Many new builders were attracted to the custom Harley world by the plethora of television shows. Dave was just like them a few years ago, sitting in his easy chair at home with the remote in his hand, watching one of the programs and thought to himself, “I can build a better bike than these guys!” His thoughts about building while watching TV are common, but the difference between Dave and the other millions of armchair mechanics is that he followed up his boast with a cool bike instead of more braggadocio. He didn’t just put together a bike from parts in a catalog, either; almost every part he handmade himself or had help making it with his friend, John Poole.
Granted, Dave didn’t start with a custom frame with outlandish dimensions, but he did take a moderately new 2005 Sportster, stripped it to the frame, and modified it. Given the low number of stock-framed Sportster customs at shows, it must be hard for most builders to use it as a base for a distinctive looking one-off. But, blessed with the afore mentioned vision, Dave could imagine the bike completed and the first thing he did to get the bike looking akin to a board tracker was to remove everything including the motor. Board trackers, by general definition, are devoid of superfluous parts, so with the frame stripped bare, he could tell what tabs were necessary, and more importantly, which tabs and brackets were not required so he could cut them off. It’s hard to ignore an unused bracket on any bike, let alone a customized one, because it makes the modifications appear as an afterthought instead of a planned idea from the beginning. (Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, but those exceptions are primarily reserved for modifying a bike that has to stay on the road versus a bike that can be built from the ground up.) Next, Dave cut off the foot-long rear fender struts for two reasons, “Once I had the bike completely stripped down, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to work with the stock fender location and that’s the only real reason for those struts. It was after I had cut one of the two from the frame that I realized how much weight I was removing — I figured each of the struts weighs about ten pounds! An old racing adage states that it is cheaper to remove weight from a vehicle than it is to buy performance parts, so I kept removing anything I thought the bike could lose.”
In an effort to keep rotating mass at a minimum, Dave had East Coast Wheels build him a pair of wheels with aluminum rims and billet aluminum hubs, each with forty stainless-steel spokes, and measuring 18” tall and 3.5” wide for both ends of the bike. Using aluminum rims instead of steel shaved off at least another four pounds from the bike’s total weight. “I’ve never had any desire to build a fat tire bike, they only ruin a bike in the turns,” Dave said.
Board tracker-style bikes fall well within Old School classification, meaning one-off parts were required to finish the bike in that spirit. Even though most original board trackers had rigid front-ends, Dave had Jason Parker Race Cars build him a custom springer for the Sportster for a more vintage look instead of the modern telescopic front-end. They built the legs of the front-end as narrow as they could without impeding the functions of the front wheel and rotor. Springers for newer model Sportsters are hard to find, even if he had wanted to buy one he couldn’t. Dave went even further to modify the bike’s suspension, “I knocked the chrome off of the stock shocks and took an exhaust pipe tip with a flare at one end and molded it to the shock. After painting the modified shock, the rear section of the bike appears rigid. Whenever I ride the bike I get asked about the rigid frame, I must have camouflaged the shocks better than I thought.”
The shape of the gas tank is derived from old Harleys from the late Twenties and Thirties, and holds about two gallons of gas. Dave estimates between him and his buddy, John Poole, they have about 42 hours of work in it alone. “We knew it would be cheaper to fabricate a tank from scratch than to modify an original, but after riding this one around, I think the next tank is going to be about an inch wider in every direction and will hopefully hold three gallons to get a few more miles on a tank,” Dave said. ”John also helped fab the fenders, seat pan, and a variety of other parts of the bike. He even painted, pinstriped, and polished the aluminum parts that needed extra shine. We probably have about 100 combined hours of metalwork in this bike.”
Once the bike was finished, Dave felt that the bike had been slimmed down enough to feel an improvement in the bike’s acceleration from any speed. Not bad considering the only performance enhancement the motor received was a set of Bassani Pro-Street exhaust pipes. “Back in the early 1900s there weren’t any performance parts around, the only way to go faster was to chop weight off of the bike,” said Dave. ”I estimate that the bike is about 100-pounds lighter than it came from the factory and I plan to weigh the bike as soon as I find a scale large enough.” This isn’t Dave’s last custom, but he doesn’t see himself opening up a custom shop just yet, “I really like working on bikes because they’re easier to build than cars, there’s just less to them. I’ve already got an order for Board Track Racer #2, but this time I’m going to use copper elements on the bike and fuel-injection. After I get #2 finished and I start working on a third bike, I might start going to shows. Who knows, this might turn into something more than a hobby!” That said, professional builders of custom bikes beware, the industry has some new competition.
Builder: Dave Darrow
In this sidebar we normally talk about how a guy started his company and how he got into the bike scene; this time it’s a little different. Dave doesn’t have a “shop” other than his three-car garage. His full time job is at his family’s rod end company, Rod Ends Mechanical, Limited (www.rod-ends.com).
Although he’s located a bit off the beaten path, way up north in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, don’t assume he lives in a shack deep in a snow covered forest, he’s technologically inclined as well. He built the website for his family’s business and thought he ought to have one, too. I wouldn’t say his site is anywhere near as interesting as his Sporty, but www.davesgarage.ca has a few photos of some of his projects from the last two years. Unfortunately, the site barely skims the surface of the total number of crazy road-race cars, dune-buggies, crotch-rockets, and classics that he’s modified and restored. If you want to contact Dave about this bike, or if you are interested in a bike similar to this one, his email address is on the site — but you can always call him at work, his family understands.
As a relative newcomer to the custom American motorcycle market, he’s confused about the stigma attached to Sportsters, “The Sportster is such a great motorcycle, how can people ignore the facts? I chose to build a bike around it because it’s rubber-mounted with real rear suspension. There are many rubber-mounts on the market, but none of them are narrow enough to be considered anything board tracker-like. I wanted to build a bike that can be ridden all day and tomorrow too,” he said.
This bike feature originally appeared in Barnett’s Magazine issue #57, September 2007.
SPECIFICATIONS | |
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Bike Name: | Board Track Racer #1 |
Owner: | Dave Darrow |
Year / Make: | 2005 883 Harley Sportster |
Fabrication/ Assembly: | Dave Darrow and John Poole |
Build time: | 1 year |
Engine: | Stock 883 |
Cases: | Stock 883 |
Flywheels: | Stock 883 |
Rods: | Stock 883 |
Pistons: | Stock 883 |
Cylinders: | Stock |
Heads: | Stock |
Cam: | Stock |
Ignition: | Stock |
Carb: | Stock |
Pipes: | Bassani Pro Street Slash Cut |
Air Cleaner: | Custom fabricated |
Transmission: | Stock |
Primary: | Stock |
Clutch: | Stock |
Frame: | 2005 Sportster modified |
Forks: | Jason Parker Race Cars |
Rear Suspension: | Stock with modified shocks |
Wheels: | 18×3.5 40-spokes East Coast Wheels |
Tires: | Avon 18″ Speedmaster |
Brakes: | Stock |
Fuel Tank: | Dave Darrow and John Poole Oil Tank |
Fenders: | Dave Darrow and John Poole |
Handlebars: | Stock |
Risers: | Stock |
Headlight: | Sportster modified |
Taillight: | Custom |
Hand/ foot controls: | Stock |
Painter: |
John Poole www.tinbash-er.com |
Color: | Audi Red and black |
Graphics: | Vintage decals/gray pin stripping- John Poole |
Polishing: | John Poole |
Molding: | Custom pan under seat -John Poole |
Seat: | LePera Solo Seat |
Special thanks to: John Poole, Jason Parker (www.jasonpark erracecars.com) East Coast Jeff, and the late Indian Larry and his love of Old School choppers with skinny tires. |