It has been done before, and I know of a few sites doing it correctly. I am talking about online stores (web stores) of custom motorcycle parts letting potential buyers not only see the parts installed on nice motorcycles, not only letting shoppers shop my models or custom applications, but even more important also giving clear installation instructions and time required. Ok, don’t jump on me. I don’t do it in my own web store and I should (time devoted to this Blog isn’t an excuse). Being in the position of selling parts has taught me that difficulty of installation and time of labor involved can make a biker buy or not a custom part because some don’t want to spend extra money with a Dealer or Custom Builder. I predict that online video instructions are also going to invade the web, cost and time being the only reasons why they are now still very rare. , I just wanted to let you see the Battistinis Web Store because it’s a good example of what website owners will be obliged to do to sell and what bikers expect from us.
Archive Page 395
Klock Werks Bagger 180 MM Rear Tire Make Over
Published by April 2nd, 2008 in Builders, Chassis, Customs, Editorial and Wheels.
One of the most frequent conversions made by bagger owners is to go for a wider rear tire, up to 300 mm (not my taste). But 180 mm is cool and there is a need for simple kits, easy to install, and not costing you an extra 25% above the price of your bike. Brian Klock at Klock Werks builds a lot of custom Baggers and just released the MO’ (Make Over) Tire kit allowing for a super easy install of a 180 rear rubber into a stock HD Factory frame (1997 to 2008 with cush drive). It does not require swing arm replacement or disassembly of the transmission and eliminates the left side pull while offering improved balance. No need for an extended main shaft or offset primary, just a 1-day or less bolt-on job. All you have to do is choose a taillight and drop your new E-Coated fender, upper and lower fillers to your painter (everything is pre-drilled). Once painted, body parts can be assembled without any special expertise just using the provided hardware. The MO’ Tire Kit come complete with pulleys (when needed) and all gaskets. But don’t forget, you need to change your wheel for a wider one (5.5” with a 3.485 drive side hub. You can call Brian on my behalf at 605-996-3700 or visit
Klock Werks.
“Rapid motion through space elates one”
(James Joyce)
Bike Sketch Of 2008 AMD European Championship Winner
Published by April 1st, 2008 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Events.
I promise. I will publish as soon as available the picture of “Open Mind”, the custom bike built by Thunderbike Germany (Andreas Bergerforth & crew). So, as a teaser, I show you the initial sketch, a fusion of old and new style, a style being very popular right now. And trust me, it looks very pale versus the finished bike that I saw assembled in full mock up with amazing one-off 3D parts. It just won the 4th annual Official European Championship of Custom Bike Building. The event was staged last weekend at Custom Chrome’s European Dealer Show at the Phoenixhalle at Mainz in central Germany. It’s the second time in 3 years that they win the European championship and they really deserve it. A bike I would have liked to build. 100 bikes were entered this year, with builders coming from 15 countries.
Harley-Davidson Museum Will Open In July
Published by April 1st, 2008 in Builders, Editorial and Events.
The Harley-Davidson Museum is set to open in July and announced a new membership program and ticket pricing for the museum. Harley-Davidson Inc. is offering museum membership starting as low as $40 a year and those who join by June 1 will be invited to a pre-grand opening preview of the museum, subject to capacity constraints. Four other membership levels are offered, ranging from $60 a year to $500 a year. Members will receive access to a members-only Web site and access to exclusive events throughout the year among the benefits, depending on membership level. Members will also be offered perks not available to the general public, such as behind-the-scenes information on museum exhibits, "fast lane" admission to the museum, a discount at the retail store and a members-only dog tag. Harley-Davidson also announced ticket pricing for the museum. General admission tickets for the general public are $16 for adults; $12 for students and seniors; and $10 for children age 5-7. Children under 5 will be admitted free with an accompanying adult. Memberships can be purchased at Harley Museum.
