IronWorks Magazine » The Bump

Custom Design Studio’s < Suicide Chop

Stephen Berner — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:04:14 +0000

Words & images: Mike Chase/ Mike Chase Photography

By some measures, a bike with no front brake, foot clutch and a hand shifter by your left leg might be considered dangerous. Isn’t it suicide to ride a bike like that? Taking into consideration all of the comforts and safety features available on modern motorcycles, a bike without the now standard amenities is just beyond the consideration of many riders – and for good reason. (Tongue firmly planted in cheek)…

to read the rest of this story and to see more images from our man Mike Chase, check out the Sept 2010 issues of IronWorks Magazine

Colin’s 1966 FL

Stephen Berner — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:41:16 +0000

Obsession is a harsh taskmaster, just ask Colin Glynn, owner of this pristine 1966 FLH. As a young guy, Colin had seen a King of the Road, a 1965 Pan and decided right then and there, that was the bike for him, that year, that model, say no more, deal done. Now, as an adult who’d had a long string of H-D under him, it was time to find the machine of his dreams….

to read the entire story and see more images, read the Sept issue of IronWorks…

images & words: stephen berner

Kraus Motor Company < Johnson Special

Stephen Berner — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:08:28 +0000

Paul Johnson asked us to build him a frame similar to 30:60. After talking about front-ends I realized that what he really wanted was a full ground up custom with some resemblance to 30:60. Interesting, how every time we talked about styles or parts to use we always came back to 30:60. I realize there’s always room for improvement but how many times have you heard that classic song redone or covered and it just isn’t as good as the original? I was not going to let this happen so I improved things I knew I could.

When you build a bike for someone else there are many things to consider beyond styling. Type of user is one consideration that stands out. This one question can steer a build in so many directions. What components, what is the owners knowledge of maintenance. Where do they live? What type of roads do they use? How hard do they ride? What size is the owner? Paul is a tall guy so his body type needed to be addressed…. words: Satya Kraus

…read the rest of this great story and see more of Kraus Motor Company’s work in IronWorks, on the newsstand now.

images: stephen berner

Kraus Motor Company: 3060

Stephen Berner — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:51:59 +0000

I set out to create this machine believing that things can always be done better. I decided to not just order the parts I needed, but to build them. I ‘d been dreaming up the front suspension for a while, and decided this was the time to act. While in the design phase we decided to keep the chopper spirit. All extraneous items and parts went out the window including triple trees. The bike started taking shape and from the 30˚ High bars to the open primary drive and electric start assembly – the many custom made parts reflect my original thought. The bike enjoys a low stance and is comfortable to ride. 3060 is open and mechanical but embraces the spirit of technology, and reinterprets the past in a new way…words: Satya Kraus

read the rest of this story and see more of Satya’s work in the Sept/Oct issue of IronWorks

images: stephen berner

KRAUS Motor Company < Satya’s Dyna

Stephen Berner — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:16:05 +0000

I have a lot of full custom bikes and love to ride them but with that much work and time invested it’s hard to take them out and beat ‘em up on a daily basis. I set out to have a stocker that was for the most part, replaceable. I started this project with a ugly, heavy, 1999 Harley Dyna. First thing to go was the front end, which I replaced with a inverted sport bike model, running big radial brakes….. words: Satya Kraus

read the story behind this and Satya’s other great bikes in the Sept/Oct issues of IronWorks

images: stephen berner

Steel Butterfly< EFab

Stephen Berner — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:43:28 +0000

This bike has been through more changes than any other bike I’ve built. The story begins back in 2003 or so when I bought a busted up 1978 Superglide off eBay. My intention was to chop it up, so that’s what I did, the same day I got it. I had done a basic sketch of a bike on the back of a business card and it just hit me that I had to build a bike with that basic shape. I set about building a frame from scratch, into which I put the ‘78 Shovel motor. That bike was called the “Rusty Buzzard” and was ridden in that form for about two years…. -Lock Baker

….you can read the rest of the story in the August issue of IronWorks

images: stephen berner

White Line Nightmare< EFab < August 2010

Stephen Berner — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 01:58:12 +0000

