This is nuts. But let me try to explain. We’re making progress fast. Even our Bonne Belle art improved from a Chris Kallas black-and-white line drawing to a colored rendition by the master. Rick Krost straightened and strengthened the frame last chapter and we ordered Paughco cups designed for this frame (with Timken bearings) with a 7/8-inch, Paughco Springer stem. We (Settle’s Cycle, in Harbor City) machined the stem and pressed it into the Sportster bottom tree.

Larry Settle also laced the PM hubs to the aluminum Sun Rims, mounted the V-rated Avon Tyres and balance the lot. We were rolling. Our goal was to turn this puppy into a roller, ship the sheet metal to Jim’s Custom Paint, while the frame and brackets were being powder coated. I’m getting ahead of myself.

We were jazzed to pick up the wheels. We machined the rear hub, estimating the distance to the sprocket face from the frame, aligning it with the transmission sprocket. Fortunately we had access to a 1939 WLDR and made measurements. We ended up machining both sides of the rear PM hub before the wheel was laced.

With complete wheels in our hot welding gloves, we returned to the Bikernet Headquarters and went to work. First we had to shave 1/32-inch off the rear axle landing to slip in the new Custom Chrome ¾-inch big guy axle. We looked at grinders, and various tools and decided to hit it with the traditional metal file and some cutting fluid. It took no time at all for the axle to slip in securely.

Next we installed the front wheel on the stock Sportster front end with the springer stem. The bike set way too high. The stock ’39 stood between 4.5 and 5.250 inches off the ground with an original springer is place. Rodan, an avid Bonneville racer and SCTA official, told me recently, “You want your bike to set as low as possible and eliminate anything off the front that will interfere with air passage.” We need to keep lowering this sucker. It’s currently close to 6 inches in the air with the tubes pushed up through the top Sportster triple tree.

Next we needed to mount the rear fender so it would be ready for Jim Murillo, the master painter, to go to work. He already has the tanks and a stock Sportster front fender. We looked for a narrow front fender for the small Avon, 120/18, rear tire and discovered a heavy gauge Kraft Tech front fender and started pondering do-ability. We laid it over the tire and found some old rubber (used to vibration dampen handlebars). We cut it in two and duck taped it to the tire. For racing clearance we gave it about ¾-inch of clearance from the tire surface on the top. It was sorta tight on the sides.

We decided to use the front fender tabs instead of shaving them and running standard fender struts. We dug around the shop for some stock that might match the material used to gusset the rear fender arms. We wanted to give it the same caped look as the gusset tubes with an outside sleeve at the ends.

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