Editor's Note: Here's a wild project based on a Sporty mated to a big twin. The man behind the build is Greg Friend, the marketing director of Saddleman Seats and former editor of Street Chopper Magazine. He's been working on this build for 35 years, but promised to wrap it up in 2009 on Bikernet. You know the adage: Time will tell and shit will smell.

A few years ago I formed the idea of chopping the transmission off of a Sportster motor from hearing old tales of drag racers who wanted the valve train geometry and power of the Sportster motor without the weakness of the old Sporty transmission gears. It wasn’t that a better set of gears weren’t available, but they were expensive, and at the time it was cheaper to use Big-Twin transmissions instead. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen one of these old modified race motors. I imagine many of them were destroyed by the rigors of racing, or maybe it was just a myth, like muffler bearings. I went after the project anyway.

Unlike the drag racers of lore and their mythic machines, I wanted to build a clean chopper with a Sportster engine that would garner the same respect as a show-worthy Big-Twin. Understand that nowadays, I’m one of those few guys who appreciates the red-headed stepchild of Harleys. I have to laugh at people who think Sportsters are girls' bikes, especially when glancing at the annals of its racing heritage. A person can’t deny that more American V-Twin motor manufacturers are designing their mills to look more like Sportsters. Take the Twin-Cam, less pushrod angle than an Evo and the transmission and primary bolt directly to the motor’s cases — it looks more like a Sporty than a Shovel if you ask me.

Take S&S’ X-Wedge; it has three cams and the pushrod tube configuration resembles Harley’s 4-cammer. The under appreciated Sporty has great valve train geometry, the combined weight of the drivetrain is lighter than a Big-Twin, and the best part is the total package; its less expensive than it’s better selling brethren, too. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Big-Twins, and I think they can peacefully co-exist with Sportsters. I also own a bike with a 97ci S&S in it that I ride on a daily basis; I just can’t stand it when someone judges a bike that they don’t understand.

The Little Big Twin bike design I envisioned to surround the motor had to be simple so as not to distract from the power plant. I figured a rigid was as simple as frames get, a modified Sportster gas tank would work, a small rear fender would be adequate to cover the rear wheel; and the rear tire had to be 200mm or smaller. I knew I’d screw with the drivetrain more once I got into a custom primary (no Sportster to Big-Twin transmission primary backing plates on the market), and I expected to come up with new ideas, when piecing together the transmission, clutch actuator mechanism, and starter (or lack of). I also knew that I had to get a few things going before I could dive into the project.

My first task was finding a used Sportster. Junior Skolnick, the owner of LifeStyle Cycles (www.lifestylecycles.com), helped me find an entire bike, albeit a broken down beater, desperately in need of attention. I was able to walk away with it for about three grand; it’d be hard to find an entire wrecked Big- Twin for close to that price. The poor ’93 883 had only seen about 12,000 miles of open road, but it looked like it had been ridden hard, put away wet, and forgotten in some dingy garage for half a decade. Thankfully, I never had any intention of restoring it to its original dealer showroom look. It was perfect for what I had in mind. I paid Junior, thanked him for the deal he cut me, and hauled the bike home.

Within a week I had the bike running reasonably well and stripped it of all the decorative crap the previous owner plastered to it. The chromed and gold plated plastic covers emblazoned with “Ride to Live, Live to Ride” were the first to go, and I noted that the man who put those words on his bike didn't ride it more than 12,000 miles in over ten years — not that I think I’m some tough biker, but 12,000 miles isn’t what I’d call “living to ride.” The thought made me feel even better about giving the Sporty’s neglected heart and a wild soul. The buckhorn handlebars were the next to go and I replaced them with a pair of tiny 1-inch rise-drag style bars. It didn’t take me long to cut off the lame conchos and leather tassels on the seat, either. The only place those things are acceptable is on a horse saddle — and I don’t mean an iron horse. Once the bike was less embarrassing to look at, I started riding it on a regular basis, to and from work, but nothing too far because I knew the tires were worn and there was no way I was going to buy a new set knowing that they’d never be used on the final version of the bike.

Eventually I had to throw the bike on my Handy lift and go through the exciting, yet somehow sad, process that would destroy its down-to-earth ready-to-ride fashion, but I had other ideas that needed to be explored before I could rest. The 883 was dissected into hundreds of pieces over the course of a weekend. It was quick and dirty, but I figured I’d clean project bike parts and squirrel away the leftovers, so that I had some materials for future custom projects. Never throw anything away.

Shortly thereafter I completely disassembled the motor in preparation for the operation— a process that would be equivalent to combining plastic surgery with a heart transplant. The removal of the transmission housing from the Sporty cases would be purely cosmetic, it’s simply not necessary, but nonetheless fun. More on this in a later article…

Xtreme Cycle Design, in Anaheim, California offered to sponsor the frame for the build. I talked with Travis, the owner of the shop, about what I had in mind and he helped me design the foundation for my chopper: a rigid frame built with a neck raked to 40-degrees, six-inches added to the down tubes, and a backbone stretched four-inches. The TiG welded frame was ideal for what I had in mind with Evo-style motor and five- speed transmission case mounts.

Once I had the frame I started planning the driveline and the remainder of the chassis. I knew that my best point of reference to begin from would be the transmission alignment — but I wouldn’t be able to align the trans without the rear wheel. To get it right I had to reverse engineer the driveline. I couldn’t get started until I had the trans and wheels. First, I contacted RC Components for a pair of billet five-spoke wheels with matching rotors and final drive sprocket. The wheels measure 21-inch in the front and 17x6-inch in the rear. I was also able to score Avon tires; a skinny 21-incher acting as the leading edge of the bike and a 200mm wide tire for the back.

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