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AS ANYONE WHO’S NOT ACTUALLY CLINICALLY DEAD’LL KNOW, THERE’S BEEN A HUGE RESURGENCE IN INTEREST IN OLD-SCHOOL CHOPPERS; BIKES, PREDOMINANTLY OLDER IRONHEAD, SHOVELHEAD AND PANHEAD HARLEYS, BUT MERIDEN TRIUMPHS AND SEVENTIES JAPS TOO, DONE IN STYLES FROM THE LATE ’60S AND EARLY ’70S – THE DAYS OF THE ORIGINAL BIKER FLICK EASY RIDER.
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his scene, for that’s what it is, has its own culture, its own exponents, its own events, and it’s growing. The folk involved in it are, in the main, younger than most of us trad’ riders, and more fashion-conscious than most of us scruffy oiks are (and, yes, I do include myself in that generalisation) and so dress the part as well – they’d no more be seen dead in an armoured Cordura jacket than most (note that, most…) of us’d in a day-glo hi-viz with ‘Nobber’… sorry, sorry, ‘Polite’ written on the back. They’re skinnier than us too, but I’m sure that’ll inevitably change as they get older – most (that word again) of us weren’t quite so… filled out, shall we say, when we were in our twenties and thirties either. What they are though is dedicated to their bikes in exactly the same way as we are; in fact perhaps more so. Bikes that look like this aren’t cheap to build (a mate of mine who builds old-school chops was saying that the price of a Knucklehead motor from the US’s gone up to $20,000 after someone managed to get that for their engine, and now everyone wants that much) and they’re not the easiest things to ride either, with their long forks, narrow ’bars and high footpegs. So the fact that there are so many of them, and from all over Europe too (I saw Swedish, Italian, French and German ’plates) is testament to the fact that these guys live and breathe bikes as much as anyone else does. Flanders Chopper Bash is one of the scene’s top events. Held just outside the little Belgian town of Assenede, it started as just a small gathering of a few folk who rode old-school choppers and, over the years, has grown to be one of the biggest on the scene with folk coming, as I said, from all over Europe for it. It’s
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well-organised too; cars and vans are welcome, but are kept well away (about quarter of a mile) from the bike/camping area which, in turn, sits just outside the main arena too. From the moment that me and Al rolled up at the gate on Friday afternoon (in a van, sadly, as I’m not up to riding anywhere near that far yet), we knew we were in for something special; the folk on the gate were welcoming and friendly (even to two English idiots who didn’t know which language to try and fail to speak in – Dutch or French, depending on where you are in Belgium) and as we sat there, cool bike after cool bike rolled in and bumped off down the dusty track to the bike campsite. A wander up there a few minutes later had me feeling like a kid in a sweetshop – everywhere you looked there were custom bikes, mostly unbelievably desirable old-school chops, but with pretty much everything else you could imagine too. I’d say that probably 95% of the bikes there were either out-and-out customs or modified stockers, with only about 5% being standard, unmolested bolides. The whole feel of the place reminded me of Kent back in the heyday of the ’80s – the bikes, the people, the atmosphere, everything. I felt like I’d stepped back in time 30 years, and I loved it. The main area, with the bars, the stage, the food wagons and the stalls, was laid out in a huge, roughly rectangular fashion, with sofas and stools and tables made out of oil drums dotted about for you to loll on. The bikes for the custom show were also parked here, not roped or cordoned off or formally lined up or anything, but just left where their owners’d parked them so you could amble round, beer in hand, and check out bikes so cool that even consummate wordsmiths like myself (ahem) run out of words to describe. The beer was cheap and, being Belgian, good, the food stalls didn’t just sell the usual dog-burgers, and the stuff for sale on the stalls was typically old school and very nice (thankfully my card didn’t work in a field in Belgium otherwise I’d’ve come back a lot more skint, but better dressed, than I went) and the whole place, with its rows of coloured lights stretched around, just had this amazingly laid-back air that just made you feel good, y’know? And that feeling of ‘yeah, I like this’ carried on into Saturday too. Walking the campsite,