Big Bear Choppers is recalling a potential of 351 units of MY 004-2005 "Venom" and "Devil’s Advocates" Choppers and MY 2005 "Sled" Choppers. Some motorcycles may have inadequate weld penetration between the neck, backbone and downtubes of the frame. High loads created when riding on rough road surfaces, structural modification made to the frame by owners, and/or failure to maintain the specified torque setting of the top motor mount may cause the affected welds to crack. Consequence: the welded area could break without warning, resulting in neck separation and front-end collapse. This could result in a crash. The recall began on March 26, 08. Owners may contact Big Bear Choppers at 909-878-4340.
Laughlin River Run Set For April 23-27
Published by April 1st, 2008 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Events.
The event brings about 60,000 people and nearly as many motorcycles to the Colorado River valley area to enjoy the concerts, events and attractions that have made the Laughlin event the largest ride-in motorcycle rally in the West. This year’s Laughlin River Run will include a custom bike show and competition, a poker run, the Miss Laughlin River Run pageant, hundreds of exhibits and vendors, and live entertainment. What makes the River Run so unique among bike rallies is that everything is literally at your front doorstep. Laughlin’s compact casino district makes the rally special because nearly every event and attraction is within walking distance of every Laughlin resort. You walk out the front door, all of the top-name motorcycle manufacturers, distributors, tradeshow exhibits and entertainment are right in front of you. Official Laughlin River Run event registration is now underway via their WebSite.,
TV Show Pinks. Lose The Race. Lose Your Bike.
Published by March 31st, 2008 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Events.
You have watched the Pinks TV show on the Speed Channel and you know the gig. Usually 2 hot cars (but now 2 motorcycles), 2 proud owners competing against one another in high stakes drag races. The races are real. Emotions run high. And the loser walks home after giving his drive (ride) to the winner. Wednesday April 2nd at 9 PM EST, 2 motorcycle builders who are my neighbors in West Palm Beach, Florida, Mike Beland from A1 Cycles and Adam Chandler from Chandler Originals, compete in Pinks in a best of seven. On one side, Mike racing on a 114 “ client’s chopper built for a client. On the other lane, Adam with a 140” custom bike built to compete in this TV show. It was shot in Alabama during 2 days of racing (and a little bit of repairs). I got the email results of each pass as they were run, and of course I will no tell you who came back home with no bike. Tomorrow Wednesday at 9 PM EST on Speed Channel, Billy Lane and myself will join them for a good time together watching the show. A very interesting episode of Pinks hosted by Rich Christensen. Check first the Video presentation (wait until the commercial is run). Don’t miss it. It’s a great one.
A 250 MM Wide Tire Bagger Done Right
Published by March 31st, 2008 in Chassis, Customs, Driveline, Editorial and Frames.
When 2 of the best of our industry work together, you get innovative solutions opening new avenues for the customization of our bikes. The objective that Rolling Thunder Frames and Baker Drivetrain wanted to reach was to offer an easy process to build a radical good looking, well balanced and comfortable 250 mm rear tire bagger. While keeping most of your OEM parts, and especially your OEM VIN#, the wide ride will make the drones of stock baggers seem quite modest. This wide tire kit will provide the toughest of looks for most any dresser, while the right side-drive allows the correct balance and performance for a safe ride. A 1.5” longer wheelbase keeps the geometry proportionate and the rubber-mounted design will keep the wide bike rolling smooth as a touring bike should. How can you achieve this? The first option is to send your OEM frame directly to Rolling Thunder Mfg, where they quickly, seamlessly, and professionally modify your frame to fit the 250mmRSD styling. Your modified frame is then sent back to you together with your new transmission. Another option is to simply purchase a brand new 250mm RSD Bagger frame package from Rolling Thunder, in any of the Evo, Twin Cam A or even Twin Cam B configurations which will include the appropriate Baker transmission to get you that special custom ride. How is it possible? Baker Drivetrain provides an industry’s first proprietary modular RSD transmission that allows a Softail primary configuration, the Baker FFP wet primary, the BAKER SBD belt drive or any 3rd party Softail primary. More information at 450-699-7045 or at Rolling Thunder Frames.
