| This is original assembly Excelsior-Henderson number 103. And we’re proud to bring you an original, exclusive, first off custom Excelsior. Since this is an original production run bike, we won’t cut or alter the frame, change any major components, or add many billet components. This is sorta like customizing a bike back in the late ’60s. There were few parts and almost no variety for new models, so we had to work with parts and pieces from other bikes, or modify what we had. In this case we don’t want to modify the original sheet metal, in case the bike becomes a sought after collector’s commodity 40 years from now after I’ve been planted. One of my ex-wives can sell it for nothing. “The bastard rode away one on of these damn things, now I’m gonna party.”
The fenders had to go, though, and Jesse James is hunting through his rust bins in the back of his shop trying to find some scrap for us to work with. We will strip the front end and chrome the rear legs. While we’re at it, we’ll take the front wheel and lace it to a 19-inch rim with Buchanan’s spokes. By the way, the work is being handled by Marty Ruthman at Hi-Tech Custom Cycles in Van Nuys, California. Marty suggested I replace the stock headlight with a Headwinds Mariah headlight. He also suggested that we raise the tank slightly and fill the notches for the heads. We’ll naturally slice the seat to shit and see if Bob La Pera wants to attempt a custom saddle for the ride to Sturgis this year. Won’t be much in the way of performance modification to this 1500cc rascal, unless E-H comes up with something, although we did slip on a set of slash cut muffles. Al Martinez will dazzle us with a black base classic flame paint job. We’ll also replace the rubber on the rear with a 150 Avon and the front 19 will match. Finally, highbars seem the only option for long arms and their risers, and we’ve sized my ass with 14-inch apes. The risers have an oval base and without major modifications, I can’t run my standard Custom Cycle Engineering dog bones. In addition, we’re removing the fender rails to improve the line of the chassis. We’ll hide some rails under the fender to give it that added rigid look, and Marty has already devised a bracket to lower the bike an inch or two. Now, we’re beginning to talk. From a finish standpoint, we’re going to remove the battery cover and oil bag cover on the other side and paint them to match. There’s nothing like classic flames and that may be the solution. I’m wrestling that along with a couple of girls and my shed in San Pedro. But we’ll get to that later. |
| Ride Forever, –Bandit |
