Editor’s Note: This is a mystery sled. As you will see it has function, heritage and obscurity. This story was written by Bill Stermer, in 2004, for some unknown magazine and we can’t find the owner, who once resided in the same port town as Bikernet.com, Wilmington, CA. Just a few blocks away he threatened to start building product versions. Our investigation continues. Enjoy the tale:

This magazine is about hogs and rods. Or, you may refer to them as “Hawgs.” They’re usually Harley-Davidsons—or some other brand of bike that looks very much like a Harley—with a big V-Twin motor and more power that most small, and some large cars produce.

Those traditional hawgs are fine for blasting down the highway or strip in a straight line, but if you want to seriously play in the curves they present some problems. Because they’re often designed as expressions of personal taste or as works of art, function can take a back seat to style. Such machines usually have a feet-forward riding position, a long (64 inches or longer) wheelbase, a raked (more than 34 degrees) fork and compromised or nonexistent suspension components in the interest of lowness and coolness. Try to bend them into a turn at speed, and the frame, exhaust system and/or engine parts will soon gouge the pavement, which rather impedes keeping up with the guys on their race replicas.

With that in mind, it’s a treat to meet Mike Cook of American Café Racers in California, and to study his unique creation, the Supermanx. Look at those lines, that tank, that— engine? It resembles a Harley mill, right? But it isn’t. Those who know their stuff may get that glint in the eye and tell you that the frame and tank resemble thos of Manx Norton, one of the best handling bikes of the ‘50s, and a perennial champion of the Isle of Mann TT races. Yet those who really know their stuff can glance at this bike and tell you that it seems to have the correct ground clearance, geometry annd suspension to handle the curves much better than any traditional hawg.

He was into the café racer scene, and rode the lithe, nimble bikes of the day, including the narrow Yamaha XS650 (which was an Eastern interpretation of the Triumph 650), and the two- stroke Yamaha RD 350 twin. While he never owned a Triton or a Manx, he thought that someday he’d like to build his own version.

Over the years, his interest in bike building led him to a job with famed customizer Jesse James, of West Coast Choppers. There, he decided to build his café replica for himself at home, with a big-twin engine, of course. “I wanted to build a bike that broke the roles. I wanted to build the biggest, gnarliest custom café racer, something that wasnot riding someone’s else’s shirttails.” He went on to build them for others and started a company called American Café Racers.

In order to build a running prototype, he appealed to a friend who allowed Cook to meticulously measure the frame of his original 1953 Manx Norton. Cook wanted his bike’s frame to be stiff, yet spacious enough to cradle an enormous big-inch rather that the British 500cc singles from back in the day. He liked the triangulation of the Manx’s steering stem, but knew he needed a stiffer swingarm to handle the increased power. In the end, his frame was loosely based upon the Manx’s, but no two dimensions are shared with the original.

“I took a survey of motorcycles that were reasonable handlers with steady steering and found their rake was 24-26 degrees. I went with a 61.5-inch wheebase and 28-degree rake for more stability.” Of his prototype Cook said,”Its handling is tight, but it’s not asmall motorcycle. It’s not lightning fast through the turns like a modern bike, but it likes comfortable, fast sweepers.” On his production models, Cook plans to steepen the rake to 26 degrees and shorten the swingarm for a 59-inch wheelbase, which will quicken handling. He uses a WP inverted fork with adjustable compression and rebound damping and Works Performance shocks.

Cook also wanted his café racer to have carryover appeal to the American custom bike scene. “I wanted a big, macho, open-primary with a 3-inch wide belt.” Plus he wanted a right-side-drive transmission. Unfortunately, most right-side- drives are designed for big-inch customs with huge 250-series or larger rear tires. To clear that huge skin, builders move the drive to the right and balance it by shifting the primary case to the left. But Cook wanted everything tucked in, café style, around a 200-series tire, so he fabricated his own transmission mainshaft and primary. The result was his own proprietary six- speed transmission allowing him to run close-in rearset contros.

His original powerplant of choice was a massive 124- inch S&S V-Twin, buy when the company temporarily halted production Cook was informed—no engine for 12 weeks. Merch Racing was going under, and Cook learned that one of its principals was doing his own engine called the Ultima. So he ordered a 113-inch version, an air-cooled 45-degree V-Twin with the same fin area as a Harley Twin Cam 88. Once the engine arrived Cook noticed that the Ultima had square fin edges, but he wanted rounded edges for a vintage look. He laboriously rounded each fin edge with a file, and finished the case and barrels with a vintage look. The tank is hand- hammered aluminum, and the seat is custom mad of leather. “It was very labor intensive to build,” Cook said.

He estimates that the Ultima 113-inch engine cranks out close to 125 horses, whit Brembo brakes to control it. As for the bike’s performance, Cooks said, “It’s responsive. It turns well. It’ll do burnouts. It has so much grunt you could yank an ATM machine right out of a wall.” But it also shakes a lot. For that reason, Cook plans to power his production Supermanx with the 88-inch and larger Harley-Davidson Twin Cam B motors, which are counterbalanced for smoothness.

Will his production bike handle like a Norton Manx? Most assuredly not. Will it haul ass? Absolutely! Price will run in the $40,000 range.

For more information:The investigation continues. If we can find Mike and he’s still building these bikes, we’ll let you know.--Wrench

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