This is not Will Ramsey’s first time headlining Barnett’s Magazine Online nor will it be his last as long as BMO’s jovial Jack Cofano still has a pixel or two left. Will is the retro-spirit-with-an-eye-on-the-future head guy at Faith Forgotten Choppers in Louisville, Kentucky, who’s knocked out this knockout of a Panhead chop that is extremely deceiving in that what you see is far from what you get. I might as well cut to the chase right now and let you know this Old School Panhead is wrapped in a titanium frame with a titanium springer. Not impressed? Well you should be as this is pretty revolutionary stuff for the V-twin world and it’s not the product of a fleet of engineers and banks of computers, but basically a guy in his garage all things considered.
Working with titanium is not the easiest thing to do, but the results are fascinatingly tremendous. With a high strength-to-weight ratio and almost a complete aversion to corrosion, it could be a builder’s dream material or the basis of reoccurring nightmares. It’s no forgiving mild-steel when it comes time to fabrication, but obviously Will knows what he’s doing and the end product shows it everywhere you look. The welding of the reasonably-dimensioned, 35-degree rake/no-stretch, wishbone frame is bellissimo with perfect puddles of melted metal. Will’s designed and fabricated a chassis where the engine sits in such an open space you’d think it was floating in air. Actually, it almost is as the polished frame weighs only 21-freakin’ pounds! Don’t think that’s a bit revolutionary? Pick up a mild steel one sometime and get back to me.
And then there’s that titanium take on a Faith Forgotten Choppers’ narrow tapered leg springer that’s such a pip, Cycle Source magazine named it the best custom product of 2015. That’s a nice little feather to have in your cap and I’m sure Will wears it proudly, but remaking it in titanium surely takes it up a sh*tload of notches. The design itself is Old School simplicity that never existed then, but does now. Will’s interpretation of a springer is so ridiculously clean of line that it redefines how I recollect springers of the day. Yup, from now on they all look like exactly as I never remembered them in my titanium re-booted memory banks. A stick-figure drawing in exotic metal whose purpose is to not only grab your undivided attention, but handle whatever the road throws at it. And to top it off, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear the frame and fork together weigh less than a real Old School lotta-steel springer.
Needles to say, the star of this show is the iconic 1960 Harley-Davidson Panhead engine that’s more than old enough to be a card-carrying AARP member. Unlike its typical 55-year-old human compatriot, this engine has been completely rebuilt, totally upgraded, and handsomely cosmetically enhanced to better than new. Many humans have tried to do the same, but without anywhere near the same success.
Jess Cleary at K&S Customz in Louisville gets all the kudos here with the now-80-inch Harley Panhead getting an injection of fresh S&S pistons and heads with an S&S Super E carb topped with a Joker Machine air cleaner acting as fuel bartender. An Andrews B grind cam shakes things up a bit for the better in mid-range and top-end charges while Will’s collaboration with Jeff Cochran of Speedking USA creating a straight-back hot rod 2-into-1 exhaust that appears to stand by itself in the face of obligatory Panhead vibes. Couldn’t be simpler or cleaner, but I’m sure there’s a lot more to making it work than first appears. No matter what, this Panhead’s gotta sound good, real good, and from Jess Cleary’s reputation, it’ll run good too. Can’t ask much more of something that looks so damn fine too.
The transmission is also 1960 Harley with four-speeds forward and a kicker hanging off the end that’s not some cool piece of memorabilia, but the means to making this Pan light up. The pre-button tranny receives the results of kicking via a slim open, really open, Tech Cycle belt drive that doesn’t look the least bit Old School out of place to me. A curvaceous, yet beefy stainless jockey shifter changes gears with help from Will’s beautifully designed and crafted stainless foot controls that almost look exactly like what must have been the first line drawing on paper come to life. They’re too slim and simple to work, but that’s exactly what they do.
One thing that Will’s had down for years is simple, yet stunning bodywork that interprets what I hate to call retro design so I’ll refer to his version as traditional contemporary design. That’s the way I think of his choice of Old School imagery wrapped up in high tech materials and methods that’s really true to form. None of these pieces like the fuel tank or rear fender led a previous life before Will started rolling out flat metal to where they are now. I do love his stainless cylindrical oil tank that brings a bit of respectful bling with end caps that mimic the design of the air cleaner. Little touches like that bring things together in ways that are hard to notice simply because of the design harmony. They’re just there and they’re right.
So goes other bits like Will’s apes that fit the feel while adding a bit of madman appeal. The titanium-spring seat with Tom Wait’s Tom Traubert’s Blues lyrics inscribed in the leather are apparently very meaningful to Will as the first words of the song, Wasted and Wounded is also the name of this bike. I don’t have the slightest idea who did this leatherwork, but I’d tip my hat to him if I wore one. Whether you’re a Tom Waits fan or not is not important, but it obviously is to Will and that’s really all that counts. I guess if I was trying to work titanium, I’d end up a bit wounded and wasted too and so wouldn’t the titanium.
More neat bits include the always striking Invader wheels which are the Old School motorcycling equivalent to something as iconic as American Racing’s original Torq Thrust wheel design which looks good on any car. Even if Invaders weren’t your favorite, they grow on you and look pretty damn good wherever you stick ‘em. Especially when you’ve got a 21-inch totally unadorned front wheel balanced out by an 18-inch rear wheel that seems to be covered with more braking than any rear wheel should ever-ever need. But, you gotta admit the dual Wilwood calipers mounted on a Speedking USA bracket looks like mechanical heaven.
Paint, that damn paint that covers up perfect metalwork better be fine stuff and it is on this bike. There’s no forced feeling of retro, but a complimentary approach by Scott Takes of Underground Art Studios in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that has a velvet feel to the base coat with just the right amount of period-style graphics. The tank has a story to tell and doesn’t mince words, yet doesn’t look gimmicky or over the top in any way. Wasted and Wounded, who hasn’t been there? It just looks right and after seeing it, I can’t imagine this bike looking any other way.
Maybe that’s why I am such a fan of Faith Forgotten Choppers as with every build Will completes, I couldn’t imagine it looking any other way. Every one has been an evolutionary trip under the watchful artistic eye of Will and each build moves the peg forward in its own way. To me, there’s never been a ho-hum bike in the bunch and I have faith that faith Forgotten Choppers will continue to surprise me with gorgeous motorcycle art in the future.
For more info, visithttp://www.faithforgotten.com/ or check out Facebook and be sure to enjoy the ride.