This story kicked off 10 years ago with a Lincoln MIG welder and a rusting mini-bike. An obsessed weight lifting and skateboarding 13-year-old, with his dad’s support, bought a MIG welder and started to chop his mini.
“I raced motocross until I broke my left foot,” said Jesse Srpan. “I needed to shift to something safer.”
Between TV builders, instructional videos and internet courses, Jesse started a two-year career of learning welding. As a junior in high school, he attended an open house at Auburn Career center vocational school. He was intrigued and met a lifetime mentor and friend, Ryan Eubank (former Auburn Career Center instructor, now a teacher at the Willoughby Eastlake Technical center), who taught at the school and was a weld school instructor for the Lincoln Welding School. He immediately tried to enroll in the school and was summarily turned down by the staff.
“It’s part of the rules,” the administrator said. “You’ve missed too many classes to be considered.”
“I wasn’t doing drugs and hanging out,” Jesse snapped. “I was working, taking welding seminars, and attending bike shows.”
Ryan stepped in to support Jesse, and ultimately he was accepted. He took welding classes throughout his junior and senior years at Newbury High School in the town of Chardon, Ohio, an exurb of Cleveland, a small town of 5,148, and began a serious process of accumulating welding certifications in the field of aerospace, structural steel welding, titanium, chrome moly, and pipe welding. He currently holds 15 welding certs, and hopes to add five more titanium and pipe welding related certs before the end of the year. There are multiple titanium certs available.
Jesse’s parents were both entrepreneurial. His father, a building contractor, taught him the ins and outs of owning a business, while his mother ran a jewelry business out of the house and encouraged the creative with an arts and crafts hobby side.
At 14, Jesse opened his own chop shop in 2003. “It was a hobby with a name,” Jesse said.
Just before high school graduation in 2009, his dad, Rick Srpan took Jesse to lunch and then to an attorney’s office.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” Jesse said. “I wasn’t married, so it couldn’t be a divorce.”
The attorney shoved a sheath of paper across his heavy oak desk toward Jesse. “It’s about time you were legal and independent,” his dad said. And as of 2008 Raw Iron Choppers became a documented reality, and he was officially in biz.
The majority of Jesse’s income continues to come from welding and custom parts. “There’s more demand for certified welders than ever before,” Jesse said.
Of course, his dad was a biker and bought this Panhead three decades ago, but until recently, it collected dust in the back of the contractor’s shop.
“Let me chop your Pan,” Jesse said during a slow stretch around the shop.
“Let’s do it together,” Rick said and they tore into the classic chop.
At first, Jesse pondered building another frame, but his dad encouraged him to keep the original raked wishbone frame and Jesse agreed. Then business around the shop increased and the project stalled. Initially, with the Spartan springer front end, the established theme was a “raw” steel look, no bondo or paint like knights and suits of armor, but then the creative configuration turned to dazzling green with a pro-street Panhead notion, then steam punk.
“It finally morphed into the Salvage Diver,” Jesse said and rolled his eyes.
Maybe it had something to do with their close proximity to Lake Erie, or the effects of welding nuclear storage containers, but the notion caught. His mother, the arts and crafts teacher, discovered the soft cast brass octopus, which became an integral portion of the knurled aluminum shifter. Jesse hand-fabricated the steel gas tank and numerous other components. Together, father and son rejuvenated a classic, but the creative never stops. Jesse is now building a KZ750 twin into a one-off, ground-up built café racer.
If you’re ever broke down near Cleveland and need something welded, you know who to call.
Owner: Rick Srpan
Builder: Jesse & Rick Srpan of Raw Iron Choppers, Chardon, Ohio
Year/model: 2012 “Salvage Diver”
Cost to build: $15,000.00
Time to build: 8 months
ENGINE
Engine: 1950 “EL” Panhead
Builder: Raw Iron Choppers/Harley Davidson
Displacement: 61-inch
Horsepower: 40
Cases: H-D
Flywheels: H-D
Balancing: H-D
Connecting rods: H-D
Cylinders: H-D 3-5/16-inch (0.040” over)
Pistons: Wiseco 9:1
Heads: STD “o-ring style intake”
Cam: H-D
Valves: STD
Rockers: STD
Lifters: H-D
Pushrods: H-D
Carb: S.U.
Air cleaner: Paugcho-tear drop
Exhaust: Raw Iron Choppers
Ignition: Single point distributor H-D
Coils: Dual 12-volt
Wires: Vintage wire cloth
Charging system: H-D
Regulator: H-D
Oil pump: H-D
Cam cover: H-D
TRANSMISSION
Primary cover: Open belt
Transmission: 1950 4-speed
Case: H-D
Gears: H-D
Mods: Right hand shift & hydraulic clutch
Clutch: Primo/H-D
Primary drive: Rivera Primo 3-inch belt drive
Final drive: Chain
Kickstarter: Baker Drivetrain-function formed hydraulic cover
CHASSIS
Frame: Modified 1950 wishbone
Rake: 42 degrees
Stretch: zero
Front forks: Spartan Frame works “riveted springer”
Mods: Neck raked, custom right hand shifter, & misc. components
Swingarm: None (rigid)
FINISH
Chromer: Chromatic Plating, Cleveland, Ohio
Polisher: Perfection Metal Polishing, Willoughby, Ohio
Powdercoater: Creative Mold & Machine, Newbury, Ohio
Painter: Larry Medwig-(base & clear) Mike Valentine-(air brushing)
Color: Grandeur blue candy over silver metal flake base
WHEELS
Front wheel: 2.15-21” Black rim w/stainless 40 spoke
Rear wheel: 3-16” Black rim w/stainless 40 spoke
Front brake: HHI 4 piston springer kit
Rear brake: HHI 4 piston sprocket brake
Front tire: Metzeler 90/90-21”
Rear tire: Metzeler 140/90b-16”
SHEET METAL
Fuel tank: Raw Iron Choppers (handmade)
Front fender: None
Rear fender: Raw Iron Choppers/Fat Katz
Fender struts: None
Rail: None
ACCESSORIES
Headlight: Crime Scene choppers
Taillight: Rare find
Oil tank: Crime scene choppers
Handlebars: Raw Iron Choppers “shorty bars”
Risers: Raw Iron Choppers “shorty bars”
Seat: Raw Iron Choppers “one off brass-riveted seat”
Pegs: Raw Iron Choppers “knurled pegs”
Chain guard: None
Speedo: None
Dash: None
License bracket: Raw Iron Choppers
Mirrors: None
Controls
Hand controls: Joker Machine-JX series
Foot controls: None
