Obviously he had every intention of building what was rolling around in his head and the only way he could accomplish this was to fabricate each and every piece you see before you other than the engine and transmission. There is a touch of board track inspiration, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Who doesn’t appreciate a motorcycle in its most elemental form of two wheels and an engine? What he’s crafted is utter simplicity through detailed complexity without any type of showboating even though he’s won so many shows with Kontrolled Kaos it’s too boring to list them all. Yeah, it’s really that many.
Work began from a detailed sketch and a pile of raw material. No catalogues were opened during the process. The backbone of the build, the fully suspended frame featuring a 29-degree rake and a two-inch stretch, was made from 4130 chromoly tubing bent until it formed a frame with delightfully subtle twists and turns everywhere you look. The one-off front end is pretty in an Old School way, but looks like it could hit a deep pot hole and roll on like nothing happened. There’s more to it than just looks with Larry putting a lot of engineering in it to make it right. Great design equals good looks and this is a perfect example of that.
My first impression was that this bike had a hard tail and that’s probably exactly what Larry had in mind. As I so often am, I was wrong on every count. The tri-tube swingarm is controlled by a leaf spring that you have to search for to find. One particularly nice touch that also includes various other parts of the bike are the extremely attractive one-off pieces of hardware Larry fabbed up to hold the all the moving pieces of the front and rear end. Making my own nuts and bolts is something that is beyond my comprehension and talent, but boy can I see the benefits of being able to do that on this bike. They’re quiet stars of the show that take it over the top for me at least.
Wheels can make of break a bike and instead of taking the easy way out and ordering up a pair of one of the many, many custom wheels, Larry took the Larry way out and designed a pair of 19-inchers. Mitch Brown of Monster Race Products in Clearwater, Kansas, was called on to whip up a set of bold five spokers that fall into place nicely. You might have noticed a distinct lack of brakes anywhere near the vicinity of these hoops and you would be correct. When it’s time to bring any Shovelhead-induced proceedings to a halt, Larry relies totally on a trans brake. Personally, that’s a step I’d be a bit fearful to undertake, but obviously Larry’s got much bigger balls than me. It does give this show bike its own look showcasing the wheels, though, and brings a bit more of a true brakeless flat track style to the proceedings. Maybe not the best thing for busy inner-city riding, but I have to assume it works for what this bike is intended for. Either way, I’ve got to give him some credit for such a bold move.
Even with all the wonderful fabrication that took place, the heavily breathed-on 1976 74-inch Harley-Davidson Shovelhead does its best to fight for attention. Dustin Werner of Werners House of Horsepower in Maize, Kansas, worked from the cases up with a blueprint and balancing as a first order along with hop-up parts throughout the engine. Split rocker boxes and a beastly set of rare Electron carbs on one-off manifolds add to the Shovelhead’s mechanical beauty. It doesn’t stop there with a very unusual dual Morris Magneto setup providing spark. Needless to say, someone spent a lot of time machining all of those pieces as this is the first dual-mag fired mill I’ve seen. Quite impressive stuff.
The dangerously beautiful open chain primary fits the build to a tee. Dustin also rebuilt the hand-shifted 4-speed tranny that houses the only stopping power other than a kill switch and Larry’s feet.
Tinwork is as simple as it gets as long as you can build such “simple” things. Rod Fisk fabbed up the twin fuel/oil tanks that bring a flavor of long ago on a fresh build. He also knocked out the rear fender before turning the pieces over for paint. I don’t know if the painter was a relative, but the Mocha Pearl with brushed aluminum panels was sprayed by Lonny Moore’s Collision Service which also happens to be in Wichita so you make your own assumption. Pinstriping was by the talented Nadine Ward Pinstriping. The end result is sinfully tasteful. David Steinbach of Kustom Breed Leather Designs in Wichita handled the seat, grips, footpegs, and kick starter in a lovely shade of brown leather.
Larry’s build is an unqualified success by anyone’s count. For those of you who demand a count, here goes, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Ultimate Builder’s Show Dallas best of show freestyle, Kansas City World of Wheels first in class and best of show, Easyriders Invitational best of show and bike of the year, Park City Chill best of show and first in class, Daytona Rat’s Hole Show first in extreme radical class and best of show, and last, but not least, best of show at the Donnie Smith Invitational Bike Show. There’s probably a few others I missed, but that should be enough to placate anyone even Larry himself. So yes, I dare say this build is an unqualified success by anyone’s standards.
The only question I have about Larry Moore’s build is what the hell does Larry do for an encore? Stay tuned to Barnett’s Magazine Online and we’ll showcase it as soon as Jack Cofano gets it in his viewfinder.