New Forge-Tec Midnight Series Wheels.
Published by March 31st, 2008 in Customs, Editorial and Wheels. 
I wish these wheels existed when I built a custom bike called “Midnight Runner”. I find them extremely pretty with their jewels spokes dressed in black anodized contrast aluminum They are also available in full black powder coating, show polished and luxurious chrome with 13 different possible variations.. Good news for such fancy custom wheels, they are available in all popular sizes and applications from 84 to 08 including ABS equipped models. Of course, all have matching rotors and pulleys.. Forge-Tec Motorcycle is an industry-leading manufacturer of high-end aluminum forged one-piece wheels and blanks supplier to many of the industry’s leading wheel manufacturers. Forge-Tec Motorcycle.
Belly Up. American IronHorse Saga Continues.
Published by March 30th, 2008 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
You already know through this Blog that, pressured by its creditors, IronHorse Motorcycle filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It happened last Wednesday in the US Court of Texas. The company listed more than 10 million in debts. CEO Hendrickson stated that “the move helps prospective buyers because all the legacy costs are gone, but you end up stiffing people. And I feel bad for the investors who lost money. A lot of it was lost on the hype of taking IronHorse Motorcycle public through a stock offering in 2005, 2006, but that fell through”. Charles Strand, owner of IronHorse of Texas, the Fort Worth dealership, and a one-time investor who had served on the company’s board, said three parties have indicated interest in acquiring AIH. William Blair and Co., a Chicago private-equity firm, Dallas investor Sam Caudle and Bill Rucker, the company’s founder, who was forced out and later established his own custom motorcycle business in Fort Worth, TX. Hendrickson tries to bring Blair, Caudle, Strand together to discuss acquisition and control. To follow…
New Wire Plus Round Digital Instrument Panels
Published by March 30th, 2008 in Customs, Editorial and Electrical.
Wire Plus Powersports Electronics just introduced their new, state-of-the-art Round Digital Instrument Panels. These digital instruments provide speedometer, tachometer, trip, odometer and all indicator light functions and new flat panel construction that measures 2.5” round with all electronics onboard. (No external brain box) The unit features super bright display technology for true daylight readability with a light sensor for auto-dimming at night. Also features backlit graphic overlay with axe design and available in four colors (violet – blue – red – yellow) with electro-luminescent lighting to glow the selected color at night. Various riser and T-bar mounting options are available. Suggested Retail Price $498.51. Wire Plus Powersports.
Brittown Documentary Just Released
Published by March 29th, 2008 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Videos.
I already introduced you to Scott Di Lalla and Zach Coffman, the directors of the award-winning custom motorcycle documentary Choppertown. And I hope you saw this movie featuring the Sinners Club members building and riding their bikes.. Their new movie called Brittown is an insider’s view of the SoCal Britt bikes culture. It includes rebuilding an old 650 Triumph Bonneville motor into a blazing road-ready screamer, vintage motocross, dirt track, road racing, custom street bikes, and even a wild vintage lingerie beauty contest! It features "Meatball" from the "Hell On Wheels" bike shop in Anaheim, CA. As a master mechanic, vintage Britt bike connoisseur and motorcycle racer, Meatball splits his time between family, his shop and his rock band called "Smiling Face". The directors follow “Meatball” for several months as he runs his old BSA in vintage motocross races, hits the desert with the "No Gooders" bike club, flies down the Willow Springs Straights on his Norstar, etc…A movie at the same time very SoCal and Brittish about our Greazy Culture. The just released DVD is for sale in mail order by going to the Choppertown Store.
Something New For The 3rd Sturgis Builders Breakfast.
Published by March 29th, 2008 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Events.
