w
hen Jeff Kelderman decided he wanted to build a long bike he contacted his longtime friend Bill Dodge, of Bling’s Cycle. Although this would not be the usual build to come rolling out of the doors of the Daytona Florida shop, Bill had just the frame to start the project. Hiding in the rafters, Bill had an old ’40 – ‘41 Knucklehead frame that, back in the day, had been chopperized. The first thing Bill needed to do was to debastardize the frame and set it up for the 20” over Denver’s front end. With 5 ¾” up and 1 5/8’ out the bike sits nice with a 49-degree rake. The front end is an original Denver’s 20” over that was in a sad state of affairs. It was well used and had been
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June ‘18 - CYCLE SOURCE MAGAZINE
put away wet and the springer was in need of a major renovation. Repairs were made using pieces from a ‘71 Maco dirt bike and a resurrected set of Sugar Bear rockers. With an 18” Sportster rear wheel and a 21” spool front wheel the bike sits nice and level with around 4 ½” or less of trail making a stable chassis that is hands-free at highway speeds. The tank is a swap meet pair of tanks that were destroyed. Bill axed ‘em and made the cool tank perched above the backbone. The rear fender was a blank from Bare Knuckle Choppers that had been sitting around the shop for a while and was originally stamped for Kiwi Cycles for an Indian configuration. The final piece of the sheet metal is the original Pan oil bag massaged to incorporate a reversed
