Once is a while I run into a shop owner or mechanic who says, “Watch out for those TV bike builds.”
Almost a decade ago, I worked out a deal for this 10th Anniversary Biker Build-off chopper. I stored it for the Chopper King for years and he decided to let it go.
With a couple of San Pedro thugs we rolled into the Hollywood hills to retrieve the long rugged looking sled. Just my style. I like ‘em simple, tough and rideable. It seemed to fit the bill.
Next historic move included moving the Chopper King’s Chopper to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum, from the Port of Los Angeles region of LA. As a serious radical chunk of chopper history, it needed to be shared with the public.
The bike continued to make history when we selected the King Chopper, now in Bandit’s Museum collection to represent the Museum and the 85th rally as a promotional item for first Museum fundraising raffle effort.
With the help of Dale’s Wheels Through Time museum staff and Matt Walksler we kicked off our first raffle fund raising effort. The Chopper King’s badass stretched unit was offered and used to promote this effort through the art of Danial James.
It rapidly became the subject of several pieces of fine art including the first prize. This effort became a major undertaking supporting the Museum’s growth.
The motorcycle was not offered as a prize, but it was offered for sale. We needed to make sure the bike would peel out if a brother bought it. We hauled it to Dakota V-Twin in Spearfish, SD. The proprietor, Randy Cramer met the Chopper and discussed mechanical issues with Bandit.
Rapid-fire TV design elements came under scrutiny. The deadly velocity stack had to go. It could kill the rider and the engine during one short ride. Randy replaced the stack with a functioning air cleaner, replaced the tires, changed the oil, installed a deadly, fire prone lithium battery and twisted the ignition key, which demanded massaging with every encounter of the ignition switch.
It fired up and the King Chopper came to life under the Sturgis, South Dakota stars. Museum staff returned to promote the raffle effort in the Museum. Fortunately, during the wild commotion of the 85th rally and the ticket drawing episode, no one bought the chopper.
Shortly after the biggest, baddest 85th rally of the century we rolled the King Chopper into the sun and fired it to life. It spilled gas with a stuck float bowl twice and then fired to life. With an injured right shoulder and a recently replaced hip, I straddled the monster, and the heavy glide front end fought my directional choices.
I rode it into the street and let the narrow bars work with my understanding of Chopper geometry and crowded intersections. Folks shouted from the Grease Monkey Garage as I blasted into a small garage down a shattered concrete alley and thanked my lucky stars I made it. The massive steel rear fender rubbed against the 300-something rear tire, and I discovered a leaking Hawg-Halters front caliper.
Creeping into the fall changing weather patterns, everything faced deadlines. The slammed ’58 Chevy Belair need the garage space. The Chopper needed to grapple with the winding road into Boulder Canyon before the first snow. I rode it around the block once more. Would the Danny Gray seat embossed with stingray hide carry my old ass into the hills.
The front brake failing, the shifter arm misdirected, the leg-burning pipes and the rear fender needed help. The shop loaded with lifts, tools and equipment rested in the hills some 15 miles away.
Burning daylight, I suited up, gassed up, leveraged the fender off the rear tire and peeled into the hills. I shifted with the back of my boot, while my right leg dodged the fiber-wrapped smoldering pipes, but it ran and the big tire handled the base roads with ease. Scared DOT 5 dripped on the front tire, lubricating the tread, I watched every curve with concern. The carb didn’t spew gas and chopper hell didn’t reach out as I climbed the canyon towards Deadwood.
As I slipped the Chopper King into the shop, my note pad jumped out of my 5-Ball vest and I started writing the repair list. No chain guard, all of Randy’s rear chain oil treatment splattered against the back of my denim protected leg.
I needed to adjust the shifter arm, quick and order a Hawg halters caliper rebuild kit. Fab skills would build and install a rear chain guard. Discussions started with Steve Massicote of Paughco about dealing with the pipes. They needed heat shields for protection and back pressure for performance.
I discovered no oil cooler, filter or oil pressure gauge. The rear pipe rested against the oil tank, which held 4.5 quarts. I liked that…but it had to be modified, so I removed the pipes. Oops.
The rear pipe rested against the ground frame. The mods were so severe a hole the size of my index finger remained in the seat tube. The oil tank had to come out along with the engine.
I started working with Chuck at Chubb’s Cycle in Sturgis. Chuck builds antique cruising autos and repairs motorcycles. He drives an old El Camino and recently smacked a deer. Two threats in the Badlands, hail and deer. The rest is gravy.
Chuck grabbed a catalog and his phone. He called S&S to find out how big my S&S Sidewinder engine was and they had records. It originated as a monster 124-inch S&S flier modified by Kendall Johnson, who may have massaged the ports.
The engine contained the mounting boss for a spin-on oil filter mount and Chuck ordered one. He also ordered an oil pressure gauge, and I needed to test a notion for a cooler.
I’m also in the middle of a deal to buy Easyriders Magazine. This set of negotiations fraught with terror, bad players, strange twists scared the shit out of me. I wanted to save the brand, and what the hell, I’m only 77. Need another project. Hang on for the next report.
–Bandit