The 3rd Annual Sturgis Builders Breakfast will take place 10AM Tuesday, August 5th 2008 at the Broken Spoke Saloon on Lazelle Street. The event will include a live auction and will benefit Make A Wish, South Dakota. Tickets are for sale online beginning April 1st at Baker Drivetrain. But this year, in addition of having breakfast with a selection of the best builders in the world, of getting their autograph and have photo opportunities with them, a new up and coming builder will join us and will win a seat to participate to the Sturgis event. Here how it works. 20 applications will be given to new builders using a Baker Drivetrain transmission and Spectro Performance Oils. One builder will be selected by its peers on the merit of its custom bike. The winning new builder will be receiving special recognition and treatment the morning of the event by his new fans and the existing Builders from past. Applications can be downloaded starting April 1st at either Baker Drivetrain or Spectro Performance Oils websites. The Builders Breakfast Sturgis event has dozens of builders already confirmed including our 2008 host Russell Mitchell.
No Corona should be drunk without a lime. The Lime Bomber is your beer best friend. It’s a very simple accessory to shove a lime or lemon into your Corona without creating a mess. You just position the loader on top of your bottle, drop the citrus of your choice and in one swift motion the Lime Bomber easily and sanitarily squeezes the lime and inserts it into your drink. A simple way to give juice to your beer. $13 at Lime Bomber.
This very interesting post transmitted to me by Rogue (Motorcycle Hall Of Fame Member):
A new study from The Media Audit reveals that Spokane , Washington is the top market in the U.S. for motorcycle ownership. Among adults who live in Spokane , 18.5 percent own a motorcycle, compared to 9 percent for all U.S. adults. Other markets with a high percentage of motorcycle ownership include Riverside-San Bernardino, California (18.4 percent of adults own a motorcycle), followed by Reno , Nevada (15.2 percent), Boise , Idaho (14.8 percent) and Salt Lake City , Utah (14 percent). The study was conducted in 88 U.S. markets. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), new motorcycle retail sales equaled an estimated $10.7 billion in 2006, the highest level in 25 years. The MIC attributes the recent growth to the rise in popularity of motor scooters and increase in female riders. Today, there are more than 450 models on the market, from cruisers to sport bikes to smaller fuel efficient commuter bikes. According to The Media Audit, a majority of motorcycle owners are married (59.2 percent) with an average age of 41 years. Adults who own a motorcycle earn $77,714 in annual household income, a figure that is $12,424 higher than the household income for the average U.S. adult. Rounding out the top ten markets for motorcycle ownership are Eugene-Springfield , Oregon (13.8 percent own a motorcycle), followed by Colorado Springs , Colorado (13.1 percent), Milwaukee-Racine , Wisconsin, home of Harley Davidson Motor Company (12.9 percent), Portland , OR (12.4 percent), and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN (12.3 percent).(Source: The Media Audit, 02/08).
Greg’s Custom Cycles Very Wicked Apes.
Published by March 28th, 2008 in Builders, Controls, Customs and Editorial.
His line of accessories is named “Deep Sickness”. So, to complete it Custom Builder Greg Rice could not do less than manufacture very wicked handlebars. Aggressive styling? You bet. Personally I have a weakness for ape hangers that I find comfortable if not too high.These ones are shaped out of top quality 1½” DOM American steel tubing with .120 wall thickness. They measure 32" wide and you decide between16” and 20" tall. You can order them either pre-drilled for external wiring or ready for internal wiring giving your bike that clean sleek look. Greg even accepts to customize your bars for the best fit to match your riding style and comfort. They are available raw, in chrome or powder coated the color you want to match your paint job. Will fit all V-Twin models or Metric cruisers. Made in Florida. MSRP $ 475.00. Call 727-461-4840 or visit Greg Cycles.
There are many kits available for Harleys, but very few for Victory motorcycles. Hardstreet just teleased a new Pro Builder Saddlebag Kit for them. It retails for $399.95 and includes everything for hard, locking saddlebags. ABS saddlebags are sold pre-drilled, steel brackets are powder coated, and all hardware and dot reflectors are provided. They are made in the USA and liners are available for $29.95. Go on-line to see more at Hardstreet.
