Tech

With the help of our friends over at Chrome Specialties, Bandit and I aquired this front end for the project.It’s a set of 54 mm Inverted GBC forks. The 30″ length is just right for this low slung sled.   We start by preparing the neck. On this frame, we’ll need neck cups to install […]

Sponsored By Well, here it is December and I think the painter’s got his nose in the paint can. Suckin’ fumeswill make you goofy. Apparently, it’s made this guy goofy enough to forget I was planning on paying him to do this job.I sent the guy the sheet metal in August. It is still not

Sponsored By The majority of the wiring runs up the backbone of the frame to the dash, hand control switches, and the headlight.In this case, the ‘Dash’ is an instrument cluster mounted on the handlebars. Holding this in placewith some zip ties makes the job a lot easier.   The main harness connects to the

Sponsored By   The wires are accessed through these small panels in the back of the switch boxes.   The hand controls must be put into place to determine proper position. The holes must thenbe drilled for the wiring. The trick is, to make sure the holes are large enough to accommodatethe wires, but no

This is the story of the build-up of my cheap Suzuki GN 400.Before you get all upset that it is a jap bike, let me say one thing.I have a 1974 sportster that I finished up a couple of years ago that I ride regularly, I was looking for something cheap that my wife could

Here is engine swap tip “Old Bob” and I came up with. This is the second time I’ve done this on a Road King wreck that involved a frame change. I saw something somewhere where the factory was putting a Twin Cam engine in a Road King frame on the assembly line. We got to

Since I’ve been writing tech-tips, I’ve found that the moreopinionated I become, the more responses I get via e- mail fromBikernet surfers. Opinions are interesting. Some postulates areformed from ignorance, others by experience, still others fromeducation, and some are passed down from generation to generation. So which is it, John? Well this month, I’m going

Paul Cox Custom Leather has been creating custom leather seats professionally for over 12 years. His client list includes the likes of Indian Larry’s Gasoline Alley NYC, Billy Lane, Jesse James and Exile Cycles to name but a few. Paul’s handmade work is definitely the finest available anywhere at any price. Each seat is hand

Photo 11: Remove the pattern and you should see the tracing embossed on the leather seat. Photo 12: Paul uses a swivel knife to delicately carve the lines into the leather before tooling. This requires a bit of practice. We recommend that you try it out on some scrap leather before diving right into the

You may have caught much of our event coverage by Crazyhorse, the newest addition to the Bikernet Staff. In addition to all the fast and fantastic coverage she has provided us, she will soon be assisting with the Bike Show. I recieved the following e-mail from Bandit yesterday with the attached photos. We just wanted

My real killer paint job did not show up. The customer only showed the bike in Louisville. But it is the wildest paint job I have ever done. I have attached 3 pics of it.   I wish this bike could have been in Daytona.   Maybe next years Rats’ Hole.   I worked today,

Bikernet East, Zebra Report 8/17/2000:ZEBRA CRUSHES BANDIT! ARRIVES FIRST IN STURGIS! Despite overwhelming odds, such as a rev limiter installed secretly byBandit (later ripped out and thrown in the ditch), heavy rain on the eastcoast, phony tags (fuck the Florida DMV), a bleeding gas tank (Bandit issuspected here as well), hail in Atlanta, deer in

It seems to me that I’ve been hearing the word ‘Billet’ used, misused and even abused over and over, which leads me to the conclusion that there’s a lot of confusion about that ‘Billet’ word that people are using. O.K., what the heck is billet? Let’s go to the source, Mr. Webster says: “billet (bil’it)

ROAD KING REPORT–Initially I had some questions regarding Road Kings. I wanted to know some about the frame geometry. I perfer a little trail over low speed, parking lot handling. I like to run fast and stable. Next I’m old school. I perfer a bike with minimun extras so I lean toward a carb model

The Harley-Davidson Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) team pumps upits wild Screamin’ Eagle Road King for 2003 with the biggestdisplacement engine ever offered in a production Harley-Davidsonmotorcycle a 103 cubic-inch (1690cc) Twin Cam V-Twin tuned to producemore than 100 lb-ft of torque. Based on the popular FLHRI Road King model, the 2003 CVO Screamin’Eagle Road King

A bike in a box, I like the concept. The first thing that pops into my mind is that I’m gonna drop some pretty good coin into a cardboard box the size of a fuckin refrigerator and this is supposed to be my transportation. What kind of parts are lurking in Styrofoam peanuts and bubblewrap?

Six burly fuckers lifted the awkward, bulky, cardboard box into the back of the pickup. We stopped at Wal-mart and bought a $100 motorcycle lift. It has a hydraulic jack with a foot pedal pump, locking safety bars and is good to 1,500 pounds. It’s a necessity for the project since it will lift the

Your stock Harley has something exposed that you may want to coverup. There’s some ugly issue on your new bike that is screaming foryour attention, and if you are a little crafty, you can work throughthis problem. What’s this nasty problem? Your handle bar controlswiring problem, that’s what. You know those heinous wires that comeclipped

Illustration by Jon Towle “Aw’ right. How many of you pencil necked geeks think you know how toride a motorcycle safely?” Our instructor, Wayne Jackson, grinned at ussardonically, as he tried to instill in us some degree of learned caution.We were all planted in the drewery classroom for a variety of reasons, some to qualify

Gates Poly Chain(r) Belts are extremely durable and give long life in aproperly designed drive. However, improper handling of the belt before orduring installation can result in dramatically shortened service life. Thebelt’s tensile cords are designed to carry large loads in tension but notcompression. Compression causes damage to the tensile cords of the belt andcan

 The competition has changed, expanded. Can home-built choppers fly to Sturgis? Can Jesse James build a chop and actually ride it, with all his tools, mechanics, equipment, lathes, milling machines, and money? Can Billy Lane from Choppers Inc. build a bike by hand while wanton women dance seductively around him daily in him Maimi based

Custom Chrome introduces the world’s first rocket-powered Zebra. The power plant of the Great Zebra Northern Steamer for Bikernet Chop-Off 2000 by Special Agent Zebra 05.22.00. The Great Zebra Northern Steamer is to be a biker’s bike. No fantasyland Hollywood bullshit in the way of $80,000 paint jobs or diamond encrusted spokes, no chop-shop hoopla,

 When the dust and metal filings settled, the smoke cleared, and the greasy gang of wrenches at the famous Bikernet Garage sobered up, before us stood a gleaming new chopper, complete and ready to break in, save for a few minor tweaks and a seat. The Zebra entry for the Bikernet ChopOff 2000 was complete.

Thunder Cycle Designs629 E. Sunrise BlvdFt. Lauderdale, Fl 33304  “I’m thinking of having a painter do up the bottom of the bike with some radical paint design because the fucker is so damned fast with this S&S 113 that it brings the front end off the ground in second gear. I’m not kidding. I had