Windy had me running the Snake at speeds above where I would ride if I was alone. I’m not a knee dragger…but I never figured me for a slouch either. Compared to Winy and Rob… I’m a slouch. I’m going to blame my fear of speed on the fact I’m older…and also on not running Avons. I can’t really place blame on the tires though…because when I was running the canyons above L.A. in Cailifornia… I was scraping my pipes on my leans…but I also blame the road surfaces here, I really feel like they aren’t as sticky as the roads in the high country above L.A. I was running Metzlers back then…I’m still running Metzlers.

Windy and Rob ride like flat trackers…like I used to when I was in my 20’s and 30’s before fear struck my heart. I wonder why they can still ride like that…we are the same age… oh well, no time to contemplate that mystery. I have a story to tell!

Have a look at this Norton Chopper…would you believe it was running with us at speeds of over 50 miles an hour on some of the curves? I couldn’t believe it! This chopper was built for riding…not just styling…what a ride…what a beautiful 37 year old master of the road!

Let’s have a closer look at this bike shall we? Let’s start with the obvious, the power pack… Stock Norton 750…tight as a gnat’s ass…this bike keeps up with the big boys.

The frame: Started out a stock Norton, Windy cut out the backbone of the frame, he replaced it with tubing that started life as a drive shaft from a Chevy pickup truck! His intention? Extend and rake the frame and front end. At 45 degrees and 2” added to the down tubes of the front forks… the “stock” Norton front end is balanced and clean for this bike. And don’t ya just love the man for using old skool chopped skills? I mean…a drive shaft for God’s sake!

Windy is running 19” Norton laced wheels on the front, the fender is a Norton fender whose mounts were removed and new mounts fabricated to match what was needed for the extension and rake of the forks and neck. Clean and nice work there Windy…lovely.

The front brake is an after market 13” floating rotor disc…

The gas tank is a Paghco tank made for an HD Sportster. Here again Windy cut the mounting tabs off and re-fabed to fit the needs of the Norton frame. Nice and tidy work. Windy also changed the petcock from the left side to the right side…tricky man…

Looking toward the rear of the bike on the right side, you will notice the chrome swing arm. A beautiful piece of work on this baby as well. Here, Windy needed to extend the swing arm by two inches…this was done back at the flat section of the swing arm near the wheel. He also added a large gusset to the swing arm in front of the wheel…by doing this, he had really stabilized the rear tracking of this bike…like night and day says the owner, Rob.

Now check out the oil tank. This is a one off fabricated by Windy. He needed a place to put the battery so it couldn’t be seen. He wrapped the oil tank around the battery box…no unsightly battery configurations here!

OK, let’s step around to the left side of the bike! Look down at the rear brake area. See that bracket? One off again. This bracket is for the speedo…noooo not a mechanical speedo… it’s a speed sensor…an HD speed sensor…which had to be recalibrated for the electric this bike is running…more tricky stuff here…That is a billet aluminum bracket designed by Windy: set off the axel to hold the brake and the speed sensor so it faces the key face set in the axel.

Moving up you will notice the Softtail fender…now of course you have to figure…with that set up, what is Windy doing for suspension? Windy went to Works Performance in CA. with his problem. The guys there are into studying problems like this…and worked out another set of custom one off suspension system for this bike. There is not another set out there like these according to the guys at Works Performance. You can find them here: http://www.worksperformance.com/html/vintage.html

Now tell me, how long has it been since you’ve seen the King/Queen seat like this one on a bike today? Or how about the dragon’s tail sissy bar? This bike is so old skool…and such a joy to behold…don’t you agree?