camera in hand, in slightly better light than there had been the evening before, revealed that not only were there a lot of custom bikes, but there were a lot of British custom bikes too. It almost seemed that every third ’plate was a UK one, and the real eye-opener for me was the fact that I hadn’t seen the majority of them anywhere before. Everyone I spoke to was feeling that same laid-back vibe, and most of them’d been before, and I was starting to feel slightly jealous of the fact that this was my first, and last, but we’ll come to that in a minute, Flanders, ’cos it felt like I’d been missing out on something all these years. In the main area, chops came and went as they pleased all day, and as the afternoon lengthened, me and Al found ourselves sharing a sofa with, at first, Arnie with the S&S Pan from last issue and, then, the landowner whose fields we were in and his wife who was an MEP up the road in Brussels! How many rallies do you go to and find yourself jawing with, and being bought beer by, an MEP?!? Saturday night’s music was, like Friday’s, generic Euro-rock and so we kinda ignored
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it, but the main tent was packed all night by folk who loved it so who am I to judge? The music, although a part of it of course, isn’t really the point of Flanders – it’s not trying to be a festival of any kind, it’s a gathering of people who ride, and love, choppers, and at that it excels. Sadly, this is the part where I have to tell you the bad news – 2019’s was the last Chopper Bash. The event has, say the organisers, got a little too big, too mainstream, and strayed away from the principle they founded it on – a bunch of guys who ride chops getting drunk in a field. While I completely understand that, I do think it’s a terrible shame for something so good, so relaxed, so absolutely spot-on, to finish, but thanks to all involved with the event over the years for making it so good. So what do you do if you want to go to something similar? Well, the first weekend of August is the HookUp in Wales (www.the-hook-up. co.uk) or, the second weekend in September, the Trip Out in Suffolk (www.thetripout.co.uk), both of which, I’m told, have a very similar feel. Hopefully I’ll see you there!
THANKS TO ANGELO FROM FLANDERS FOR LETTING US COME, AND TO AL FOR DRIVING THE VAN – CHEERS CHAPS!
I’VE BEEN FRIENDS WITH JAY AT SO LOW CHOPPERS SINCE LEAVING SCHOOL, AND’VE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY HIS JOB, AND CUSTOM CULTURE. AFTER PASSING MY BIKE TEST IN 2014 (WHILST STILL IN UNIVERSITY), HE HELPED ME BUILD A BRAT XS400, THEN ‘NUTHIN FANCY’ (A Z400 CHOPPER), BUT I WAS ALWAYS CHASING THE DREAM OF OWNING AN OLDER HARLEYDAVIDSON.
fter about a year, I was in a position to be on the lookout for one, and I was able to buy a donor ’77 Ironhead (Jay and Clive both tried to put me off, telling me to save a bit longer and get a Shovelhead) that was together, but rough (matt black, fuel spilled out the top of the Bendix carb when braking, the exhausts fell off whilst riding, and third gear broke after a week), so I’d visit So Low after work to rebuild/ work on my bike, and we finally got it reliable. It was still stock, but reliable. Then Clive bought
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WORDS: MAX WHITELEGG PICS: NIK
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a project Ironhead chopper. Jay was set on having the front end (a stunning set of 16 over springer forks and narrow drum 21in wheel), and this left the rest available. The frame was set up for the springers so Clive cut it up and basically rebuilt the whole frame, sent me a message telling me about it, and a deal was done. I was on course for a full build! Over the next few months I worked with the So Low guys as much as I possibly could. The top end needed overhauling, six-inch over forks went in, along with a modified Shovelhead oil tank, a one-off king/queen seat was made, a one-off head steady, one-off torque arm, one-off battery box, one-off stainless sissy-bar,
