Now I don’t think that Aki Kakamoto, owner of Hog Killers Inc. in Hawaiian Gardens, California, built this for the Yule time wishes of us, but it’s a pleasant thought anyway. What Aki’s done, time after time, is knock out a retro chop that’ll make you wish you were 18 again, but this time with a lot of money. Hey, if you’re gonna dream big, might as well go all the way. But aside from that, the bike called Negrita is sure to hit all the right buttons of an Old School freak and maybe even some you didn’t know you had. It’s a vicious little bobber elegantly dressed up and looking just fine.
If you don’t get the elegantly dressed part, then check out the chromed (nickel?) lug work especially in the neck area and tell me otherwise. That rigid frame could hang on a wall on its own and people would be happy with just that, but not Aki. He makes sure every one of his bike builds is a rider too even if it’s only ‘70s show bike rideable. This one is definitely headed for some street time after doing the show circuit including a round at the Artistry In Iron event. It’s just too cool not to putt around on and drink in all of the Panhead’s legendary goodness.
Up front a cleaned and shaved fork cradles a spool front wheel that holds up its end of the bargain without a radical rake. There’s just enough frame pizzazz going on dimensionally that it still looks striking, but nimble enough to go zipping around and listening to the Panhead go about its work. An Avon Speedmaster Mk II tire envelopes the black rim in classic good looks although these suck the big one on California’s grooved highways. Kinda like squirting oil directly under the ribbed tread and hoping for the best. But, they do look classically good and this ain’t gonna be great on a highway no matter what. Doesn’t matter, I still want it under my tree.
Sitting there just looking good in all its vintage rigid glory is a fine old 16-inch laced wheel wearing a chain sprocket on one side and a big ass disc grabbed by a Performance Machine four-pot caliper. Nothing ground shaking, just the right stuff for a vintage-style build. The tall sidewall classic block tread tire is about the best choice you can make for an Old School rigid because besides looking right, there’s enough sidewall to soak up some of the bumps a rigid finds so easily. Nope, there’s nothing here that’s going to start a new trend, it’s just a good-looking homage to Old School in general.
Just like it should be, though, the kick-only 1961 Harley-Davidson Panhead engine is the star of the show. Again, Aki’s done nothing new for an Old School build, but what he has done is simply striking. The engine kept its original 72-inch displacement and received a comprehensive rebuild from the ground up. The way the Panhead wears its S&S carb on the right from the left side intake ports is visually interesting to an audience brought up on Evos and Twin Cams. Aki’s polishing of the manifold adds a bit of a high tech look to the old girl and makes you notice what you might not have. The magneto and the kicker really keep things Old School and lessen the chance of this bike ever being taken for an unauthorized joyride. You gotta start it first and that rules out most people.
Of course, the big mouth velocity stack and Aki’s absolutely beautiful dual exhausts add a touch of modernity with a style of their own. Those perfectly stacked and angled exhausts are made up of different parts and not just a bunch of mitered bits of exhaust tubing. The machined caps surrounding the headers has a megaphone extension that’s the only bit that really says Old School to me. They’re more like Flash Gordon Old School with rocket fins popping out of the machined mechanical pre-megaphone cap. They’re quite the pipes, but I think it’s the bent rod heat shields that have me locked in. They are simply crazy cool and the brass hardware holding them in adds just the right jewelry touch to this epic adventure of an exhaust.
The rest of the engine is clean enough to have surgery on if that’s what your surgeon suggests for reasons unknown. You know, if a doctor told ne the only way he could operate on me is on a Panhead engine, I’d probably be okay with that if it was a surgically clean as this one. Even the skinny open belt primary looks classically correct somehow and all I can figure out is that the clutch just hanging out there looks like something from back in the day. Hearing it run in an online video and idling at a low rpm where it isn’t potato-potato, but po-ta-to ─ po-ta-to. You get the drift.
Aki kept things simple with mid-controls that have just enough curved chromed whimsy to take the edge off the knurled foot pegs. It’s a nice contrast of old and new in foot controls fabricated for a retro-mod custom. Same goes for Aki’s butt-hugging solo saddle and the mini apes that have the style, but without the burden. You can whip this around at parking lot speeds no problem and that’s more essential than you might think. I mean where else to people congregate just to see if you can make a 180 without falling over.
Tinwork isn’t much, but what Aki chose is perfect for the job intended. The Sporty-style gas tank has seen a complete reshaping without losing its heritage. The welded and chromed rod Aki used for visual decoration is randomly crazy as hell and twice as cool. I like the 3D graphic it brings to the setting. Meanwhile, oil getting to the engine comes from the cylindrical container under the seat. There’s some nice metalwork going on here and it’s a quiet showpiece in its own way. Out back the fender is what it should be and nothing else. Aki blessed it with another of his welded rod trimmings down the center and it looks simply lovely as an outgrowth of the deliciously curved fender stays. They look completely purposeful as well as beautiful.
I’m in a bit of a quandary about the paint and it has nothing to do with the paint color or the quality. Unfortunately for me I originally saw this bike at the Michael Lichter’s 2015 Naked Truth show in Sturgis. There it sat in all its un-painted/un-chromed finish and it caught me dead in my tracks. At that point in the build, it looked like it could have been an ultimate barn find and it showed all its build scars well. Nice welding, beautiful little mounts everywhere and not a bit of flash in sight. Nicely finished raw metal where every kind of material somehow ends up looking the same raw color always grabs me. Hey, I’ve got nothing against this lovely gloss black paint and chrome, it’s just always so shocking to see a bike assembled before it’s been to finishing school. It’s like you can see into its soul and understand more what the builder did and went through to get it to that point. Sometimes when they’re all done and pretty, you miss out on something.
But, that’s not totally the case here as I almost didn’t recognize this bike when I first saw it, but when I checked out the exhaust and tank, it dawned on me where I had seen it before. It still looks great and I wouldn’t change a thing except where it is parked. I’m saving an open spot right next to my tree in case there really is a Santa Claus. Merry Christmas everyone!
For more info on Hog Killers Inc. visit http://www.hogkillers.com/ or check ‘em out on social media.