The stock frame was put on the operating table to be raked (40-degrees) and stretched (7” out/-2” down) beyond recognition. “I cut the frame in half behind the transmission and put 3.5” behind the transmission, which allowed me to bring the seat behind the engine’s head and drop it a little bit,” said Jim. “I think it’s a nice look.” Leaving no stone unturned, the twin downtubes...

  Apparently Ian is a betting man as he bought a pair of trashed Continental W670 radial cylinders on eBay to mockup a 3-D plan to see if it was dimensionally and aesthetically correct as a base to build around. “I liked the way the cylinders looked, these have elegant lines, and they were a reasonable size,” said Ian. “ Some of the bigger radials are huge, the dimensions are such...

  “I built the bike originally as kind of a street tracker because I’m a huge fan of dirt track mile racing and I miss the mile racing, it’s almost extinct now,” Joe said. “I thought I’d build a fun little street tracker so it would remind me of all the fun dirt track races.” Using the same Casino Lighting & Sign CAD system employed to make such works of art as the motorcycle...

Although a lot of period customs had a bolt-on aftermarket hardtail, Daniel upped the ante by welding his on for good measure. With Brit twins noted for notoriously shaking fasteners loose at the slightest opportunity, firing up the Lincoln and having at it seems like a no-brainer. Stock dimensions were kept as this bike was going to be a rider for Daniel’s dad who owned a Triumph...

While he may have compromised on the color, the rest of this mean green cruisin’ machine is 100% undiluted Deano. “It’s not about a lot of glitz and glamour and molding and all that BS. It’s stripped down and clean, which is what I like to do.” Rolling with a fenderless and brakeless front wheel, springer suspension, hardtail rear, open primary, no mirrors, not even so much as turn...

  This year’s event was the 69th edition of founder Pappy Hoel’s gathering of nine racers and a small group of spectators back in 1938 and as usual, it was a grand affair in spite of economic news that had everyone wondering if the rally would be a bust. Hell no. As far as I could tell from the number of people I saw riding in V-twin traffic jams, people watching or strutting their...

  The Smoke Out started out inCottonwood,Arizona, as you also probably know because it was documented on the previous pages in Rodent’s article on the Smoke Out West. Talk about writer’s redundancy…sheesh! The event in Rockingham had a little bit of everything to entertain and amaze. They had drag races, XS Speed’s mini-bike races, the annual Chop Off, and even Roller Derby. How’s...

  The Smoke Out started out inCottonwood,Arizona, as you also probably know because it was documented on the previous pages in Rodent’s article on the Smoke Out West. Talk about writer’s redundancy…sheesh! The event in Rockingham had a little bit of everything to entertain and amaze. They had drag races, XS Speed’s mini-bike races, the annual Chop Off, and even Roller Derby. How’s...

  I’m assigned the West edition and Barnett Magazine’s photojournalist Jack Cofano, the East edition. I passed on the cross-country race, ride, and tour. I rode cross-country for many years on a variety of bikes from a Norton to Beemers to Harleys. I only had two wheels and one three-wheeler back then (No, not a trike, but a BMW/Steib side-hack) and a bike was my only means...

  Typical for an LA Calendar event, there was non-stop action again at the 2009 show, what with the Calendar Bike Building Championship bike contest, Calendar Bike Building Seminars, the Calendar Girl Music Festival, the Brown & Koro World Record Dyno Shootout, free Can-Am Spyder demo rides, complimentary admission aboard the Queen Mary ghost ship, and the Saturday Night Iron...