Dutch Garage Build

from Cycle Source Magazine - Issue 292 August 22

Nieman's 1972 Shovelhead

the story about this girl and this bike is exactly why we started this magazine. You see, she gets it on a real level. You might not know it to look at her, but she’s more hardcore than ten other cats I know, can wrench her own bike on the side of the road during a couple hundredmile day, and still knows the value of words like loyalty, honor, and respect. Her bike is her best friend, like most of us that came up the way she did. In short, she’s the real deal.

So let me tell you the story of Athena and Rosie Posie. She found this bike on E-bay, and it looked perfect. Of course, like most you find there, it was quite a mess in person. No matter, Athena knew that under all that pink and black Krylon, a 1978 anniversary model was waiting to be found. She got the price down and grabbed

it up. On the first 200-mile run to Daytona, the bike hardly ran. She promptly drove it to J&P Cycles and told the guy at the counter she needed some jets for the carb. He gave her the old “Listen Sweetie,” and you know how that turned out. She took him to school. After some tuning, the ride home was way better, and the work began. Athena started by cleaning, a little here, a little there. Four bolts later, the tranny was out, four more, and the motor was too. The pink and black mess was everywhere, but she was determined. After a quick hundred hours, she managed to get the original black and gold finish of the anniversary year back up. It took a total of 36 cans of H-D wrinkle black spray paint to make that happen.

It wasn’t even fifty miles after she got it back on the street when a lady in a car took her out, and Rosie sat bent and banged up again. It took nearly a year for Athena to be able to limp around the house herself, let alone start working on the bike. At that time, she also had decided to move her father to the other side of her duplex so she could take care of him. He had been diagnosed with bone cancer, and there was nothing more important in the world from that point on except making sure he had what he needed. But you see, this is where the bike comes into focus. Her dad Phill was her first influence in motorcycling. He was in a club and was a bouncer at a bike bar when she was 12. She used to run the streets as a young girl causing trouble, and it was her father that sat her down and started teaching her the ways of old school bikers. He was her hero growing up. While they were going through an incredibly hard time during his illness, working on the bike together made it better somehow. She pulled the wrecked bike into the back room of the house, and he would sit with her for hours while she tore it down and started making parts and repairing others. All the while, he’d tell her stories of the old days, you know, the good stuff we do.

Her first job was at that same biker bar that he bounced at. She was only twelve, and it was the local police that said that it would be better for her to work at the bar than cause trouble in the neighborhood. And so, it began. Learning to take

care of yourself in a room full of drunken bikers is one thing, but being able to do it as a young girl is quite another. Athena had been riding since she was a little girl, and while he was her dad, Phil was also her biggest fan. You see, Athena or “Chickie” from Vagabond Choppers had quite a long run in the popular culture of the motorcycle thing. Phill kept every article, magazine feature, and picture of her exploits. She built bikes on the Today Show in Sturgis, rode across the country, and ran her own shop in Florida until she closed it to care for him.

The project rolled on. Sometimes her old man, Don, would help out. It became a real family affair. Even the bike’s namesake was her mother Rose, and the photos that were shot on the jetties in Miami were by her daughter. This is how I remember motorcycles growing up. It was always a family deal, just like this crew. The particulars of what she put on it are all in the tech sheet, but the real story is that the build took around five years,

ROSIE POSIE TECH SHEET Owner: Athena Ransom City/State: Deerfield Beach Builder: Vagabond Chopper LLC Year: 2017 Model: FLH Value: Priceless Time: Too long ENGINE Year: 1978 Model: FLH 1200 Builder: HD Ignition: Dyna 2000 Displacement: 74 cu Pistons: HD Heads: HD Carb: S & S E Shorty Cam: Andrews B Grind Air Cleaner: S & S Teardrop Exhaust: Loud Primary: HD TRANSMISSION Year: 1978 Make: HD Shifting: 4 speed FRAME Year: 2017 Model: Paughco Rake: Stock FLH Stretch: None FORKS Builder: Vagabond Type: Shovel & Roadking Triple Trees: Stock HD 1978 Extension: WHEELS Front Wheel: HD Size:16 Tire: Metzler Front Brake: HD Dual Disc with Floating Rotors Rear Wheel: Size:16 Tire: Metzler Rear Brake: 1999 FLT PAINT Painter: My brother Jamie Color: 2016 Challenger Blue Type: Polyuerethane Graphics: None Chroming: Very little ACCESSORIES Bars: 2020 Street Bob Risers: Hand Controls: Classic JayBrake Foot Controls: Classic JayBrake with Custom Pedal/Shifter Gas Tank(s): Drag Specialties 5 gallon Oil Tank: Stock HD Front fender: Klockworks Rear Fender: Drag Specialties Seat: Jeffrey Phipps Custom Saddles Headlight: Nacelle Stock 1978 Taillight: Paughco Speedo: None Photographer: Desiree Sharrow during which time she spent long hours with her father, more than average people get to these days. It was the year before she finished the build that he passed away, but this bike ensures he is always with her. Every ride brings back all that time and the best memories.

The first ride was for this shoot. Of course, it was like most shovels on a shake-down run. Athena says she’s like most women; she takes effort. Every once in a while, she slaps her on the ass, then tells her how pretty she is, and it’s all good. But after a short time, Rosie was tuned, and all the gremlins were chased out. After taking care of everything with her dad, she followed the signs and opened her shop again. She and Don own and operate Vagabond Choppers in South Florida. I strongly recommend them. When it comes to Rosie, this is her forever bike. You can tell by the way she talks about it. Her eyes light up like part of her is thinking about that next great ride, and part of her is thinking about her dad and how lucky she was to come up the way she did.