Harbor Town Bobber

story by Scott DiLalla | photos by Dain Gingerelli

One World Studios, the guys behind the award-winning Choppertown and Brittown films, have completed their newest biker flick, The Harbortown Bobber. Filmmaker and designer of the featured bike, Scott DiLalla reflects on how the build came to be:

“I’ve always loved motorcycles. I grew up near New York City and all my friends were into American iron, so naturally I was too. Until one day I saw the coolest chopper I had ever seen. It was a Triumph. Even though I had my Harley for many years after that, I finally got my first Triumph in ‘06.

One day my partner Zack Coffman and I came up with the idea to do a Triumph 650 motor rebuild movie starring our buddy Jeff “Meatball” Tulinious from Hell on Wheels, and also shoot a bobber build at the same time. I approached the bike’s design using images of different bikes that influenced me in the past. I wanted it to be period-correct with a modern flare.

A few days later the Harbortown Bobber build started at J-bird’s garage along with young fabricator Jonathan Smith. Jonathan put a new tunnel in my Wassell gas tank and moved the filler to the top of the tank for style as well as to maximize fuel capacity.

J-Bird sized the oil tank for proper oil capacity. Triumph hardtail bikes have a big gap behind the motor so I mounted my oil bag vertically to fill that space. The fender also was bobbed to fit snug on top of the tire at the 12 o’clock position.

The tires (from my buddy A.J.) include a wider-than-usual 16-inch rear and 21-inch front. This is the same as Kutty Noteboom’s Choppertown bike and is a common set-up for Harley bobbers/choppers, so it’s safe to say there was also a Harley influence in my design.

Next our friend and Sinner Nomad, Irish Rich from Shamrock Fabrication, put his hands on the frame. Rich lives in Denver, so we made the 1,400-mile road trip up old Route 66 to his shop. He made sure the frame was square and he welded up the old mounting holes throughout the frame. We did 3,000 miles in one week, but it was worth it.

The following week we visited Earl Kane in San Pedro, California. We’d met Earl (Cycle Art by Earl) through J-Bird who described him as a true Triumph Bobber expert. His bikes are stunning, and he was the most significant part of this build. We spent most of our shooting days in Earl’s shop, filming as he fabricated a seat, license plate bracket, cool chain tensioner, fork stop bungs, headlight mount, he even painted the tank. In addition, he gave the bike its low stance after removing two inches from the down tubes. He also suggested the ceramic coating that we applied to the gas tank for a polished aluminum look.

Gilbert Gonzales did the seat tooling, based on my sketches. The whole process of building and filming The Harbortown Bobber was a wonderful two-year journey and it was exciting the day I took my bike out for its first ride. This is a brief background of the build but you can see the process in full detail in The Harbortown Bobber DVD.

harbortownbobber.com | shamrockfabrication.com | earlsbikes.net