Knocked out in short 24 days just in time for the 2011 Smoke Out XII The Long Road ride, John’s personal bike that he calls Junkyard Angel is not your typical touring bike by any means. Matter of fact, this knobby-tired rigid might be most peoples’ last choice for hitting the open road, but when you call your business Gangster Choppers you better be ready to back it up and that’s exactly what John did with building the bike and doing the trip. In retrospect, calling it Junkyard Angel might have some truth behind it, but in my opinion, this ain’t no junkyard bike in execution.

 

   John began this build by rebuilding the 1964 74-inch H-D Panhead engine that was in decent, maybe I should say unmolested, shape and kicking it up a notch along the way. From the top to the bottom, John did some nice stuff that might not win a local concours, but made for a fun, reliable engine. Displacement stayed stock, but he substituted a set of STD heads for more performance and reliability capped with Custom Cycle Engineering rocker boxes. Backed by a BAKER 6-speed for a bit more relaxed highway cruising as the only possible concession to highway riding, that kicker hanging off the end of Bert Baker’s gearbox is not there just for show. Not only is it a kick-only bike, but John replaced the stock ignition with a magneto for a little more possible on-road manly drama. Tossing a hand shifter and foot clutch into the mix is definitely gangster. Just goes to show if you know what you’re doing and do it right, building up a half-century-old engine into your Long Road bike (and your personal rider) is not as crazy as it might first sound.

 

  After whipping up a simple and clean hardtail frame, John chose a wide, oval leg springer from Paughco (sans any front brake mounts) to give him his only suspension for the ride. That might seem like hardcore-enough right there, but he topped it all off with a set of very gnarly knobbies of all things mounted on a set of classy spoked wheels. According to John, they’re not especially good under 10mph, but ride just fine after that. Hey, I’ll take his word for it, but I’m not rushing out and pulling off my Pirelli Night Dragons anytime soon. Maybe those big knobby blocks of rubber act like shock absorbers while looking pretty gangster tough or maybe I just want to really believe John. Either way, I’m glad he did it on his bike.

 

  There are a lot of other really nice Gangster Choppers’ touches throughout this bike especially since it was a real 24-day build. The King Sportster tank was reworked until it fit this bike like a glove that even the late Johnny Cochran would approve of. A simple rear fender does what it has to do and looks good doing it. Maybe he didn’t whip up an oil tank from scratch (again 24-days), but the Moon tank was a perfect choice for a build like this and anything Moon-equipped is always a plus-plus instead of an easy way out to me. It’s all part of the hot rod heritage and this bike is definitely a hot rod in anyone’s book. Throw in other things like the foot controls or the neat mini-apes and you can only wonder how he found time to whip out a set of stainless axles and nuts for both wheels. John loves stainless hardware for obvious reasons and uses it whenever he can even if he has to make it from raw material. That’s tenacity backed by reason and hard work.

 

   When it came time to paint Junkyard Angel, John was running out of time. Luckily for him and his painter, the time spent of making sure the raw sheetmetal was perfectly straight and everything throughout the bike was welded with basically show-quality beads was worth it. House of Kolor Candy Pagan Gold was shot directly over the unblocked bodywork and frame and it looks marvelous. Junkyard Angel graphics on the tank spell out what the bike’s all about and the unfinished welds hide in plain sight. John’s got a lot of confidence in his skills and it shows directly on the finish without trying to look like he was trying. It just looks right and appropriate for this build.

 

   Like everything, things come and go and such is the case with Junkyard Angel. After a good three-years of ownership and 9,000 miles of wicked fun, it’s time to hit the road, but just not together. Junkyard Angel is for sale and if you’re interested in this beloved personal rider and magazine cover bike, be sure to contact John Dodson at http://www.gangsterchoppers.com/ for more information.