Bobbers
Building an enjoyable daily rider starts with the frame and the Kraft/Tech frame used on this build features conservative geometry that ensures rider-friendly, agile handling characteristics. If you’re looking for loopy, this is not your bike. “Anytime you stretch a front end out, you’re losing your ability to control the bike. I want a bike I can handle, I can move if I’m in trouble. I like stuff kinda short and snub-nosed. I like the front wheel as close to the bike as I can,” said Bill. “I learned that from my experience riding dirt bikes and crotch rockets. It’s got to be practical. A rigid’s not always practical, but you can do the best you can with this style of bike.”
Nothing outrageous in the wheel department either, but that’s fine by me. Spitfire’s Dennis Wittkorn laced up a classy set of aluminum-rimmed 16” wheels shod with tall sidewall Avons just the way I like ‘em. No pretense at Old School or New School, just Smart School. Nothing over the top for brakes either, but a more than adequate set of discs from Custom Chrome and cradling the front wheel is a set of Accutronix forks. “I didn’t want anything crazy, keep it kinda clean and they’re just a very plain looking fork. They do fit the beefy look I was going for,” said Bill.
Choosing an engine for a budget build leaves out mega-inch and billet motors, but that’s not a bad thing as many of those are, I’m going to get in trouble here, not good daily riders. Bill’s choice of a brand new 100” RevTech was simple, “It’s good on power and I got a great deal on it.” Coupling that up to a RevTech 5-speed gave him a license to hammer the throttle hard with a warranty to back up his wayward actions. A set of wrapped Samson pipes makes his intentions well known.
Now you might be thinking like South Park’s Officer Barbrady, “Move along, people. Nothing to see here. . .” and you would be absolutely dead wrong. Bill stepped up his game with a raft of dynamite Spitfire Customs’ details that give this daily rider a truly custom look. Machined brass pieces are everywhere from atop the forks to the delicately-detailed struts holding the made-from-a-‘36 Ford –spare-tire-cover fender up that could hang in an art gallery. “All the little brass gear nuts on the bike, my dad found on some land we have in Indiana as three-foot-long gear stock. I thought they would make good wing nuts and we used them in different things like the rear struts, risers, and all that stuff and it worked great. About 90% of all the aluminum and brass is out of a scrap yard and with the cost of aluminum, brass, steel, and copper is so high right now, you take whatever you can out of a scrap yard,” said Bill. “We find a lot of people looking at the bike will pull up this or point to that and notice the detail work we do which is great. That makes it all worth it.”
A detail I got a real charge out of is the air cleaner which is actually a brass Zurn roof-top storm drain. “Dad picked that up in a scrap yard and I said, ‘There’s the air cleaner.’ It looked it had been through a war when we got it, but I sanded and polished it until it looked really good,” said Bill. Or check out the brass mirror that’s its own build unto itself. “I looked in all the catalogues without finding a mirror I liked so I made something that’s now in our parts line and it sells really well,” he said. “We wanted to make this bike as cool as we could and keep the cost down. This bike kinda had a theme of trying to do things we haven’t seen before.” Well if you haven’t moved along, just keep on looking and you’ll find tons of bits and pieces that make this bike rise above daily rider to wicked cool bike that happens to get ridden daily.
Up Close: Spitfires’s Outside the Box Leather
In case you’re wondering why the wicked cool leather seat was not mentioned in the main article, well here’s your answer. Spitfire has their own leather shop that whips up little ditties like that gorgeous, intricately laced and hand-tooled seat adorning Youth ‘n Wisdom. You could stare at all the stitching and lacing for a long time and still not have any idea how much time went into making that work of art. “At shows now I bring along some leather and show people how much work and how long it takes to tool a leather seat,” said Bill. “People get a kick out of seeing it and it brings in customers.”
Besides stunning seats, OTB also makes saddlebags, single-side bags, tank bibs, pillion and back rest pads, and, well, just about anything. Hell, need a cool watch band? They’re your guys. One thing I find very interesting is the seat insert service they offer to take your stock vinyl seat and put a custom leather insert on it to give your bike a custom look while retaining its stock comfort. “I haven’t seen any other leather guys doing that too much. I think it’s because they haven’t figured out how to keep from pulling on the vinyl too much,” said Bill. “People like our inserts because you get all the look without all the cost and often while we’re in there, we’ll put a gel insert or memory foam in to make it more comfortable too.” If you like to ride more than just down to the local hangout, but want to look good when you do ride to the local hangout, Spitfire’s leather insert service is definitely worth checking out.
See all of Spitfire’s beautiful leather work at www.spitfirecustoms.com or call 513-874-0268 and make your butt proud to be a part of you.
Builder: Spitfire Customs
The old adage “three’s a crowd” is not a problem at Spitfire Customs ― it’s their formula for success. Bill Schalk Sr., Bill Schalk Jr., and Dennis Wittkorn are the three principals behind Spitfire and each brings their own skill sets to the table of this multi-faceted service and custom shop. “The way things work around here is Dennis is the main mechanic and does most of the service work. He’s a very meticulous person and that’s great when it comes to building motors and stuff like that. He also can lace about any wheel out there and we’ve become known for that. Dad does a lot of the machining and he can do just amazing things, and he also does about half the leather work,” said Bill. “I do a good portion of the machine work and most of the fabrication in the shop. I also do the other half of the leather work. I’m sort of the utility guy here and do a bit of everything including pinstriping and air brush work. All in all, it seems to work out very well.”
Part of their shop’s success is their ability to keep their egos in check and their committed passion to motorcycles. “We have our troubles and arguments, but it’s nothing that can’t be worked out. We’re very, very like-minded people as far as bikes go,” said Bill. “Our main objective of the shop, we’re not worried about being the next big bike builder or the next big thing. I love building motorcycles and we build about four a year, but we want to be the guys that other builders are coming to for parts and our leather work.”
With these three amigos covering every aspect of motorcycles from service work to custom parts and builds to leather work and anything else you can think of under one roof, Spitfire Customs could be your one-stop motorcycle fantasy shop and that’s a good thing.
For more info, visit www.spitfirecustoms.com or call 513-874-0268.
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