Have you ever seen 500 women riding together? Only if you watched the March parade going from Atlanta to Daytona and led by Karen Davidson, great-granddaughter of one of the Harley-Davidson company’s founders. The event had for objective to raise money for MDA (muscular Dystrophy Association) and these women riders we able to get $67,000 in contributions. The success of Women’s Day Ride reflects the growth of women riders during the last 20 years, going from 4% to 12% of all motorcycles registered in the US. Initially, the event was limited to 105 women, but more and more women wanted to join and Harley-Davidson was able to accommodate 500 of them. Friend Sasha Mullins, our Biker Lady (seen here on right with Karen Davidson) was in the group and wrote for me…and you the little text below.
“Yeah, the skies were pregnant with a little rain all day. But I’ll tell you what didn’t wait to drop, TEARS of JOY. Oh, the 500+ women riding in the parade felt the tears take a cheekward stroll as we participated in a history-making event. Harley-Davidson’s first ever women’s parade. From Music City USA, I rode first to Atlanta using the southbound twists and wide open highway en route to my destination: the curvaceous celebration of Harley and Buell chicks riding together in the first ever Parade of its kind. Oh the power of our Hour Glass – it is ALL in the CURVES as folks hailed the femme force of riders roaring down Daytona International Speedway and onto A1A. Led by Karen Davidson of the Harley-Davidson empire and a group of six selected females who wrote compelling essays about their riding experience and mentors, including the female executives of Harley-Davidson’s women’s outreach program, we waved and revved, blazing a new Parade trail. Let the pictures tell the story".
Traffic Rank. Or The True Popularity Of Online Motorcycle News Websites
Published by March 27th, 2008 in Editorial.
I already wrote a Post denouncing a practice used by some website owners who try to impress advertisers and readers by publishing over inflated numbers regarding their online traffic (deceptive advertising is fraud, isn’t?). Or these numbers are completely made up out of nowhere! Or they are given without mentioning that the data comes from website “traffic analyzer programs” who admit themselves that they cannot identify in their data a human visitor from “robots”. Robots are “crawlers”, “spiders” hitting servers 24/7 legitimately, for example to index websites, or illegitimately stealing email addresses, sending spam to forums, delivering Spyware, etc. For example, it is considered that there are about 7800 search engines in the world hitting servers every day (3 represent 65% of worldwide searches). These are not human visits, but simply computer scripts presented to you by theses website owners as human visitors, which they are not. I gave you in this original Post our monthly real human visits (135,000 in January) and stated that Cyril Huze Blog is the most visited motorcycle news Blog in the world dedicated to the Custom V-twin industry.
Today, I want to mention a free independent tool accessible by all internet users, confirming our number 1 position, and with which, at any time, you can compare the ranking of any website versus its competitors (any website of any industry). Since the methodology used by Alexa Ranking is the same for all websites, it’s a level playing field. The ranking of a website versus others is an excellent mean for you to know which websites are powerful and popular, which are not, and appreciate the difference of audience between them, and know who is inflating his volume of traffic. Alexa Ranking is frequently used by independent 3rd party advertising companies to evaluate the popularity and volume of traffic of websites, and set the selling price of a banner or text link of those they represent (there are an estimated 95 million websites registered in the world, of course many inactive).
Alexa is a web information company giving you traffic rank (not number of visitors) of each website. The traffic rank of a website is a combined measure of Page Views and Users (Reach). The smaller the rank number, the higher is the traffic of a website. For example, the 5 most visited websites in the world are: 1- Yahoo 2- YouTube 3- Windows Live 4- Google 5- MySpace.
Follow is the ranking of a list of websites/blogs dedicated to motorcycle news mostly centered on custom motorcycles of the V-Twin industry. Some offer original news, like us. Others just aggregate or copy & paste news from other websites, including ours (and this without authorization and linking back!). Each blue link takes you to Alexa to check the ranking indicated. I remind you that the lowest the ranking number, the highest is the traffic of this website and that these rankings are accepted as consistent with the amount of traffic they have. (The number indicated between parenthesis is the “average last 3 month” ranking as of 03/27/08). Check them one per one.
