Bing's Cycles In Motion Show Bike

hen Jeff Kelderman decided he wanted to build a long bike he contacted his longtime friend Bill Dodge, w 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 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

Trans Am style scoop (a dig to Jeff who is a diehard Mopar fan).

The paintwork was handled by Willy, and he slathered the tins in a thick coat of blue pearl enamel. The seat pan was built at Bling’s and was covered by Duane Ballard.

The motor, a 1967 slab side Shovel was rebuilt and stroked to 88 cubic inches by Bacon of DC Choppers. It’s a four ¾” stroke with a stock bore which is as big as you can go without whittling away on those already fragile cases. Aside from the stroke, the motor is a mild build using stock heads, an Andrews “A” grind and an S&S Super “E,” and just to make things easy and reliable there is mini ham can air cleaner by LC Fabrications.

A stock 67 HD transmission was also rebuilt by Bacon and incorporates a hand shifter and foot clutch. The motor and trans are connected sans great plate and run a Bare Knuckle Choppers open chain drive just to keep things dicey.

The thing that separates a Bling’s build from many of the other operations is that Bill prefers to do the majority of the work inhouse. The little bits and pieces that would be easier to buy are built out of stainless in Dodge’s shop. That includes the bars and risers, exhaust, foot controls and hand shifter, and a plethora of odds and ends.

The adjustable (stroker) carb support and taillight are both from Fn’A, and the headlight is a found 3 ½”. There are subtle touches on the bike that you will see if you ever get a chance to see it in person. There are little markings on the bike such as the stainless sissy bar that designate the dates of certain events in Jeff’s life like his Dad’s birthday and the starting date of his business. It’s these touches that can really make a bike feel personal.

With the 25-tooth front chain sprocket, this bike is a freeway flier even though they don’t have freeways in Florida. According to Jeff, the bike is both stable at speeds and agile. The bike has “handsfree” at speed but also doesn’t suffer from ‘flop’ when toolin’ around in a parking lot.

The bike is everything Jeff hoped it would be with good looks, a long stance and enough power to point that long front end to the sky. There is nothing on this bike that is revolutionary, and that’s just fine. There are only so many things you

Owner: Jeff Kelderman City/State: Iowa Builder: Bling’s Cycles Year: 1967 Model: FL Value: Priceless Time: 3 Months

Engine 88” Gen Shovel Stroker Year: 67 Model: Fl Builder: DC Choppers Ignition: Morris Mag Displacement: 88” Pistons: S&S Heads: Factory Carb: S& S Super E Cam: A Grind Air Cleaner: Mini Ham Lc Fab Exhaust: Stainless Bling’s Primary: BKC

Transmission Year: 67 Make: Harley-Davidson Shifting: Hand

Frame Year: 1941 Knuck Model: Fl Rake: 49 Stretch: 5 7/8

Forks Denvers 70 Builder: Denver’s Repaired By Bling’s Type: Springer Triple Trees: Denvers Extension: 20 Over / Sugarbear Rockers

Wheels Front Wheel: Spool Size: 21x1.60 Tire: Avon Front Brake: None Rear Wheel: Sporty Mag Size: 18x2.50 Tire:Bridgestone Rear Brake: Brembo

Paint Painter: Willy Color: Blue Pearl Type: Pearl Graphics: Willy Chroming: Spacecoast Plating

Accessories Bars: Stainless Blings Risers: Stainless Blings Hand Controls: None Foot Controls: Stainless Blings Gas Tank(S): Handmade Blings Oil Tank: Pan Heavily Modified Front Fender: None Rear Fender: Handmade Blings Seat pan: Blings. Cover Duane Ballard Headlight: Old Found 3.5 Tail Light: FNA Speedo: None

can do to a bike that will still leave the bike efficient and reliable with all the style you need. From a design standpoint, a simple configuration is always better than an overworked, overengineered monstrosity that tries too hard to flash you with gadgets and gizmos. To take a simple design and manipulate it in a fashion that just looks right is something Bling’s is known for. Go check it out at Blingscycle.com or if you’re in Daytona go visit the shop…”GTP”

new swap app cycle dope

heather takes some time to check out this new app

when it comes to the pursuit of parts for projects or restorations, we are constantly on the hunt for leads to a new swap meet, website or now app. To this end, the folks at Cycle Dope have released a new app designed to bring the community of parts havers to the community of parts needers.

Heather has spent this month using the app to give our readers a full report.

To start off with, the possibilities of Cycle Dope are exciting. There seems to be some good pricing on some hard to find parts. It’s very easy to post your items for sale and that seems to be its strongest feature. Within a few minutes you can quickly upload a pic, description, price, etc. without much more effort than making an Instagram post.

Here is where it gets a little bulky though, as far as end user features go. When you evolve from seller to buyer, the search functionality is the biggest complaint. When you get to a post of a part you are looking for, there is no simple back button that takes you to the results from your original search. Instead you have to start your search all over again. That and, many parts that come up in the original search string present a SOLD icon only once you select the post and click through to it.

By then, yup... You have to start over looking for that part again. All in all this is still a great app, or at least the beginning of one. With some small tweaking it would be a very useful tool for the parts junky end of our culture. Check them out today in the app store CYCLEDOPE. And hey, still looking for that original 49 Panhead speedo, just in case you’re holding!