We received a call from the Build-Off Chopper King, Hugh, just as the holidays of 2006 loomed ominously overhead. “Roland Sands dropped out and we need a builder capable of tearing up a drag strip alongside a James Compton, super fast Jap bike,” he said and hung up. The phone rang again. “He has six weeks before the shooting begins.” The Bikernet staff huddled in a corner, wrote names on the back of old Easyriders business cards and dropped them into a top hat. They downed a round of Yeager Bombs, danced the hoot-chi cu and then called Bandit.
He has a strange way of making decisions. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons behind five wives and changing motorcycles every year. He strolled in from the shop, eyed the tattered Top Hat full of business cards, poured a rattlecan cap full of gas in the hat, struck a match and our votes went up in flames, “Call Lee at Departure Bikes Works, in Richmond and give him the assignment. He’s about to have his right knee operated on.”
The Bikernet staff was stunned. How could he be so cruel? “Goddamnit,” Bandit said. “If Andrew and the Hull Street Meanies, don’t have a major project, they’ll fuck-off during his hospital stay. But don’t tell them that.”
Lee and Bandit have been notorious friends since the mid ‘70s. Departure Bike Works is one of the most established and long lasting shops in the Richmond area. Brenda, Lee’s wife of 40 years, and several of the family members work in the 34-year-old shop. They are performance advocates, antique aficionados, service masters, parts experts and generally have a handful of bikes for sale. If you need anything H-D, Departure is the place. Plus if you’re looking for a wrecked bike for a project base, Lee has a connection with the insurance industry.
There you have it. The Learning Channel Biker Build-off set in motion. Brenda took the whimpering Colonel Lee Clemens to the hospital and the build began with Andrew grinding and welding a frame to mate the chopper lifestyle with a race ready package. Then Hugh called, “Sorry guys,” The King said snickering. “We gotta remove two weeks from your shooting schedule. You have four weeks before we storm your shop and overload your electrical circuits with our equipment. You can have a frame ready and a set of wheels, but that’s it.
“I went to work on the frame,” Andrew said, “while Lee hunted for a project sponsor. My chopper/race configuration became a tribute to a match made in heaven.” Lee discussed the project with Wes Wolf, the owner of Paradise Road Speed & Custom, in Richmond. Wes owned and restored the historic 1965 Altered Funny Car, the Virginian. He offered to sponsor the project, if he could buy the bike once completed. “It became a huge connection to build the bike/brother to the famous funny car,” Andrew said and dove under his welding hood.
Hugh will tell you that some shops are more intricately involved in the Build-off process than others, but Departure Bikes works proved to be the real thing. Andrew built the frame from the ground up in a week. “I got kinky around the neck and axle areas with slip fit sections that ate precious time,” Andrew said.
While Andrew fabricated the sheet metal under the Learning Channel lights, Billy Wheatley, in a white surgeon’s smock, built the vintage ‘60s motor in the back. Departure is capable of restoring vintage engines and is building a 45 flathead with a K-Model top end for our 5-Ball racing team Bonneville 2007 Bonne Belle.
Andrew built the battery box, the oil tank, the controls, the wild wrapped pipes and the gas tank. “It was the smoothest build I ever experienced,” Andrew said. “Usually we start a build and run across numerous obstacles and delays. This was my first start-to-finish build uninterrupted, which enhanced my concentration and prevented glitches. We just rolled. Sure the time element was tough, but it kept us focused.”
Sean, another Departure team member, machined the brass lightening bolt foot pegs. Andrew mounted one of Departure bike works two-into-one brake systems with a four-piston caliper on the rear linked to the front brake lever and a two-piston caliper on the same rotor for the rear brake. Both calipers are tucked between the rear frame rails.
Andrew fabbed the 39mm triple-trees, shaved the no-brake lowers and made the spoked wheel with a wheelchair hub. All went smooth as glass, except for a small glitch in gas tank venting, until… Well, let’s start with this well written report from a Richmond Times-Dispatch writer, Mark Holmberg:
The Departure Bike Works crew gathers around its latest creation on a recent night, cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon in hand.
A film crew for the Discovery Channel packed up its cameras for the evening and left the sprawling custom motorcycle shop at 5216 Hull Street Road in South Richmond.
It's been another long day — the ninth in a row — of cutting, welding, bolting and wiring for the Learning Channel’s “Biker Build-Off” program.
Only one day left.”We're nearly buttoned up,” the ponytailed chief designer and fabricator, Andrew Williams, said.”All we need are the pipes, some top-end lines and some fuel, and the windows will be rattling,” notes Ernie Coates, Departure's service manager.
Williams' wife, Drenda, pops in to say she's heading to the evening service at the nearby Richmond Outreach Center, a popular South Side church that has more than a few bikers among the brethren.