1- Cyril Huze Blog (152,217) 2- Bikernet (197,093) 3- Hot Bike (490,141) 4- Helmet Hair Blog (513,960) 5- Why Bike Blog (517,697) 6- Paisano Publications including Easyriders and all other magazines (575,402) 7- Street Choppers (604,563) 8- Beach Cruiser (743,430) 9- Clutch And Chrome (1,088,483) 10- The Horse BackStreet Choppers (1,306,414) 11- American Iron Magazine (1,474,120) 12- AMD Dealer News (2,147,226) 13- Iron Works Magazine (2,799,267) 14- Cycle Source Magazine (3,502,408) 15- American Bagger (4,203,712) 16- Barnett’s Magazine (5,533,002) 17- American Cycle Magazine (6,089,923).
It means that this Blog is the highest ranked news force in the world for the Custom V-Twin industry. Following Alexa Taffic Ranking, it will take #2 Bikernet to pass the traffic of 44,876 websites (197,093 – 152,217) to reach our traffic volume. Or for #8 Beach Cruiser to pass the traffic of nothing less than 591,213 websites (743,430 – 152,217) before reaching our volume of visits. Or for #17 American Cycle Magazine to pass the traffic of a whooping 5,937,706 websites (6,089,923 – 152,217) to reach our online audience! .
You can have instant traffic rank of the websites you visit by downloading the Alexa Toolbar. It takes 1 minute. Then, a number in your browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) will at all time gives you the traffic rank of any website in the world you are visiting.
Average Page Views: When you look at each website traffic rank, note the average page views per visitor. If a website has a home-page with intro and no motorcycle news displayed on it, and shows an average of only 1-page visited, it means 1 of 2 things. 1- At home-page 1st view, they perceive absolutely no interest in entering the site and exit immediately. 2- People arrived on it by accident because they were searching for something else, For example, most people searching for keywords “beach cruiser” (organic search) are probably looking for info on a bicycle (the international/universal public-at large and dictionary definition of a “beach cruiser“), not on a motorcycle, So, being misled, it’s quite evident that if they land on a motorcycle website, they will immediately leave the website concerned. These visitors are “unqualified” visitors visiting only one page. Our average page views per visitor is 23. It is due to the fact that visitors can access at any time all our original motorcycle news written since the Blog creation (now around 1200), directly from inside the site or through search engines (all our articles are permanently indexed by all major search engines and are forever accessible via keywords matching their content. It’s the reason why we receive every day comments on old posted articles. Same for the ads present on as many pages as there are written articles. The quality of the news content and readers interest can be measured by the number of pages visited and time spent reading them. For blogs and Forums, it can also be evaluated by the volume of comments. I will develop some of these aspects in another post.
By essence, traffic is fluctuating. Check it on a frequent basis to know how really popular a website is and to compare it versus its competitors.
See-Through Oil Tank For Your Wild Custom Motorcycle
Published by March 27th, 2008 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Engines.
Fellow builders Steve Broyles Sr. and Jr. don’t market many of their one-off parts, but when they do, it’s always good and unusual. Like the release of their new Porthole Glass Oil Tank letting you see your engine oil in full motion. Father and son had been thinking of making a Porthole Glass oil tank for some time, so when they began building one of their custom bikes called Deuce’s Wild, they decided they would go for it and made it a reality with some prototype parts made by Fabricator Kevin. The fully polished stainless steel oil tank features ¼ inch tempered glass sealed with Viton o-rings, polished brass end rings, and six-polished brass covered stainless steel rods. Priced at $899, I think it’s quite a good value for such a unique part with intensive labor involved (please don’t do a fish bowl theme). For more information, go to Stevenson’s Cycle, or call Steve on my behalf at 734-641-2200.
