Well, if a chopper project is anything, it is a work in progress and things change and taking advantage of those opportunistic changes ultimately makes the difference between a great bike and a good bike.

I thought I'd irk some people by sticking a big fat 300 Avon tire ("tyre" for the Brits among us) out the back of BootLeg Bonnie...but here comes the first of those changes that opportunity brings our way...and if a 300 irked some, this is gonna be nauseating to 'em. I did not anticipate the frame and width at the rear accommodating something as wide as the 330 mm Avon Venom on a 17" tall x 12" width wheel. Well, it does and it'll leave enough clearance for a 530 chain to be used on the old Bonnie girl. I had a 330 mounted on a wheel in the shop and just for kicks, I rolled it in between the axle blocks. "Hmmm...like a glove", says I. "That looks so bad!"...says Jake, my nephew. A string down the backbone confirmed my suspicions that the frame would indeed not only handle the super fat 330 but it would also keep it dead center down the spine for a zero offset installation of the engine or the tire/wheel.

"How's that?" you might ask. Glad you inquired. I will be utilizing a handy dandy heavy duty jackshaft that rolls on 1" axle and double row sealed bearings to keep the chain alignment from engine sprocket to jackshaft and then on to the sprocket on the rear wheel. More pics on that installation as it develops, but here are a couple images of a quick set up on the shop floor at the desired ride height.

The above images are only mock up and the finished bike will be sporting a springer front end in all likelihood. But as mentioned earlier, things change and I am checking out different front ends and triple trees to place on this cool project bike. I foresee some custom fabbed plates of copper (?) instead of the usual gas tank straddling the backbone. I would like to leave the double tube backbone exposed and it would be possible to create a great looking pair of panels to attach to the sides of the rails and leave the top tubes open....kinda like retro-AMF RoadMaster bicycle-style shown here...

"Where's the gas?" you say. Give me a few days and I'll show you.

I'd like to take this opportunity to give a great big Thanks! to Big Daddy Al Wilkerson of Bitter End Old School Choppers (www.bitterendchoppers.com) out of Indiana for putting the bend and the sticky to the frame. It was a pleasure to work with Big Daddy on this particular project and I don't want to blow his image here...but the guy's a big teddy bear. (I'm wagering I'll pay for that statement).

The way this all came about is a perfect example of how it goes in chopperdom as it is in today's internet-laced world. I caught an image of a beautiful Hinckley-built Triumph Bonneville bobber on the Chopperweb forums (www.chopperweb.net) pages one night as I searched for possible frame suppliers on a Triumph project I wanted to create. (When the Metric Revolution crew & Triumph Motorcycles introduced me to the SpeedMaster model and the parallel twin engine design, I was immediately hooked. Better late than never is an adage that certainly applies here.) That particular bobber bike was and is owned by Mr. Kevin Cook of Wheeling, WV. Kevin is one of the coolest guys you could ever talk to about choppers. It would be impossible to leave a conversation with Kevin without being completely stoked. The guy exudes enthusiasm and has so many great ideas on design and application. Kevin...if you ever get to this page and have a read...Thanks, man. It was Da Trump Card images you posted that fueled a big fire and directly led me to the Big Daddy doorstep. You 2 guys are important assets to home-building, backyard garage shop hacks like myself and I am sure...many others out there. Hats off to y'all. And Kevin...congrats again for the great story and images included in the recent issue of THE HORSE BACKSTREET CHOPPERS magazine. Great job on Da Trump Card and the story! Go here for the online home companion to THE HORSE BACKSTREET CHOPPERS magazine...www.ironcross.net.

My initial call to Big Daddy was straight up and to the point. "I want a Triumph frame...like Da Trump Card...but different." I wanted to step lightly here and I didn't want to hit Al with all the details all at once. Honestly, I was afraid he'd tell me I was crazy and where I could go find such a frame...and it would have been a hot place but not Phoenix. BD later told me he thought I was a little crazy and he was uneasy about my requests. He admitted later also that as he worked it out, it began to come together and he got excited about it too.

Stay tuned for more pics and updates.

Please stay tuned for developments on this cool project. It's different...it's definitely NOT what you see everyday in every bike gathering and it's gonna be a lot of fun to create. I've already built it in my mind several times and each time there's a new twist. Most all the twists are in the plans and it's time to go to work on "BootLeg Bonnie". Stay tuned and check back.

Thank you for stopping by.

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Published on: 2006-05-10 (770 reads)

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