”Pray for this motorcycle,” Coates calls out. As she leaves, he adds: “She is turning into the mother of this group of misfits.”
The heart of the project, a monster 103-cubic-inch, Departure-built Harley-Davidson panhead motor, squats in the handmade frame like a gleaming question mark.
The crankcases were made in 1969 — never been used, Williams says. Which means the engine's foundation was made during President Richard M. Nixon's first term. And Departure's mechanics used an unusual combination of internal parts to build the most possible torque.
After all, their hand-built Harley will be racing a high-revving Japanese bike custom-crafted by a Texas motorcycle shop for the Discovery Channel program. The crew knows its Harley — “The Virginian” — will have to claw off the starting line like an angry cheetah to stand a chance.
Billy Wheatley, Departure's engine builder who looks as if he should be wearing a white smock in a science lab, has assured the crew the new-old motor is race-ready.
“I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve,” Coates says, hungry for the rumble.
The film crew is not present to chronicle what comes next.
Mechanic Steve Hodges rolls in with what looks like a hospital IV stand, topped with a little lawn mower gas tank and dangling fuel lines. Hodges has already hacked off some temporary exhaust pipes on the shop's trundling band saw and bolted them up, one of them pointing forward like a unicorn's horn. It's enough for the test blast.
Williams bolts on the oil return lines as Coates, peering though his Santalike spectacles, hooks up the temporary gas line and primes the carburetor.
Williams pushes the electric starter — ignition off — to pre-lube the engine.
Everyone seems to hold his breath. Ignition on. Williams hits the starter.
The motor speaks once — one deep boom that sounds like a muffled shotgun blast.The panhead's single bark just means it's primed and ready to roar, Coates says confidently.
Sure enough, when Williams bumps the starter again, the motor blasts off, the unmuffled pipes sending out liver-rattling shock waves.
The crew swarms over the throbbing bike, checking head temperatures with an electronic sensor and their bare hands, watching the oil return to the tank, tweaking the carburetor, sniffing the motor's break-in scent as if it were a new perfume.
Once the Panhead reaches the optimal temperature for its first break-in, heat-cycling run, Williams shuts it down. The ensuing silence is deafening.
There are some high fives, but no whooping. After all, Wheatley had said it would run like a champ.
The next day, the crew bolts on the custom tanks and exhaust pipes as the cameras roll.
Friends have gathered, including some teens from the Richmond Outreach Center. It's a happy moment.
They've met the deadline. They're ready for Saturday's race against the Texas crew in Louisiana, which will air on the Discovery Channel in February.
After the race, the bike will belong to longtime Departure customer and friend Wes Wolf. The motorcycle is named and styled after Wolf's old altered drag car, considered to be one of the first funny cars in the country.
Coates estimated the one-of-a-kind, handmade motorcycle is worth between $50,000 and $60,000. The Virginian is beautiful, everyone agrees.
But not completely finished, Drenda Williams reminds them.
She slips off a small hose clamp she's been wearing on her finger.
Williams and Coates slide it on the fuel line that feeds the carburetor and tighten it.
The clamp came off Travis Clemens' Harley, Drenda says to the camera.
He may be departed, but the Departure crew knows he'll be along for the ride.
That's the way they roll.
All was shiny and clean at that point. It was time to make tuning passes on the Departure Bike Works Dyno. It fired, like the 103-inch locomotive it was, to the delight of the staff and horsepower increased with each pass. The next day more break-in passes were made.
Here’s how Sean put it 24 hours later, “We just got it back together after a little incident on the dyno. Seems that the front cylinder had a defect around the skirt and broke off, blowing the cases apart Thursday morning. Billy put it back together with another set of original H-D cases that had been lying around the shop for decades. It fired up Saturday surrounded by a crowd in the shop, and will be loaded on the trailer Monday for Louisiana… Right down to the wire… I am sure the film crew will be depressed to know that they missed out on the drama.”
By this time Lee escaped the hospital to hobble around the shop on crutches. The Learning Channel Build-off experience motivated him to rehab as quickly as possible. Everyday he healed and worked his knees until he was standing alongside his staff and ready to load himself into the truck for the drive from Richmond to Morgan City on the 90 west out of New Orleans where they were scheduled to compete on the No Problem Raceway in Donaldsonville, LA. “We had a large time,” Lee said, “with James Compton our competitor with his super clean drag GSXR 1000 motor in his hand-built frame. Good people.”