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ENGINE: 1977 H-D XLH 1000 Ironhead Sportster, rebuilt heads (new valves/guides), re-bored barrels (oversize pistons/ rings), SU carb/narrowed air-cleaner, modified Ironhead manifold, one-off stainless carb steady, rebuilt gearbox/primary, Dyna S electronic ignition, Paugcho drag ‘pipes with Khrome Werks HP-Plus drag baffles, larger front sprocket
carb manifold adaptor, spacers, etc., etc. I tried to learn as much of the process as possible, and four months later it was complete... well, as complete as it was going to be for the moment anyway. Clive asked me to join the team at So Low, and I had a great time working with them, and they were able to show me loads of great skills and techniques needed for working on custom motorcycles, and I’ll never forget the time spent there – truly great friends, a second family to me. There’ve been plenty of times I had to rework little bits of the bike, and I continue to improve it. Originally it had one-off bunny ’bars (kept these up until this year), and in between I also ran a set of 18in-over over girder forks (thanks to my dad for extending the shed at home) originally added for the Trip Out, but used yearround and to go to many shows, including
FRAME: One-off rigid by So Low Choppers, 40 degree rake, Bootleg Custom Supplies (01708 853700 or www. bootlegcustomsupplies. co.uk) forward controls/ fold-away rear ‘pegs STUFF: Avon tyres (Speedmaster MKII 3.00x21 front, Safety Mileage MKII 4.00x18 rear), stock front hub/disc/caliper (blasted/repainted black)/ master-cylinder, custom 1.60x21’’ 40 spoke wheel by Hagon Products Ltd (www.hagon-shocks. co.uk), 6” over stock hard chrome tubes, shaved/ polished lowers/top yoke, powder-coated bottom yoke, braided brake lines with stainless fittings, narrow ape ‘bars, modified brake lever mounting (inset switches),
Biltwell Recoil grips, narrowed Frisco-mount Sportster tank, one-off seat (foamed/covered by GB Upholstery), ribbed Wassel mudguard, oneoff stainless sissy-bar, modified Shovelhead oil tank/one-off battery box, Moto Iron chrome 18x2.5’’ 40 spoke Sportster scrambler wheel, custom spacers, drilled stainless disc, Brembo single pot caliper, one-off torque arm, 520 Gold O-ring chain, one-off internal loom, Bates-style headlight, Lucas-style LED mini tail light
FINISH: Fuel/oil tanks painted black with teal flames/ silver base coat/striping & black, mudguard by Jay at So Low Choppers, frame/bottom yoke powder-coated by Aerocoat (01493 488455 or www.aerocoat.co.uk), polishing by owner ENGINEERING: So Low Choppers (01359 253600 or www. solowchoppers.org) THANKS TO: “My great friends Jay & Clive & Mark of So Low Choppers; GB Upholstery (01284 388777) for the one-off seat; & all those who’ve spent time broken down at the side of the road with me…”
the Hook Up and Flanders Chopper Bash. I’ve scared friends following me with backfires larger than a flame-thrower, and I’ve broken down in England, Wales, France and Belgium, but always made it home with the thanks to my friends helping me fix my chopper at the roadside. I now live and work in London and continue to use my chopper as much as I can. I can commute back home to Suffolk on it, and it’s handy that I made it so narrow for filtering. I plan to keep this bike – I’ve had it five years so far, but I do plan on changing it up a bit – new upswept pipes are first, handlebars, possibly a tins/paintwork update. It’s turned out to be a really useable, reliable chopper, with great handling, and I know it all round mechanically now. I try my best to keep it clean, but it’s there to be used so I can’t be too precious with it.
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PICKING THE WINNER OF THE BEST CUSTOM CATEGORY IN THE 2020 BSH CUSTOM CHAMPS WAS SOMETHING I REALLY WOULDN’T’VE RELISHED DOING AS ALL THE BIKES (DANIEL’S IRONHEAD, GRAHAM’S XS, MARK’S TRIKE, AND MATT’S SPORTSTER) WERE ALL SO DAMN GOOD THEY WERE ALL, IN MY EYES, IN THE RUNNING. THE JUDGES, THOUGH, WERE UNANIMOUS IN PICKING MATT’S.