White Line Nightmare
Have you ever seen the movie “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man”? It’s a shitty movie starring Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson, but it has the best opening scene ever. I’m not going to spoil it for you but it made me a fan of the FXR, a notoriously ugly but great handling bike. I was also inspired but the bikes I saw club members riding around NYC. They all were either FXR’s or Dynas, equipped with drag bars, tall risers, mid controls and big performance exhaust systems. They are tough looking, and can take a serious beating. I bought a donor bike and got to work.

read the rest of the story in the August issue of IronWorks

words: Lock Baker

images: stephen berner

EFab< Interseptor

Stephen Berner — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:46:12 +0000

Interceptor (blue and red dyna)
The Interseptor is the cousin to a bike known as the “White Line Nightmare” that I built in 2009. The Interseptor started life as a 2000 dyna FXDX. I am and always will be an original FXR fan, and because the dyna is the successor to the FXR design, I was exited to try a similar approach.

…read the rest of this story in the August 2010 issue.

words: Lock Baker
images: Stephen Berner

Snatch – Kraus Motor Company. Sept 2010

Stephen Berner — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:24:15 +0000

I personally appreciate many kinds of motorcycles but especially vintage bikes maybe it’s the smell, the simplicity or the dedication to function. It’s that raw stripped-down appearance with an engine and drivetrain tuned for speed. A motorcycle that’s lean, light, and handles the road surface through tuned suspension. It’s something about the raw desire to go faster but still look great doing it. I don’t just mean down the block to showoff at your Sunday barbeque, I mean take that thing out and see how good the tires perform. Take it out to the country side and rip it through some corners, bomb it down the side roads and race your buddy’s or take it up the HWY for a day trip. The point is this bike “Snatch” makes me feel like riding it.

…read the rest of the story in the September issue of Ironworks!

words: Satya Kraus
images: stephen berner

Joe’s Indian < Sept/Oct 2010

Stephen Berner — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:06:02 +0000

While attending the Willies Tropical Tattoo bike show this past Daytona, IronWorks spied this great-looking Indian Chief, owned by Joe Marrolli and his wife Kathy. We walked by this bike a few times as we scoped the bikes that were parked out front, not to mention the bikes parked in the back which were part of the official bike show- but, to be honest all the bikes that showed up were great to see.

I’ve observed folks that like older motorcycles fall into three primary groups: Those that like them but don’t own or ride them, and those that own and embrace the original bike- the way it left the factory. The latter group can often be seen rolling their bikes off the trailer towards the vintage concourse area to await judging. And then there are those riders who simply like old bikes – to ride. They own an old bike (often more than one) and they ride the hell out of their machines.

Joe is a member of the “ride the hell out of their machines” collective. We learned that this bike was one of three Indian Chiefs that he’s owned. In 1988, he finished his first, a ’46 Chief which he has ridden about 20,000 miles. His second Chief, which Joe refers to as a blend, is made up of parts from 1946, ’47 and ’48. Both bikes look like vintage post -war Indian Chiefs.

…read more about this great bike in the Sept/Oct issue of IronWorks

words: Paul Holdsworth
images: stephen berner

JR CYCLES

Stephen Berner — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:35:42 +0000

It’s not too often we see a bike that is built with mainly stock parts, that stands out in the crowd. Some of us work hard to make our bikes unique and spend thousands to beef up our motors, put them in aftermarket frames, change all the tins, lights and controls, in an attempt to differentiate our machine from the one parked next to it at the local watering hole. This 1988 Softail that belongs to Randy Fettis proves that you can accomplish that goal without redoing your entire bike – because – it’s the small details that really count.

…to read more about this great bike and the talented shop behind it, go out and buy the latest issue of IronWorks!

images: stephen berner

Speed Fetus < EFab< August 2010

Stephen Berner — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:33:09 +0000

Hey you! Get the August issue of IronWorks to see more of Lock’s bikes and to read the story in full…