Andrew had never drag raced although several members of the staff are strip veterans. The stripped race machine wasn’t loaded down the a shift light or even a tack. “He had to feel the engine’s need for throttle and gears,” Lee said. He made two ¼-mile warm-up passes and was ready to rock. “We owned the holeshot,” Lee said. “The first 1/8 mile was our and James had to work and catching up with the Suzuki, but he kicked our asses with mid 10-second passes, whereas we pull consistent mid 12s. The track was so sticky that if you stood still for five minutes you’d leave your shoes behind.”
Lee, his operated knee quivering wanted to make sure that Andrew, Brenda and his entire staff knew how proud he was of their efforts and success on the track. “That bike made pass after pass without a hiccup,” Lee said. “It made three passes without ever shutting the engine down.
Don't miss all the live action on The Learning Channel. This episode will be aired March 15th on the Learning Channel at 10:00 p.m. Thursday night.
General
Owner: Wes Wolf
City/State: Richmond/ VA
Builder: Andrew Williams
City/state ( or company contact info): Departure Bike Works, Richmond, VA
Fabrication: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams
Manufacturing: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams
Welding: Andrew Williams
Machining: Andrew Williams, Billy Wheatley, Sean Higgins & J. E. Fifer Sheet Metal Fabricators, Inc
Engine
Year: 2007
Make: Harley-Davidson
Model: Custom
Displacement: 103ci
Builder or Rebuilder: Billy Wheatley of Departure Bike Works
Cases: ’69 Panhead
Case finish: Polished
Barrels: S&S
Bore: 3 & 5/8”
Pistons: S&S
Barrel finish: Black Powder Coat
Lower end: S&S
Stroke: 5”
Rods: S&S
Heads: STD- Ported & Polished by Departure’s Billy Wheatley
Head finish: Natural
Valves and springs: Black Diamond Valves/ S&S Springs
Pushrods: Jims
Cams: S&S
Lifters: S&S
Carburetion: S&S “D”
Other:
Transmission
Year: ‘06
Make: Rivera Primo- Special Construction
Gear configuration: 6-speed
Final drive: Chain
Primary: 3” Open Belt- Rivera Primo
Clutch: Pro Clutch
Frame
Year: ‘07
Make: Departure Bike Works
Style or Model: Andrew Williams- “Speed Star”
Stretch: 6” Up & 4” Rear
Rake: 30 degrees
Modifications: Other than the fact that it was made from scratch on the frame table Andrew designed and made…?
Front End
Make: Departure Bike Works/ Showa
Model: Narrow
Year: ‘07
Length: +4”
Mods:
Sheet metal
Tanks: Split Racers: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams & Ernie Coates
Fenders: What?
Panels: Rear Cowl: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams & Ernie Coates
Oil tank: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams
Other:
Paint
Sheet metal: Danny Riddle & Riddle Sign
Molding: yep
Base coat: yep
Graphics: Old School Lettering & Paint to Match Wes Wolf’s Virginian Hot Rod
Frame: Power & Performance- Richmond, VA
Molding: Powder & Performance
Base coat: Black Powder Coat
Graphics or art: yep
Special effects: Simple… that is special
Pinstriping: Danny Riddle
Wheels
Front
Make: Akront
Size: 19”
Brake calipers: What?
Brake rotor(s): Don’t need em’
Tire: Metzler
Rear
Make: Akront
Size: 18”
Brake calipers: Performance Machine, Inc.
Brake rotor: EBC
Pulley: Sprocket- yea
Tire: Metzler
Controls
Foot controls: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams
Finish: Polished Stainless Steel
Master cylinder: Grimeca
Brake lines: Russell
Handlebar controls: Brimbo
Finish: Brushed Aluminum
Clutch Cable: Barnett
Brake Lines: Russell
Shifting: Foot (Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams Controls)
Electrical
Ignition: Compu-Fire
Ignition switch: Toggle
Coils: Twin Tech
Regulator: Cycle Electric
Charging: Cycle Electric
Wiring: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams & Ernie Coates
Harness: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams & Ernie Coates
Headlight: Harley-Davidson Spotlight
Taillight: LED Bullet Style
Accessory lights: come on now…
Electrical accessories: it works…
Switches: Toggle & Kill
Battery: Deka
What's Left
Seat:
Pipes: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams
Mufflers: I can’t hear you… what?
Exhaust finish: Polished Stainless Steel
Gas caps: yep
Handlebars: Departure Bike Works- Andrew Williams
Grips: Pingel
Pegs & Mounts: Departure Bike Works- Sean Higgins
Oil filter: Perform
Oil cooler: Perform
Oil lines: Departure Bike Works- Special Rubber Extruded From Andrew’s Anus
Fuel filter: yep
Fuel Lines: Departure Bike Works
Throttle: Barnett/ Pingel
Throttle cables: Barnett
Fasteners: Chrome
Credits:Special thanks to everyone who supported the project… you know who you are.-Ride Forever Travis