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is Sportster, built for him by Tom at Slinky Bint Customs in Derbyshire, is the only probuilt winner in the true sense of the word – yes, some of the others’ve been created by guys for whom bike building’s what they do, but they’re their own bikes, built by them for them, not for anyone else. Tom though, just as he was for the Evo’ we featured last issue, was commissioned by Matt to build this Sporty after he (Matt)’d seen a pic of a very similar, kind o’ modern-day board-tracker, bike from the States. As Tom’d done such a sterling job of the Evo’, Matt had no qualms whatsoever about getting him to take on another build, especially as the Evo’d been sold and there was a custom bikeshaped space in his garage. He’d scored a 1200 Sportster engine at a point previously and, once he and Tom’d formulated a plan of what was going to be used, it was taken up to the estimable String at Raw Steel Choppers with a picture or two and a set of very definite instructions, and he handcrafted a suitably skinny rigid frame exactly as Matt required. It has, at the front, a set of specially commissioned springers by Dragon Soul Customs in Hurst in Berkshire (rapidly becoming the go-to guys for springer forks in this country) that cradle an Ultima Manhattan 23” wheel that matches perfectly the one atwixt the rear rails (they also do these in 26”, but they cost £1,000 more than the 23s!). These were one of the must-haves of the build – Matt’d seen them on the ’Net, and knew that they’d look just perfect on the bike he had in his head. Still at the front, the tyre on’t wheel’s an Avon Cobra Chrome 130/60/23, as is the one on’t rear, and Tom made the suitably period-looking ace-bar style ’bars, fitted with equally olde-worlde Biltwell grips. The tank’s a very modified Wassell (cut and reshaped, with its tunnel modified to sit lower on the frame’s top-tube, and hidden mounts), and the neat little sprung solo seat was made by Tom, and covered by Mark at Dragon Seating in a suitably understated style. Tom also made the hangers the off-road ’pegs attach to (a hint towards the board-tracker heritage), the very neat and very minimal electrics box down at the back of the left side of the motor (and the battery tray too), and the side-mounted oil tank that helps the no-nonsense race-track look. The rear wheel’s kept clean by the Kustom Tech sprotor (that’s sprocket brake to you and me), and the neat little side-mount ’plate and rear light. The most visible mods to the 1202cc motor are, of course, the absolutely beautiful, and utterly purposeful, pie-cut exhausts that Tom has become, justifiably, well known for. As anyone
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who’s even contemplated making pie-cut (the name refers to the shape of the pieces of tubing used in very hard turns – if you imagine an apple pie cut into eight individual pieces, triangles, you can see how you can make complex shapes by arranging ENGINE: the pieces in different ways) ’pipes H-D Sportster knows, it’s an amazingly intricate 1200, Burly Brand air-cleaner, one-off way of making exhausts, and most carb top, one-off piecan’t be bothered to put in the extra cut exhausts, EMD hours when just bending exhaust primary cover tubes at less severe angles works FRAME: One-off rigid by Raw just as well. Tom, though, has their Steel Choppers, oneconstruction down to a fine art, off foot-rest hangers, and so uses it to make his bikes aftermarket off-road ‘pegs, modified stock stand out from everyone else’s. The controls large, race-style Burly Brand airSTUFF: cleaner, and the multi-finned EMD Avon Cobra Chrome primary cover, add to the modern 130/60/23 tyres, Ultima Manhattan board-racer look. wheels, Kustom Tech That very simple, but ultra-clean, front disc/mastercylinder/controls/ grey paint scheme is the work of rear sprotor, Jaybrake ‘Flakey’ Dave Addis, of Flakey calipers, one-off Dave’s Custom Paint Studio, and front hanger, Dragon Soul springers, is a real departure from his usual braided stainless in-yer-face metal-flake offerings. brake lines, one-off Matt had him paint Tom’s company ‘bars, Biltwell grips, modified Wassell name on the tank as a thank you tank, one-off sprung for all his hard work, and the bird seat (covered by logo’s a very old Harley one from Dragon Seating), oneoff rear mudguard/ way back when (and far more subtle side-mount oil tank/ than a chuffin’ great eagle). electrics box/battery The bike was finished earlier this tray/side-mount/ loom, aftermarket year, and Matt’d intended to get headlight/tail light it out and seen over the summer FINISH: but, of course, Covid’s prevented Nado grey paint & graphics by Flakey that. He did manage to make it to Dave’s Custom one event, the AMOC (American Paint Studio (07756 Motorcycle Owners’ Club) show at 534290 or Facebook), polishing by AM the Frankland Arms in Washington Metal Polishing in Sussex in September, where it (01403 864296 or took Best in Show, and earned Matt www.ampolishing. co.uk) a sizeable trophy that, thankfully, ENGINEERING: he was just able to get into his bag Tom Batterbee at to get home. Slinky Bint Customs As Lauren said last issue, the Evo’ (07834 376037 or Facebook) was his seventh custom bike, so THANKS TO: this is the eighth, and he’s now “Tom Batterbee for absolutely smitten by the custom bike build; Raw Steel bug and, indeed, he’s in the process Choppers (01371 870907 or www. of collecting parts for the ninth as I rawsteelchoppers. write this. He’s also got a rather nice, co.uk); Dragon Seating (01384 very new skool, BMW Airhead café 442851 or www. racer (that’s up for sale actually), dragonseating. another, much more stock but very co.uk); Dragon Soul Custom (07425 right, Softail with apes that made 165257 or www. me look futilely at my bank balance, dragonsoulcustom. and an absolutely glorious lowered co.uk); Angelo Morreale for the and ’bagged ’66 Chevy C10 truck… polishing; & Flakey and, thankfully, quite a big garage to Dave for the paint…” put them in.
