OK, I know..... It's a shitty photo. Sorry folks. The good news is, it's promted me to go out and buy a new camera - so keep an eye out for some high quality photography in the next installment.

So here it is. Actually, as I write this, the project is a little further than the photo would indicate, but the time it takes me to get film developed has me at a disadvantage (Did I mention that camera will be a digital one?) Whatever the case, at this point, it's almost completely mocked up.

We do have one good photo to show you however (and no, I didn't take it.) It's a photo of the front end. I feel it's one of the centerpieces of the bike. It's a GCB 54 mm inverted system. It's massive. They aren't the most inexpensive forks on the market, but a set of forks this wide will give you the most stable ride you've had. Not to mention, they look killer.

This set came from Chrome Specialties. The chrome leg version retails for about $3000, but if you shop around the web, you can sometimes find someone with an online shop who will sell them to you for 10-15% less.

These setups come in either a wide or mid-glide style fork, in either satin or chrome. They are stock FL length (30") which when matched with the rigid frame and 40° rake, provides for a nice level stance on the frame.

A couple of things I've learned along the way during the mockup.

1.) If you're building a bike with rake over stock - get prepared to make use of internal fork stops. I've got somthing kinda jimmy-rigged for the mock up, but will be putting some in soon.

2.) If you're making use of a belt drive, be sure you've got a tool to remove the race from the main shaft. Jim's makes one. If you go look in their section, you'll see a "How To" on using one. I ended up waiting for some period to time to get mine in the mail.

Belt Drive Install In Progress From:

3.) If you think you can use the spacers and the bearings only to determine where your front wheel should be placed on the axel - think again. I was able to do this on my last bike, but not on this one. I found that the races in the hub were not quite where I thought they should be. They were off about 1/4" the left as received from the manufacturer when looking at the bike from the front. Since I had a local shop already check the end play on the bearing races, and pack the hubs, I had to make up the difference with spacers..... Which meant I had to order some..... Which meant I had to wait another week for parts. Patients is a virtue when building a mail order custom.

4.) Paint. I've changed my mind on paint. I'd planned originally to paint the bike orange and put some racing stripes down the middle. Here's the problem. I'll be sending my paint out via UPS to have a friend paint it who lives in California. So, without the chassis, how do you line up the stripes along the length of the bike? The answer is, you don't. So much for that idea. Instead, here's a pencil sketch of the artwork that will be adorning the tanks. Jon Towle is working on the final product, and I'm going to see if I can't sweet talk Crazy Horse into making it a reality in enamel.

Uncle Big Bad - By Jon Towle

When Jon get's the artwork done and colored, we'll have a look to see what color will be best behind it, then it's time to send the sheetmetal out for paint.

Till next time - Digital

On to Part 4....

Back to Part 2....

Back to the Garage....