Sturgis was fun and with so much going, so much to look at, and so much whiskey, sometimes things get scattered.
I happened to stumble into the Spoke, after five other events on the same day between the Chip and Downtown. I knew I was standing on a slab of concrete for a reason. My motorcycle was parked in a sea of motorcycles, but I could find it. It had media and Bikernet all over its blackness. There were Jack Daniels banners everywhere and girls wearing short-short Jack shorts. I felt comfortable. I started to order a shot and sift through my notes to figure out what the hell I was doing at the Broken Spoke when a young man walked up to me and said, “Are you Rogue?”
“Yep,” I said and closed my book.
He smiled as if I was the guy with the briefcase and informed me he just won the Cycle Source Editor’s Choice, Bikernet Award. Part of winning the coveted award included being feature on the vast and unrelenting pages of Bikernet. Normally, I try to arrange to meet somewhere at a later date and shoot gobs of photos, but that was not going to be the case here, so it took just a handful of shots where it sat in the show.
It turned out the young man, Anthony Lombardo, is 23 years old and rode out from Phoenix, Arizona.
The bike is a 1975 Shovelhead named, Cinnamon Gir,l and he built it with the help of his dad and another shop employee at their shop Sideshow Cycles. The team hand made many of the parts, like the sissy bar, handlebars, the rings inside the handlebars, clutch linkage, front and rear brake linkage, shifter rod, coil, headlight, oil tank and upper motor mounts, you name it.
He started the build two years ago, when he bought an engine and transmission followed by a frame and had a roller within a couple of months. By following instructions from his dad he learned. The process took on a teacher-pupil scenario: “Hey dad, I want to run a foot clutch.” Dad would nod and point, “Go make a piece like this and bring it to me.” After Tony made or dug up the components, Da welded them together. When he wanted shaved lower legs he started with a late ’70s Ironhead front end, and then cut and cleaned them up so dad could do the final machining on the shop lathe. A set of 2-inch over tubes were also added.
A father and son team is the best, and that says a lot to me.
This continued with other parts as well. Some projects rolled out to other shops. They delivered the engine to Roger Lockwood, of Number 1 Cycles in Surprise, Arizona and became a 88-inch stroker with dual plug heads.
Powder coating was handled by Affordable Powder Coating in Phoenix, Arizona. The paint was carefully laid down by Robert Wayne of Wayne’s Flames
Tony wanted kick only, an open chain primary, with foot clutch and Jockey shift. Anthony said the front brake set up was something people are usually stoked on. It’s a combination cabled lever running down under the left side of the gas tank to a rocker arm mechanism they made and welded to the frame. It actuates a remote master cylinder, allowing him to run disc brakes up front. The system combines hydraulic with mechanical and cable.
He said everyone talks shit about running front brakes, but try riding in Phoenix, Arizona where everyone drives like an asshole, plus with suicide clutch…you need front brakes. The transmission is a 1977 Harley ratchet top 4-speed, which adds another scary element. The gas tank is a peanut; the rear fender is a ’70s Triumph front fender with original chrome.
He went on to say, “We literally built this bike together as a team. People thought I did this alone and I kept telling everyone, ‘no, WE built this bike.’ No one seemed to care about our shop or the father/son effort, and my dad put it very well, he said, ‘No one ever truly builds a bike alone.’ You always need help in one way or another, no one does everything. Even installing a motor in a frame isn’t a solo task. I know from experience. I lifted that motor and set it in the frame myself, but I needed help from my dad who was being my eyes and guiding me smoothly into the freshly powder coated frame.”
Once the fabrication stage was done and everything came back from paint or powder coat or polish, assembly had to be fast to make the Sturgis run. “I have a regular job during the week, which cut into my shop time. Final assembly was mostly done by my dad and our friend Beach. We finished the bike 6 days before Sturgis. I put as many break-in miles on the new motor and I could, and 4 days after we finished the bike, I rode it to Sturgis 1400 miles in a little under 3 days by myself.”
“The bike ran amazing without a single fucking issue and THAT is why I refuse to be a kid who just wings it attempting to build a half-assed bike in his garage without knowing anything. Two years ago, if I had decided to build this motorcycle on my own it wouldn’t even have made it across the Arizona state line. I waited 2 years to learn from my dad, the right way to build a bike, and I feel more prepared for the next build because of it.”
“I rolled into Broken Spoke camp ground where my parents were already camped and waiting, at about 8:30pm on Friday night the weekend before Sturgis officially starts. I think it was like July 29th? I can’t remember. I left Phoenix Wednesday morning, got there Friday night.”
The bike definitely deserved winning the Bikernet Trophy, and I would have liked to do a more in depth shoot of it, but Chris Callen, the Cycle Source Editor stepped up to help us out. I definitely like the part about the father and son working on the bike together.
Tech Sheet
General
Bike Name: Cinnamon Girl
Owner: Special Bob
City/State: Peoria, AZ
Fab. By: Sideshow’s Cycles & myself
Year: 2015
Model: Cinnamon Girl
Value: Priceless
Time: Technically 2 years
Engine
Year: 1975
Model: shovelhead
Builder: #1 Cycles & Machines
Ignition: Dynatek
Displacement: 88 CI
Pistons: S&S
Heads: stock/ dual plugged
Carb: S&S super E
Cam: Andrews
Air Cleaner: re-pop Goodson
Exhaust: upsweep fishtails
Primary: Open Chain
Transmission
Year: 1977
Make: Harley Ratchet Top
Shifting: Jockey
Frame
Year: 2015
Make: Kraft tech
Rake: 30 degrees
Stretch: 0 out
Forks
Type: ’70s Ironhead
Builder: stock/ Sideshow’s Cycles/ Myself
Extension: 2 +
Triple Trees: stock
Wheels, Tires, Brakes
Front Wheel: spoke
Size: 21”
Front Tire: avon speedmaster
Front Brake: Sideshow’s Cycles/ Myself
Rear Wheel: spoke
Size: 16”
Rear Tire: shinko bias ply
Rear Brake: 90’s softail/ Sideshow’s Cycles / myself
Painting
Painter: Wayne’s Flames/ Affordable powdercoat
Color: brass, brown, teal, gold flake, yellow
Type: one shot/ powdercoat
Graphics: Wayne’s Flames
Chroming: polishing by Victor’s metal polishing
Accessories
Bars: Sideshow’s cycles/ myself
Risers: N/A
Hand Controls: Sideshow’s Cycles/ myself
Fuel Tanks: 70’s peanut tank
Front Fender: N/A
Rear Fender: 70’s triumph front fender
Seat: Haifley Bros.
Foot Controls: Sideshow’s Cycles/ myself
Mirrors: V-twin side mount
Oil Tank: Horseshoe/ Sideshow’s Cycles
Headlight: re-pop VW bug reverse lights
Taillight: Drag Specialties
Speedo: the cars around me
Photographer: Mad Stork
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