WORDS: LAYLA LEATHAM PICS: NIK
WHEN IT CAME TO JUDGING ‘BEST CHOPPER’ THE WINNER WAS ALMOST A WALK-OVER, WITH THREE OUT OF THE FOUR JUDGES PICKING LAYLA LEATHAM’S BSA. I’LL LET HER TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT. N.
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his bike was inspired by its handlebars, found in a job lot of closing-down junk in a small bike shop. They’d never been fitted to a bike, and still had the Wassell sticker on them, and accustomed mainly to selling Chinese pit bike spares, the shop guys thought they were robbing me at £30 – I’d’ve paid much more just to rescue them because... well, where else’ll you find the real thing NOS? They reminded me of a Triumph chop a friend’d built in his bedroom back in the day – he’d saved his giros for ages to buy a set of 12” over springers and pull back ’bars. For me, stuck with no money and a GT250 on L-plates, about to start university, such a build had to remain a dream. I tried them on various bikes, and they just looked wrong – they needed the right forks. Then, one day on eBay I found a set of dainty, narrow springers that were allegedly 40 years old, for just £500. I went along, cash in hand, expecting to be let down, but they looked fabulously long and slender, square section, with great chrome, and twisted legs too. They were also still as straight as a die, and as soon as the ’bars were fitted the way forward was clear. Now it was simply a case of which bike were they going on? Languishing in my shed was a T160 and an A10, both chops, but both a bit meh. The T160 lost out ’cos it was too modern (and I have a plan for it anyway), so it had to be the A10. I bought it as a nonrunner with a knackered clutch and a horrible tele’ front end (with hideous yokes) and, even with some old girders easing it a bit, still rode terribly. It broke down again too, so it was left to skulk in the dark of the garage for a couple of years, every so often defiantly wetsumping, and dropping all its oil on my concrete floor. I dragged it out and temporarily bodged the super-duper front end on just to see what it looked like, and it was at this point I realised why it pulled ridiculously to the left – not the twisted headstock that I’d presumed, but the fact that the hideous hardtail had the sprockets an inch out of line. A whole inch! That was it – enter the grinder! Eventually I got together the right combination of wheels, tanks, mudguards, seat, etc., all mounted on a hacked-to-death frame tacked together with bits of scrap and a stick-welder, fixed to it with bits of wood, zip-ties, washing line and Sellotape. I transferred it to the jig, and made a new frame, saving only the cradle, the fishplates and the headstock. With that done, it was on to everything else. Some things took far too long – I spent a whole week deciding precisely where two brackets needed welding to the frame to hold the silencers, and the ’pipes themselves were tricky – the downpipes, bends and silencers are all pre-chromed and you can only shorten, not lengthen them, and thanks to the clutch, each side of the bike is different – the left pipe’s made of four pieces, where the right’s made of five, ’cos that’s the only way I could get both pipes symmetrical.