Speed Fetus
The Speed Fetus is my homage to the Japanese Harley scene. A few years ago I started reading (or looking at, anyway) Japanese chopper mags. If you haven’t seen what they are doing with Harleys over there you need to get to a computer and start researching! They have a style that is hard to put your finger on, but imagine a very compacted, intricate, cartoonized version of our 1960’s and 70’s style chops. That doesn’t really scratch the surface of the amount of tiny detail, and most importantly, soul, that they engineer into their bikes. Certainly Shinya Kimora from Zero, Keiji from Hot Dock, and a few other OG’s helped to forge this movement, but it has taken off big-time and there are hundreds of little shops turning out incredible bikes. The Speed Fetus is my attempt at making a cartoon out of their cartoon! I made a very small machine with very exaggerated features. Everything was modified, big parts made bigger, small parts made smaller, inside out and outside in. I used a lot of parts not meant to go together, such as the Indian trans with the Harley motor, or the Moto Guzzi fork with the Triumph brake. I made the frame tubing and handlebars smaller diameter to make the bike seem “under developed,” hence the fetus in the name. The insides of the engine were also lightened. Flywheels were shaved to half of their original mass, giving the bike a very quick revving, mosquito type sound. I was very intent on engineering in a sense of history to the bike. In other words, it had to seem as if it were ancient, yet perfectly maintained, like an antique gun. To achieve this I used a combination of copper plating, brass, bronze, and blasted stainless treated with etching acids, then waxed and oiled. This gives it a very deep finish, one that is hard to pinpoint. When someone rides it past you on the street it looks like a speeding insect. That seems fairly Japanese to me.
-Lock Baker

images: stephen berner

Flash in the Pan < EFab < August 2010

Stephen Berner — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:56:25 +0000

From the August issue,. on the newsstands now. if you are lucky enough to be able to find our magazine on the newsstand, good on ya!
If you are like the rest of us and you are not so lucky, subscribe – it is the best way to keep up…

Flash in the Pan
I had never built a swingarm bike when I decided to build the Flash in the Pan, but I was ready to try. I am not usually interested in building “easy” bikes. In other words, bikes that are “socially acceptable” are not really my style. If I pull up to the pump at a gas station and someone says “wow, my dad used to have one like that,” then I failed. That being said, a swingarm chopper is right up my alley. Obviously, too, are the benefits of a swingarm: added control and comfort—not typical chopper attributes but, what the hell, it was different. Besides the swingarm, I had made up a list of things I wanted for this bike. I needed a jacked up tank that held around 3 gallons, a wide glide with no cowl and cowbells, and high pegs. The rest of the bike came to me as it went together. For instance, I’d never understood why the original swingarm frames had such a tiny, wimpy pivot design. In the factory service manual, it actually recommends you use a “fisherman’s scale” to “set the preload” on the bearings! WTF? That had to change. I also studied a variety of late model crotch rockets and dirt bikes, and noticed that all of them had a serious swingarm pivot assembly. I used huge double-row sealed bearings on a hollow shaft, and made the entire swingarm hub area to accept them. Not only was there no more flex, “setting,” or fisherman’s scales, but the swingarm is smooth as ice. That taken care of, I moved on to other problem solving. Whack axle adjusters were taken care of, ugly forward controls… nope, fender struts—gone. The bike turned out just the way I wanted it and it’s very comfortable. The great Robert Pradke applied the paint. The only thing I told him was that I wanted purple—I had never done a bright color like that before.
- Lock Baker

images: stephen berner

Caveman Dyna < August 2010

Stephen Berner — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:33:40 +0000

When Chris Rose of Caveman Custom Cycles bought this 1998 Dyna Low Rider back in 2006, his original intention was to clean up the bike, make some mild modifications, repaint it and put it up for sale at his shop in Warwick, Rhode Island. As the old story goes, one thing led to another, the bike was moved to and fro around the shop and the bike finally settled into a corner where it sat for nearly 2 years. Then, on a mission to put a bike together to ride to Bike Week 2008, Chris cobbled together the machine by custom fabricating components and using parts from around the shop and, unintentionally built a favorite bike that became his daily rider…..

…..read the rest of the story, written by Flatiron Mike Camillo in the August issue, which is no doubt, domintating a newsstand by you NOW!

images: stephen berner/ Daytona 2010

Big Dog Bulldog < August 2010

Stephen Berner — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:11:20 +0000

I was thinking Florida and sun shine when I packed, and now wishing I had brought my leather pants- reading 43 degree temperature on the Banks sign, heading to my motel on Ridgewood Ave. But come Saturday morning it had warmed up to almost 60 degrees.

I was really excited about my Big Dog/Bull Dog And when the weather cooperated, that made it all the better…

…..read the entire story in the August issue of IronWorks, Mr. Holdsworth spins a fine yarn indeed!!

images: stephen berner

Dream Rides FXRT < August 2010

Stephen Berner — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:09:39 +0000

“It was a low-budget bike. Like everybody, we were hurting for money, so instead of buying new parts or a new bike, we used what I had around the shop for this build.”

