So much has happened since the last story that it will be difficult to encapsulate everything in one short tech, but I’ll give it my best shot. We last left off with the front-end basically done. We ended up going back in and cutting the springs another inch and we will most likely get rid of the dust covers to garner another inch of much needed fork travel.
Ryan finished the front hubs done and moved to the rear. We started with a raw 6-inch chunk of aluminum. I never realized how much work would go into one piece. It really makes me appreciate anything that is custom made because there is so much more to it. He had to make a custom fixture just to hold the round piece of aluminum to machine the hub…it’s crazy!
When all was said and done, the hub and spacer looked like a part of the Sucker Punch Sally’s wheel, very clean. I traveled a bunch this summer, so I could come home and see all the progress made,. It’s amazing how fast Ryan can work when I am not around, maybe I’m not that helpful after all.
I had this idea to have risers that looked similar to motocross risers, not realizing it had already been done. Ryan completed them before I returned from Sturgis–amazing. They looked as sleek as I thought they would, and he gave them a few custom finishing touches. These puppies go very well with the hollow neck stem Ryan machined and fitted with a custom neck nut on the top.
I have always had great success with Metzelers and wanted this bike to be a rider, so a high mileage ME 88 was the way to go front and rear. I went to my local shop, Sanger’s and had a talk with the owner, Kevin Sanger, about mounting tires that weren’t bought at their shop. He had a good business attitude, and said that he would rather help people out by mounting tires bought somewhere else, than say, “No,” and have customers walk out the door. They carefully mounted the tires without scratching the rims, and I took them back to Ryan’s shop to mount the rotors and set up the wheel spacing.
After the front end was completes we mounted the risers, and Ryan worked on caliper brackets for the front and rear. It was tricky but Ryan thought ahead and flipped the lower legs so we had more clearance to run the ISR single piston dual calipers in front. In the back Ryan machined out a spot for the rear ISR rotor caliper and he utilized the ISR supplied support bracket, but still needed to do some spacing to get it to line up.
Once we had the front and rear wheels installed, it was easy to see that this was going to be a very racy-looking bike. The ISR brake components from Gard at LA County Choprods, are very sharp machined brake components, with a performance look.
While Ryan's milling machine buzzed away at blocks of aluminum, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for the rest of the driveline. I picked up the exact narrow belt drive I was looking for in Sturgis, in an unopened box with clutch pack and all the components. I also determined that I was going to use a softail type transmission, so I called BAKER and put in my order with Scott. I wanted a softail, kick-only transmission set up for a hydraulic clutch. That’s what’s great about BAKER, they will build you exactly what you need and its American made.
I had provided Ryan with a cast aluminum oil filter mount designed for an old VW. We needed to hang it. I like the idea of these filters mounted off the side, because you can run a big filter, add oil capacity and it also provides some cooling properties. Ryan started by fabricating a license plate bracket, with a bullet type taillight and incorporated the oil filter bracket on the front side to give it maximum air flow.
It looks very cool and consolidates all the necessities in one place. All the while, Ryan was also working on another bike for a guy named Matt. It started with a chopper frame Ryan shortened and built a wild girder front-end and handlebars. It turned out very cool and rolled out off the shop while my bike was in the machining phase.
Hang on for the next installment, as this puppy is beginning to fly together.