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Hundreds of hours of turning, milling, fabricating, welding and assembly later, I’d just about got to the end of the dry build, but then I found the engine was knackered. When it’d broken down before, it’d just been ignition timing, but when I took a quick look at it I also found play in the main bearing bush – a complete disaster. How the engine was ever running I don’t know. Once apart, I also found the main bush rattling loose in the crankcase, and a fooked big end journal. A very helpful friend, Eric Creaser, got me some new crankcases, and also skimmed the already oversize main bearing, and bored out an old bush, and that was that (she said, skimming over a lot of work!). I fitted an SRM high-flow oil pump, and Eric found me a flawless NOS layshaft for the gearbox rebuild. At about the time I found out about the engine, Tony of Complete Café Racer in Sheffield’d let me know he had in stock the new range of paints I wanted to try. I went to see him, and was moaning about trying to paint in wet weather when he offered me the use of his spray booth. Taking him up on that, it also made sense to pay him to do all the prepping, basing and clear-coating of the silver ’flake, leaving me just to do the candies I wanted later. I had no real idea what I was going to do, so randomly masked a wavy line on the tank, and blindly set off down one side with yellow, and worked through a range of colours, fading them into each other. I think the wavy hippytrippy thing works well – it’s a tad Art Deco, a tad Arabian, and it’s been very well received. A week or so before my favourite NCC show (Notts) I found I had zero oil pressure. SRM sent me a replacement FOC, and that sorted that. Over the summer (2019) it did about 900 dry miles around Brighton and the South Downs, and I have to admit ENGINE: I’ve been totally bitten by 1958 BSA A10, Amal collecting trophies at shows. Monobloc 376 carb, short bellmouth air-filter, Hayward The ultimate accolade was clutch/belt-drive, one-off when Nik invited it on to the exhaust with ‘tulip’ silencers BSH stand at the NEC last FRAME: year – thank you, Nik. Modified 1958 BSA A10, raked beyond 45 degrees, There’re a few mods I stretched, modified stock wanted to do over that controls winter, but I got distracted STUFF: making an even more radical 21” stainless rim, early Honda XS650 chop for my other twin-leading-shoe hub/brake, unknown forks, NOS ‘70s half, then it became summer Wassell ‘bars, generic British again, and it covered another controls/switchgear, unknown 1000 miles or more this year clocks, fake vintage grips, without them. This winter Drag Specialities petrol tank, unknown seat, El Motorhead I’m definitely doing them! oil tank, flea-market exThe clutch needs looking at Army billycan battery box, to get it to go into neutral aftermarket rear mudguard, one-off sissy-bar, Triumph when it’s stopped with the hub, stainless rim, one-off engine running, and I’m loom, aftermarket headlight/ contemplating making a tail-light, Lucas 6v dynamo brass hydraulic damper that FINISH: fits between the springer Paint prep/finish by Complete Café Racer (0114 250 8421 or springs to cut out the tiny bit www.caferacerseats.co.uk), of pogoing you get on poor candies by owner, polishing roads. I’d quite like to stop it by owner wet-sumping when it’s been ENGINEERING: stood awhile (some sort of Owner flat-tanker lift pump), and THANKS TO: “Eric Creaser for sourcing maybe a polished stainless viable crankcases/main journal flower for the sissy-bar with machining assistance; SRM candy edges painted on to (01970 627771 or www.srmclassicbikes.com) the petals. We’ll see… for oil pump/drive machining advice; & Complete Café Racer for letting me loose in their spray booth…”
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WORDS & PICS: NIK
WHEN YOU HAVE AN EXPERIENCE THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED AS BEING ‘LIFECHANGING’, IT CAN TAKE A WHILE TO GET YOUR LIFE BACK ON AN EVEN KEEL, AND PEOPLE WHO GO THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE THIS ARE OFTEN HELPED BY SOME FORM OF THERAPY.
enis Swallow, the builder and ex-owner of this rather in-yerface Harley trike, is a case in point. Back in 2017, he got an infection in one of his ankles that resisted all attempts to cure it and, to cut a long story short, he had to have it removed, and his leg cut, and he ended up having to regrow 120mm of bone, which meant that he was in one of those leg frames that looks like a lunatic’s been let loose with a high-tech Meccano kit for 19 months. He’s a lifelong biker, and has built more than a few bikes for himself, but with his leg encased in techno-scaffolding he was, kinda obviously, unable to ride one… well, one with two wheels anyway. As he is a die-hard biker who’s unable to ride, the next best thing to a bike is a trike, and he decided to build himself one, partly ’cos he’s always liked ’em, but mostly to keep himself busy through the ordeal he was undergoing. While still in hospital, he started to scan through eBay to see what was what, and found a Frankenstein Trikes (www.frankensteintrikes.com) kit for sale. Frankenstein Trikes are a Kansasbased company who make very nice, and very comprehensive, axle conversions for HarleyDavidson motorcycles (and a few Yamaha cruisers
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too), and have a very good reputation stateside. He had, at home, a 2005 Heritage Softail Classic with an 88 cubic inch (1450cc) Twin Cam motor, and the Frankenstein kit would be absolutely ideal for it, so he bought it while he was still in hospital. The seller delivered it for a small fee and, once he’d been discharged from the care of the NHS, he and his good friend Billy set to and fitted the axle kit. As it was a purposedesigned item, it only took them about three hours to fit it – the only problem was that, over the next two years, Den changed his mind about how he wanted the trike to look several times, hence the delay in getting it finished. Granted, the build was done in stages, as and when he felt up to it, but it was more than worth the wait as it came out exactly as he’d envisaged it… well, the last time he envisaged it without changing his mind again, anyway. Starting at the front, there’s a Fat Boy solid wheel, a 16-incher, and brake, in the stock Heritage Softail forks, but with Frankenstein Trikes raked yokes that change the front end’s trail and make it positively piss-easy to ride… sorry, sorry… positively… positively… no, piss-easy is probably the best description really. They’re topped with a set of fat (diameter) drag-’bars with the stock Heritage levers, and controls, and a pair of H-D Nostalgia grips.
