When Butch decided he just had to have another bike, nothing else would do but another early Gilroy Chief, the bikes that earned their name from the factory in Gilroy, California. “Even though I knew of all the shortcomings of the early model Gilroy Chiefs, I purchased a ’99 Indian with 10,000 miles on it,” he said. “At least this time around I knew what I needed to do to make this a reliable bike. Immediately upon arriving at the shop with the bike I began to tear it down for a complete Highrollers makeover. Rear fender was doubled all around the perimeter to prevent the cracking at mount holes and skirt sides that these Chiefs were notorious for. The front end was rebuilt using Race Tech gold emulators, spring and 2″ over tubes to address the high speed wobble problem related to these bikes. All the leather work, including a one-off handbuilt tour pack, was done in-house by Highrollers. The engine was turned over to Kendall Johnson for some of his magic. A D&D Fat Cat 2-into-1 was used and with a little tweaking by local tuner Mike Hancock this 88″ bagger is putting out a respectable 96hp and 99 ft-lbs of torque. I’ve put 3,000 trouble free miles on the Chief so far and look forward to many more to come.”

Although most all of the work was done at Highrollers, some was sent out. The engine was built by Kendall Johnson Customs. The chrome plating was sent to Brown’s Plating in Paducah, Kentucky. The paint work was done by Kyle Neve, and the tuning was done by Mike Hancock.”

Butch said his favorite aspect of the bike is, “The long, low slung look of the early Gilroy Chiefs. And of course the in-house custom leather work.” Designing and fabricating the one-off tour pack was the most problematic of the build, and Butch says, “Just trying to keep a back tire on it with the Kendall Johnson horsepower.” But now that now that all is said and done he loves the bike, which is the only one he owns at this time, and says, “I ride it like I stole it. With the front end rebuild the bike handles great. The early Chiefs were prone to a bad high speed wobble and that’s the reason for the upgrade.”

Butch has built a few bikes throughout the years. “Nothing for resale,” he said, “just a custom for the wife and a couple of wild choppers for my partner, who is also my son-in-law. We don’t usually do the show scene, but this baby draws a crowd of its own wherever we go.”

What’s up next for Butch and Highrollers? “I want to build a custom FRX style frame using a set of 99 Indian sheetmetal and a lot of horsepower,” he said. Keep up with Butch and Highrollers by visiting their website at www.highrollerscycleseats.com.