Bikernet Feature: The SpeedKing Company Car

Jeff endured a straight career setting high-end diamonds in a Hyde Park, Cincinnati, Ohio high-end jewelry store for the rich and well-to-do. He lived a separate life at night and on the weekends with his welding torch, choppers, and tattoos. He built a couple of bikes a year and blasted around town.

“As soon as he finished a bike, someone wanted to buy it,” said his wife, Beverly. A major factor in the SpeedKing’s 20-year bike building career, she encouraged him to walk away from his downtown Cincinnati career and enjoy what he loves, building motorcycles. The black-haired tomboy with a disciplined Airborne upbringing stood behind her man through all the ups and downs the industry tossed at him.

This is the current SpeedKing Company car hauling Jeff and Beverly along vacant roads some 40 miles outside Cincinnati to a nearby lake. It began as a rusting ’76 FL and Jeff cut the frame to give it the look of ’58-’64 stock drop seat swing arm frames, before the factory messed with a perfectly good configuration. Jeff even ads a personal additional drop seat touch to his frames along with modified rake and trail. The rear shocks still contain 1.2 inches of travel, and the rear fender has additional hidden reinforcement supports, plus the radiused fender supports are made from solid 304 ½-inch stainless rod. He carried out the same radius on several other custom components.

“It looks, sounds, and smells like a rigid chopper,” Jeff said, “but it rides like a Lincoln Towncar.”

Bev rides comfortably on a suction cup P-pad. Jeff’s bike has several classic distinctions. They aren’t built for show, but to ride. His jewelry background is evident in the fine crafted details, and he goes beyond appearance with his legacy of geometry, safety construction, and handling. He likes to ride. He likes his bikes short and tight.

Motorcycle geometry and handling is sorta like tuning a hot rod engine. Each bike has a slightly different formula for a specific rider. “I dial in the suspension and handling with the rider’s height and weight considered,” said Jeff. He snugs the rear shocks inboard, sometimes extends the swingarm and adjusts the shock angle. He likes to work with late model stock 39 mm Sportster front ends. This one was shaved and shortened about 3 inches shorter than stock, but with plenty of travel, so the bike won’t bottom out.

He can adjust fork travel by modifying the slider dampening and adjusting the weight and amount of fork oil used. He’s a master of carefully crafted details, and in many cases, his modifications improve functionality. “I’m anal and freaky about my bikes,” Jeff said. “They must work perfectly.” Many of his bikes are shipped overseas to Thailand, Israel, Europe, or Australia. They need to operate impeccably, so his customer reports are always glowing.

He recently moved to some acreage on the edge of interstate 74 near the Indiana border, into an A-frame with no neighbors for 8 miles to the left and none for 4 miles to the right. Behind him, his land runs into a forest bordering the highway. His shop is directly behind his house, and he often goes days without seeing anyone but the UPS man.

Jeff crawls out of the sack before sunrise and hits the shop where he can scramble through eight hours before noon. “Then it’s all gravy until late at night,” Jeff said. He’s living the metal flake dream and his bikes reflect his abilities and his passion for all that’s bobbed and bitchin’.

Tech Chart

Regular Stuff

Owner: JEFF COCHRAN

Bike Name: COMPANY CAR

Builder: JEFF COCHRAN

City/state: WEST HARRISON INDIANA

Company Info:

Address: 27662 VALLEY VISTA CT

Phone: 513-885-7433

Web site: WWW.SPEEDKINGRACING.COM

E-mail: OLDSCHOOLJEFF@AOL.COM

Fabrication: JEFF

Manufacturing:

Welding: JEFF

Machining: JEFF

Engine

Year: 1976

Make: SHOVELHEAD

Model: FLH

Displacement: 74 CI

Builder or Rebuilder: DONNY LOOS

Cases: HARLEY

Case finish: BLAST

Barrels: STOCK

Bore: STOCK

Pistons: WEISCO

Barrel finish: BLACK

Lower end: HD

Stroke: STOCK

Rods: HD

Heads: HD

Head finish: BLAST

Cams: SIFTON

Lifters: SOLID

Carburetion: BENDIX

Air cleaner: AFTERMARKET

Exhaust: SPEEDKING

Mufflers: FISHTAIL

Transmission

Year: 1980

Make: HD

Primary: BELT

Clutch: STOCK/SPEEDKING

Final drive: CHAIN

Kicker: YES

Frame

Year: 1976

Builder: HARLEY/JEFF COCHRAN

Style or Model: SWINGARM

Stretch: STOCK

Rake: STOCK

Modifications: SPEEDKING DROPSEAT

Front End

Make: 39MM

Model: NARROW GLIDE

Year: LATE ’90S

Length: 3-UNDER

Mods:SHAVED

Sheet metal

Tanks: WASSEL

Fenders: RWD

Oil tank: SPEEDKING

Paint

Sheet metal: GOLD

Molding: NONE

Base coat: Randy Darby

Graphics: STOCK EMBLEMS

Frame: POWDER COAT

Molding: NONE

Wheels

Front Make: AFTERMARKET

Size: 21X2.15-inch

Brake calipers: NONE

Brake rotor(s): NONE

Tire: SCORPION

Rear

Make: AFTERMARKET

Size: 18X5.5-inch

Brake calipers: WILWOOD/SPEEDKING

“RUSHHOUR RACING”

Brake rotor: POLISHED 11.5

Tire:PODIUM

Foot controls: BDL

Finish: POLISHED

Master cylinder: GMA

Brake lines: SPEEDKING

Handlebar controls: BDL

Finish: BLACK

Shifting: SPEEDKING “BIG RIG” JOCKEY

Kickstand: 2-inch UNDER

Electrical Ignition: POINTS

Ignition switch: TOGGLE

Coils: AFTERMARKET

Regulator: 32-AMP

Charging: 32-AMP

Starter: NONE

Wiring: JEFF COCHRAN

Headlight: 4.5

Taillight: AXLE MOUNT

Battery: ANTIGRAVITY

What’s Left

Seat: BLACK BULL NOSE

Mirror(s): 3-inch

Handlebars: Z BARS

Grips: AFTERMARKET

Oil filter: 3/4-16

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