To read the rest of this story, buy the latest issue of IronWorks, or subscribe today!

Images: Stephen Berner

James Simonelli’s 145 Muscle Bike < August 2010

Stephen Berner — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:33:47 +0000

By way of a setup, the fine machine you see here has been designed, built and assembled by one of the nicest, most generous, patient and talented guys you are likely to meet in the VTwin industry and someone I am proud to consider a friend – James Simonelli. Chances are if you’ve recently stopped by the BAKER Display at Daytona, Sturgis or points in between, you’ve met James. Not wanting to get between the story and you, we asked James in his own words to clue us in regarding this new bike he’s taken the wrapper off of. Buy the latest issue of IronWorks to read the story in it’s entirety

Images: Stephen Berner

Daddio’s 1952K < August 2010

Stephen Berner — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:17:51 +0000

Seems that notable machines and interesting oldsters generally have back story’s – and this machine and it’s owner are no exception as both are historically notable and somewhat long in the tooth. The current owner of this 1952 Model K, , Daddy-O has a long, colorful history in both cars and bikes (all H-D) and is a local legend of sorts with a reputation as someone who can hold his own both mechanically and back in the day, with a spritz gun. Daddy-O, epitomizes the true blue enthusiast who rides as much as he can and maintains his own diverse H-D fleet in a more than capable manner and most of all, he supports his crew with tech capability, advice and his own well equipped shop.

We will pick up the story in 1981, (as it is way to convoluted a story to pick up earlier, trust me) with Daddy-O buying this beautiful unmolested machine from a friend experiencing a variety of personally inflicted crises, saving the machine as it were. Daddy-O was well familiar with Sportster’s having had a number of them pass through his hands over the years and knew the unusual provenance of this pre-Sportster era “Model K” bike warranted “special” status. Daddy-O knew this was a goodie, he knew to save it.

But remember friends this was 1981, the era of the SuperGlide, the era of the FX & FL, and Daddy-O and his crew wanted to pump up the volume and so began the lemming like migration to Big Twins, mostly SuperGlides. And so the poor K bike sat in the back of the shop unridden. It sat some more and finally, in a fit of “1983, gotta go”, Daddy-O sold the K back to the friend he had originally bought it from – good karma – and the bike stayed in the family.

It got ridden home by it’s new/old owner and that was that. The bike sat in that exact spot, rotting away with a sheet on it for the next 25 years. Fast forward to 2008 and through one odd circumstance or another the K bike comes up in discussion and next thing you know, Daddy-O has this bike back in his hands again. The boomerang effect as it were, shows itself to be a bike specific phenomena, yet again.

It took a year to get the bike back in shape. Amazingly enough, the cases have never been split and the top end has had nothing more than a freshening. The Linkert plumbing got a rebuild and a cleanup, a NOS gas tank was sourced after much drama on eBay and all the rotted (fork booties and seat) and oxidized pieces we cleaned up or replaced.

Daddy-O decided to not pay the arm and a leg for a period correct exhaust, so runs the bike with 1.75” drag pipes, which work perfectly and have a surprisingly gentle bark. The wiring loom has been replaced with a period correct piece and all of the bits have been put back. The bike runs like a sewing machine.

A friend donated the rare as a hens tooth 0 miles speedo to the effort, the seat got reskinned and Daddy-O was left with the stunner you see here, 27 years after first owning it. The cyclical nature of life and bike ownership aptly demonstrated again!

So, in closing this bike now sees semi-regular duty and gets ridden enough to keep it healthy. Daddy-O doesn’t see a sheet in it’s future and doesn’t think it will see storage again. The Model K now proudly sits in a prime spot in his shop, reminding all that view it, just where the DNA that formed the Sportster lineage began.

story & images: Stephen Berner

1928 Hill Climber > July 2010

Stephen Berner — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:20:57 +0000

Read the story behind this fantastic machine in our July print edition.
Don’t miss another issue – subscribe today!

images: Sedrick Mitchell

Shadetree Fabrications/Bad Penny> July 2010

Stephen Berner — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:04:48 +0000

This great custom from Shadetree is featured in the July issue. Read the story in our print edition.

images: stephen berner