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Behind that there’s the stock Softail Classic tank above the stock Twin Cam motor… well, stockish – there’s a bellmouth trumpet so large it can probably hoover up medium-sized dogs and smaller children off the pavement, a set of glorious-sounding aftermarket ’pipes that tuck in neatly down the side of the trike, and a one-off hand-change that’s there because, when it was built, Den couldn’t use his left foot to change gear. Moving further rearward, the rather nice hand-carved leather seat arrangement (solo front, separate rear) is the work of the renowned leatherworker Jozef Leathersmith from London (check out his work on Facebook), and just below it is a stock oil
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tank and battery/electrics carrier, a one-off belt-guard made by Den himself, and a very svelte and sexy Trigger Handbrakes (www. triggerhandbrakes.com) handbrake lever. The rather sexy alloy axle and differential, and the inboard disc brakes, are all Frankenstein Trikes items, attached to the Harley frame with metalwork by Den and Billy, and the rear wheels are 15-inch Ford Mustang with 265/50 Hankook tyres, left deliberately uncovered by mudguards because… well, trike rear wheels always look better without mudguards, don’t they? Finally at the rear, there’s a one-off sissy-
bar that looks just right, and a one-off rear bumper with old school, and very appropriate, Ford tail-lights. Den did the paint himself, and all the polishing too, while BA Wheels in Norwich powdercoated the front and rear wheels black, making them blend seamlessly into the overall look. The design on the motor is there purely to match the reg’ number (honest…), and the little Iron Crosses on either side of the tank are suitably in-keeping. The trike was finished earlier this year, shortly before Den’s leg’d healed enough that he could think about getting back on two wheels so, shortly after these pics were taken, it was sold to a guy in Essex who’d seen it, fallen in love with it, and just had to have it. Den’s well on with the build of his next bike (well, his next two bikes actually) and, in fact, by the time you read this, is probably almost ready to tear up the streets of his native Fenland on at least one of them. As the bloke whose name was later taken by literature’s most famous cannibal serial killer often said: “I love it when a plan comes together”… | ENGINE: 2005 H-D Heritage Softail Classic 1450 Twin Cam, aftermarket air-filter, one-off hand-change, two-in-one straightthrough exhaust FRAME: 2005 H-D Heritage Softail Classic 1450 Twin Cam, rear modified by owner & Billy | FRONT END: 150/16 tyre, 16-inch H-D Fat Boy solid wheel/disc/caliper, stock forks, Frankenstein Trikes raked yokes, braided brake lines, dragbar handlebars, stock master-cylinder/switchgear/clocks, H-D Nostalgic grips | REAR END: Frankenstein Trikes swingarm/axle/ diff/inboard brakes/handbrake, one-off belt-guard, Trigger Handbrakes handbrake, aftermarket adjustable shocks, Ford Mustang 15-inch wheels, 265/50/15 tyres, one-off sissy-bar | BODYWORK: Stock H-D fatbob tank/oil tank/battery box, one-off seat by Jozef Leathersmith, one-off rear bumper by owner | ELECTRICS: Modified stock loom, small grilled billet headlight, old school Ford tail-lights, Kellerman bar-end indicators | PAINT: Owner | POWDERCOATING: Wheels by BA Wheels (01603 610007 or www.ba-wheels.co.uk) | POLISHING: Owner | ENGINEERING: Owner | THANKS TO: “Billy for helping me fit the axle; & Jozef Leathersmith (07947 131103) who made the seat...” |
