All you have to do to understand what I’m saying is to take a good look at Jack Cofano’s photos of George’s latest drag-inspired build he calls Thugnificent and then look even closer. Even the details of details have details. That’s a lotta details and a lotta work, imagination and effort on George’s part and that’s something he never, ever shies away from no matter what he’s building.
Over the years, I’ve seen quite a few bikes come out of his Long Island shop that has literally knocked me out. Barnett’s Magazine Online has featured many along with early Chaos bikes in the now-defunct print edition. You can see the Chaos aesthetic evolve over the years from an early bad boy bobber that still looks totally hip today to a really, really long retro chop just because he wanted to build a really, really long retro chop to a bustard of a board tracker with a strong hint of vintage race aggression. That’s just three of the many, but it shows his diversity. Every bike is beautifully detailed with every part having as much of George’s imagination showing through as possible. If there’s an elegant solution to a tough problem, he’ll find it and up the ante just a bit more to put the Chaos Cycle stink on it.
The “stink” on Thugnificent goes back to George’s father’s interest in motorcycles and George’s fast life as a drag racer and hard core sport bike freak where performance was all that matters. This interpretation of a ‘70s drag bike is not some permanent static display, but a living breathing amalgamation of Harley-Davidson and aftermarket parts that originally had nothing to do with each other. The Shovester part of this equation is an Old School adaptation where an Ironhead Sportster, a 1975 in this case, has a hell of a lot of machining to accept Shovelhead heads.
Of course, just doing something like a time consuming Shovester conversion and calling it a day was not enough for young George. So, he whacked off the unitized transmission too, welded up the back of the cases and used a separate-case BAKER Drivetrain six-speed tranny driven by an open chain primary instead. Just to make sure this was not your average everyday Shovester, he doubled up on the 30mm round slide carbs before calling it a day.
What’s interesting to me about all the engine work was that he really plans to drag race it and expects to get into the nines in the quarter. That’s damn fast in anybody’s book. The extremely oversquare bore/stroke ratio apparently will allow this engine to rev to 8200rpm of all things. 8200 freakin’ rpm! On an Ironhead/Shovelhead engine. My eyes are vibrating just trying to comprehend this four-cammer, but he’s confident on something I’ve never experienced on a Harley. That is, unless of course, I take it the V-Rod’s 9,000rpm redline, but that’s a whole kettle of worms different than a Shovester. I’d be happy just hearing it go through the gears and enjoying the sound be forced out of the gorgeous exhaust that looks liker it’s on a mission to explore every engine and transmission nook and cranny.
Phew! That’s a lotta work and he still had to make a one-off frame from a pile of virgin tubing to shove the Shovester into. And then there’re those little things like making your own hubs instead of just buying some or coming up with rims for the laced wheels, one wearing an über-cool M&H Racemaster slick, unlike anything you normally see. Or the adaptation of a modern inverted fork that doesn’t look the least bit out of place on a retro-style dragster. That’s a perfect case of seamless integration.
The build is topped off by a paintjob collaboration that took part in Riverdale, New Jersey by Bert Quimby of Bert Graphix and Bob Folz at Toon Town Paint. This groovy adaptation of ‘70s-inspired paint hit the nail squarely on the head while still looking totally contemporary compared to anything else out today. I tend to doubt that colors ever looked this rich and vibrant back in the day. Topping it off with some serious engraving by fabled Texas engraver and artist, Otto Carter, who must have sold his soul to the devil to be so talented, takes this bike’s final finish to a whole ‘nother level.
But anyway, to the surprise of no one especially me, George has taken his interest in vintage-style drag bikes to another level. Watch the videos including the one of the earlier dragster build and see the evolution of an artist at work. Just for the heck of it, imagine his older bike just being introduced today instead of years ago and you’ll see how George works in his own dimension of time regardless of what’s trendy or cool at the moment. Real cool transcends time and George has got “it” in spades.
For more info on Chaos Cycle, visit http://www.chaoscycle.com/ or check out their Facebook page.