A Master Link To Sell US Parts Abroad
Published by March 27th, 2008 in Customs, Editorial and Events.
This post directed to professionals, dealers, manufacturers, custom builders who wish to sell their unique custom motorcycle parts abroad. The idea comes from Colleen Swartz that a lot of us know from her career as a professional motorcycle photographer and writer. She created "MasterLink International", a business model to create an international market for custom motorcycle parts fabricated in the United States. The key to this business is to give small businesses offering custom parts the opportunity to have their offerings advertised in foreign markets, for example in bike shows, and utilize local dealers in those markets to sell the parts. "MasterLink International" claims to take the work out of shipping, marketing, distribution and resolves language barriers to open entirely new markets for these parts. Collen is looking for new parts to distribute. Interested parties can contact Colleen at Colleen@masterlinkinternational.com
Still Looking For An Hotel Room For Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary?
Published by March 26th, 2008 in Editorial.
The official Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary dates are August 28th-31th. And as you can imagine, not many hotel rooms are still available. A business relation at Biker City Guide had sold more than 450 rooms and still has 50 available within 10 miles from downtown. So, if you go there in August, I would recommend that you rush your hotel reservation. You can call on my behalf Cindy Erato at 262-821-6691 or 414-659-3318, or book online at Biker City Guide Lodging.
New Belt Drive For Harley-Davidson Touring Motorcycles
Published by March 26th, 2008 in Customs, Driveline and Editorial.
Open belt drives look very cool on a bagger. But installation of some belt drive units will create a problem of interference with the floorboards. During the V-Twin Expo, Bandit Machine Works just released a new belt drive specifically conceived to fit HD touring models. The Bandit Bagger Drive bolts on to 1990 – 2006 FLs with no changes to the stock footboards, and uses all of the stock shifter linkage including the heel and toe shifter pedal. The 2.5" belt and the race bred Bandit Superclutch II will handle all the power you can put in a fast bagger. The Bagger Drive is also available without the shifter mount for bikes converted to forward controls. Call Bandit Machine Works on my behalf at 717-464-2800 or visit their site Bandit Machine Works.
The First Custom Bike Of Love Hate Choppers
Published by March 26th, 2008 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
Just before Daytona Bike Week I introduced you to "Love Hate Choppers", the new South Beach Miami custom shop created by Marlowe Buelvas and Ami James, the renowned tattoo artist featured in the "Miami Ink" TV show. At the time, they told me that their new bike would be exhibited at the Daytona Seminole Hard Rock Road House. And of course I was there to meet a few friends, have a couple of drinks, see a few girls dance on top of the bar, and see the bike from up close. In a few words, this ground up custom simply called "Racer" features a 145" engine (it’s painted on the bike), with a Baker Torque Box transmission, a PSI carburetor, a Spike Stealth starter, and charging system, a Primo Lock Up clutch, a DNA Springer front end equipped with the new 360-brake in black to match the front wheel, Ego Tripp/Lerory Thompson wheels with Avon tires and a cool Duane Ballard seat. The bike will be displayed all year during the Seminole Hard Rock Tour. Love Hate Choppers.
Stick A Race Car Between Your Legs
Published by March 25th, 2008 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.
It’s the slogan of TriRod’s Workshop. They want to convince you that Tikes will never be the same after they conceived and built the F3 Adrenaline to perform like a Race Car. For this, they chose a configuration of 2 wheels in the front/1 in the rear, lowered the body as much as possible (4” ground clearance) for maximum stability and to minimize risk of rollover and also installed a Formula 1 type front suspension with adjustable dampening. This unusual 3-wheeler uses a Jims120” Counter Balanced Twin-Cam engine with oil running inside the frame. Body (front & rear fenders, panels) is made out of Carbon Fiber, wih a dual seat height of only 19.5. ” F3 Adrenaline is scheduled to start shipping during the 2nd quarter of 2008. TriRod Motorcycles.
