Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny_Lamebridge
I hope you won't be disappointed Ian, but there's not much to it. A buddy gave me the bare frame. Its a '64 Sportster that he got in trade for something or other. I found the motor on ebay in Burton Michigan. It was completely in pieces, as was the tranny, piled into 3 boxes. I picked it up for $300 and drove 3 hrs each way to pick it up. The motor is a 1000cc '74 Sporty so the shifter was on the right. I say was, because I've changed it to the left side. I compared the differences in the shifter assemblies, then machined the cases to accept the newer '77 & up shifter.
I picked up a Tig welder a few years ago, so that's when I started really working at the bike... mostly for welding practice, lol. I made all the pieces for that hard tail, and a frame jig to align things. I narrowed a trailer fender, made the oil tank, seat and seat hinge out of stainless, narrowed some Electraglide bars, and mounted some late Sporty mid controls.
The rear tire isn't a drag slick, its actually a drag front tire for a car. I saw some chopped Harleys in Japan running these kind of tires and I like the way they look. I wanted a 15" rear wheel, but I couldn't find one to match up with a Harley hub. Harley hubs are 40-spoke, and all the Japanese wheels seem to be 36-spoke. Then one day I found a 40-spoke hoop on ebay. It came off a 2003 Triumph Bonneville America. I found some spokes to marry the rim and hub together and got it laced up... a first for me. Don't laugh, but my first plan was a rat-chopper with an early VW Beetle sized snow tire on the back. I eventually went with the Hoosier. It has a pretty round profile, so the bike should at least be rideable. We'll see...
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Wow $300, you'd just about get the tank and triple trees for that in the UK. I love the 15" rear wheel and Hoosier, it's so hard to get a tall motorcycle tyre that works (I may copy your idea
). Looks great on the back of the truck, there's something really appealing (to me anyway) about part built bikes.