Finally we come to Mikko Takala’s Personal Jesus; he struck a deal with his buddies Sami and Spöke – they’d spend a winter transforming his early Shovel, but he wasn’t allowed to interfere with the process, see any pictures, or even ask questions about what the guys were doing! The first time he saw the bike, he was positively shocked – especially since it had a replica of the front fork of his dreams, created by the legendary John Harman in the 1970s. It all started when Mikko met Sami and Spöke as he was coming back from a trip to Italy on his new Street Glide, and they were heading south for a similar trip on their long-fork choppers. At a party later, in a sauna with plenty of vodka and beer, Sami promised to help Mikko with the Shovel chopper he had planned. To begin with the plan was just for a hardtail and new gas and oil tanks, but the level of ambition went up with every drink, and a complete makeover was soon decided on. Sami then spoke to his friend Spöke, who’s a huge fan of Johnny Cash, and they came up with the Personal Jesus theme. Sami and Spöke are best friends since forever, but they live 300km apart. They build bikes, but not professionally, just taking on the odd project now and then. Mikko took his early Shovel to Sami in the autumn of 2017, and was told he wouldn’t see it again until at the Tampere Hot Rod and Rock Show in April 2018, and the guys refused to say anything about what was going on. “You’ll find out in April!” was all they’d say. One important aspect of the project was that Mikko wanted a Harman front end as they’ve been put back into production since John Harman’s old business partner Bill Holland started his company Executive Choppers in 2003. Sami tells us: “We told Mikko a little white lie, that we’d rather customise his DNA springers, but in reality we’d already decided that Spöke’d come up with a replica of a
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OCTOBER 2019
| ENGINE: Mikko Takala | BUILDERS: Spöke Jaakkola (Livingstone Choppers) & Sami Järvelä (Sika Garage) | ENGINE: Four-speed H-D Shovel 1200cc, Keihin CV carb with Livingstone Choppers fake SU dome, Sika Garage exhaust, one-off Livingstone Choppers electronic ignition, 1.5” belt primary, Duo-Glide primary cover | FRAME: One-off rigid by Livingstone Choppers, 57-degree rake, 6” upward/2” forward stretch, Daniel Boone forwards | FRONT END: Avon Speedmaster 3x21” tyre, H-D Sportster hub, Calles Chopperdelar brake, Livingstone Choppers 26”-over ‘Spirder’, Livingstone Choppers handlebars, K-Tech controls | REAR END: H-D “star” hub, Calles Chopperdelar sprocket brake, Avon Speedmaster Mk II 4x18” tyre | BODYWORK: Mustang fuel tank, Sika Garage oil tank, Sika Garage/Satula-Ilkka seat, Sika Garage narrowed flat rear ’guard | ELECTRICS: Taiwan Ted headlight, swap meet tail-light | PAINT: Keijo ‘Keke’ Erake, gold leaf by Marko Salminen | CHROMING: Loimaan Kromaamo |
Harman girder.” For suspension he chose a pair of springs from an air-soft gun, a perfect fit for the 28mm fork legs, and adorned them with a plaque saying ‘Spirder 001’, short for ‘Spöke’s Girder’. The fabrication wasn’t easy, and Spöke told himself he’d never build another like it, but that promise’s already about to be broken, as he’s on with at least one more Spirder. Spöke also built the frame, and Sami took over when the rolling chassis was finished. He’s the sheet metal guy while Spöke does most of the machining – like the little detail on the Keihin CV carb. Yep, that’s no SU in spite of the typical dome sticking up on top – the dome is just fake. The ignition is also a one-off by Spöke too, who combined a Dyna S ignition with an old manual distributor. April finally came around and the bike won third prize at the show in Tampere where Mikko got to see his new chopper for the first time. “I was totally blown away, it was so perfect. And with the Harman front I wanted, only better! I love it so much I sold my Street Glide – this bike is a better ride in every possible way, so why should I have some stupid Twincam collecting dust in my garage?”
SO THAT’S IT – ALL THE ROUNDS OF THE
BSH CUSTOM CHAMPS FOR 2019 ARE DONE! AND HERE ARE THE WINNERS!
IAN’S HARLEY (BITM)
ALAN WARD’S SHOVEL (BMAD)
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OCTOBER 2019
VALERI’S HARLEY (DIAMOND DAY)
PHIL PIPER (NO, NOT HIM)’S H-D CHOP (NABD)
ANDY WRIGHT’S H-D (ROCK & BLUES
CARL FROM DOWN & OUT’S SHOVEL (FARMYARD)
OCTOBER 2019
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