Jamie Hammonds, owner of Cycle Works Inc. in Lumberton, North Carolina, had the board track spell cast on him at some point and it was one of those things he just had to follow up on by creating his own street version of the splinter-filled racers. “If you’ve got an itch, scratch it!” my doctor, Dr. Vinny Boom Bah, always said and apparently Jamie’s been given the same advice. That constant brain scratching whipped up the Harley-Davidson Shovelhead-powered board track-inspired ride you see before you.
Staying a bit more true to form is tough these days as custom bike freaks are demanding more and more outrageous design statements more than a bike you could putt around on when the mood strikes. No over-the-top giant bagger-style wheels were used in making this ride, but that doesn’t keep the tall, open-wheel look of a board tracker from being a part of this build. Jamie’s choice of fat copper spokes with different patterns front and rear laced to black rims wearing current sporty Avon rubber fills the board tracker bill perfectly. One extremely obvious difference from a vintage racer is the disc bake hanging off the Indian-style leaf spring fork, but sometimes style has to take a backseat to not being stupid. Out back a sprocket brake does its best to hide behind the axle plate area giving a hint of real board track brakes. Man, there must have been times when a vintage racer would have loved to have that thing on board and I don’t blame Jamie one bit for breaking tradition with the rotor and caliper exposed up front.
Built upon a righteously rigid frame with fairly relaxed dimensions, not too much and not too little, gave Jamie a long sweep of a bike with plenty of room for style and comfort. The leaf spring fork is the fork of choice even if it was popularized by Indian on this Harley Shovel as that’s the style people think all board trackers had. It looks right regardless of brand. Jamie kept true to this form of racer, but definitely threw in some of his own spices to the board track recipe.
The H-D Shovelhead was not only rebuilt to an inch of its life, but it picked up a bit of pure ornamentation along the way. Nothing crazy, no purple powder coated cases with yellow cylinders or something like that, but a modern billet air cleaner will keep the splinters out of the intake tract if Jamie ever decides to turn pro while the slightly longer drag-style pipes look the business and sound the same. A Daytona Twin Tech ignition peeks through the plexi timing cover just to let you know this is not 1920 and allows this baby to start at the push of a button compared to being towed behind vehicles at a pretty good clip just to get it started like those racers of old. Personally, this is one area where modern motorcycles rule and I wouldn’t have it any other way ─ push the button and go.
Instead of the usual long, flat-sided fuel tank you often see on a vintage replica, Jamie took a completely different route. At first glance, the rounded tank looked great, but it did seem a bit familiar, maybe too familiar for some of you, but I like Jamie’s choice. Guessed what it is? Yup, you were right, it is off a Honda CB350 and somehow those old Japanese seamed tanks look a lot better to my eye today than they ever did back in the day. I don’t know if this was a planned thing or if somebody just plopped an old CB tank on the frame and was surprised at how good it looks. Yeah, yeah, I know, Honda parts on a Harley? Oh lordy, this could cause trouble. Actually, it’s okay with me if it works and the price was right so I gotta go with Jamie on this one. It does fill the space nicely and sure saves a lot of hand work with its deep, wide tunnel that slips over the frame easily.
Maybe I’m just getting caught up with the race number graphics on this bike, but this bike appears to be a smart choice of vintage-style parts like the broad flat handlebars that are more vintage street than vintage track and that’s okay too. Real board trackers had radically down-swept bars that only a real board tracker could love. These CWI-fabbed bars let Jamie sit up and ride with pride and if board track racing ever comes back, he can whip up a proper set in case he feels the need for wooden speed.
Same goes for the rear fender and leather covered sprung saddle. A man’s got to have his comfort even if it means only putting a sprung saddle on a rigid. Another good reason might be the blacked-out forward controls which don’t exactly allow you to get your weight off the saddle over bumps. I guess you could say the same thing for that absolutely adorable old copper headlight that was one accessory no track racer ever-ever had. Well, at least that I know of. It does look proper period cool and not the least bit out of place like a chrome bucket would have to me. Nice pick on that one Jamie.
Actually that copper head lamp is just one tiny bit of the copper that had to be mined and processed to give Jamie the look he was going for. Back in the day there was brass, copper, and nickel as the main plating finishes available with chrome just starting to peek its shiny head into the picture. Liberal use of copper throughout the bike adds a dash of color to an otherwise monotone black ride. Whether it’s the bars, levers, spokes, engine pieces, seat springs, clutch, front caliper mount, or even the CWI logo just behind the headstock, there’s copper. Same goes for the painted graphics on the tank and race numbers. Copper or brass is always the go-to color for a vintage-style bike and after taking a long look at CWI’s bike, you can see why. It looks great and it looks old and I have not the slightest doubt that was exactly what Jamie was after.
No matter how you look at it, Jamie and his crew at Cycle Works Inc have made a dynamite tribute bike that gives all the feel of a vintage bike without the hassles or expense. Sometimes it’s just fun to fake it and ride around with a smile on your face knowing your “vintage” bike is just going to run and stop just like a modern motorcycle.
They say you can’t go back in time, but Jamie’s bike shows you can go forward to the past and there’s nothing wrong with that.
For more info on Cycle Works Inc visit http://cycleworks-nc.net/ or check them out on Facebook.