillight,” Al recanted, “I could have bought any number of taillights for half that amount.”
I asked him if he had any other problems with the wild swingarm. “I ordered a Jesse James rear fender and cut it in half, extended it and altered the radius to contour the 200 Avon and fit the swingarm.” He also used a Jesse James front fender, but only lowered it to hug the front tire.
Part of his engineering eye called for the bike to be balanced. No massive rear wheel and slim front. His design called for similarities not contrasts. He ordered 54 mm inverted forks from CCI figuring a length to set the bike level. The front end was fine except the pinch bolts wouldn’t hold the tubes. Every time he installed the unit, the tubes slipped through the trees and the bike dropped 4 inches. Four times he shipped the trees back until he received a set machined properly. “They were embarrassed, but very helpful,” Al commented.
The engineering legacy continued to resurface. “I like a bike to be geometrically even with tight symmetry,” Al said. So he made sure that levers and linkage were matched. Including the V-twin obsession bars.
“I’m 6’3″ and needed the machine to fit,” Al said, “These bars made all the difference.” He ran all the hydraulics and wiring through the bars. “I wanted to run an internal throttle also,” Al commented, “but there wasn’t enough room left.”
Al reviewed every component with an eye toward improvement or optimum construction. He chose twin Mikuni carburetors with a Rivera Engineering dual manifold. “If they would just reverse their linkage the throttle cables would virtually disappear.” He suggested it to the Rivera team, with little response.
He continued to add detailing touches including hard plumbing, hydraulic lines guided through the frame. The Gas tank chosen was a Fat Kat’s series 35 with a 3.5 inch stretch and a flush mount aircraft cap. With the tank and fender in place he ran to his nearby seat connection, Corbin. Mike Corbin’s team molded fiberglass to his frame so that the seat needs no fasteners. “It hugs the frame tubes and won’t slide,” Al said.
Every bike build has a team, and Al’s favorite team member was Rick Collier of Pro-Street Custom Cycles in Gilroy, (408) 842-2060. Rick reworked Al’s 120-inch Merch power plant. “We call him MacGiver,” Al said. “He can do anything and probably builds the strongest 80-inch motors in the state. I get 101 horsepower out of my Fatboy with Rick’s touch.” Rick was also the delicate touch behind the modified rear fender.
Al used a polished Baker 6-speed in this equation. “Nothing shifts like this baby,” Al said. “I’m going to install a 6-speed Baker gear set in my Fatboy.” Wheels, brakes and his hand controls came from Performance Machine, but he didn’t leave them alone. “We machined the clamps and the bars so each set would fit flush and evenly.”
He started out with a handmade set of pipes that didn’t fit well and the chrome peeled. “They were undersized and would effect the performance,” Al said. He bought a factory set of Wicked Brothers pipes from Arizona. He called them a week before the Pomona, ER show, and the pipes were in his hands in three days. “They bolted right up, fit great and worked well with the line of the bike,” Al said confidently.
Al has his own chrome saving tip for pipes. “I don’t go for that ceramic coating,” Al instructed. “We cleaned the pipes a couple of times with alcohol, then we sprayed them with VHT flatblack heat paint. We gave them a couple of coats and let them dry for 24 hours. The carbon attaches to the paint and the pipes don’t blue.”
For more detail he attached his Daytech oil bag with rubbermounted tabs under the seat. “It seemingly hangs there,” Al told me. “We took all the other tabs off the frame.” He installed a slightly smaller battery for fitment ease, but it required that he used compression releases on the cylinders to eliminate starting problems. As any engineer worth his salt, he installed the Merch oil filter and cooler for added oil capacity and longer engine life.
“Paint was a problem,” Al mentioned. “I didn’t want skulls or flames. Nothing traditional. Tribal had come and gone. I spoke to CrazyHorse, but she was far away, then I met Josh Stokes. I told him that I liked the Ripped Torn effect and he rolled his eyes, but decided to work with me.” Al was very pleased with the Santa Cruz, California painter. “He’s a master of real fire effects,” Al said.
When the bike was finally completed Al considered the show circuit. “It was a learning experience. I went to Pomona and didn’t place at all. So we hauled the bike to Sac for the Easyriders show there and took a first. We were getting the hang of it and having a good time.” He followed Sacramento with a show in Riverside, California and took best of show. “The highlight was when I took two classes in the Bikernet Show,” Al said and commented about the rare 5-Ball trophies. That year he took six first place trophies and a third place.
All of Al’s sons have relished in watching their dad come to life behind chromed handlebars. In particular Jeff assisted the ol’ man at shows, helping with the preparation and set-up. Jeff (19-years old) was killed in a car accident after Al’s second show win. “I almost gave up the competition,” Al said somberly. His two other sons, (Matt, 22 and Doug 15) encouraged Al to stick with it, and he’s glad they did.
Life is constantly changing and the once young retired rider was hit hard by the stock market and is now considering going back to work. This bike is still a virgin and is currently for sale, (thecontes@montereybay.com). After it’s gone he’ll begin another project, and we may witness another builder emerge from the garlic fields of Gilroy.
