I think I’ll let Frank tell his history. “I’ve ridden and raced motorcycles for 47 years. I raced motocross as a kid in the ’70s, started riding on the street at 18, took a break as I got married, then in 2000 I bought a CMC [California Motorcycle Company – the custom bike predecessor to the ill-fated Gilroy Indian],” said Frank. “From that point on I’ve been stocking up on minibikes I had as a kid and vintage bikes. I also have a ’95 Road King, an ’82 Shovelhead bobber a ’56 Panhead bobber, a ’42 Flathead, a ’13 Ducati Hyperstrada, and a number of other vintage Jap bikes ─ 22 bikes in all.”
Yeah, I’d say that qualified him as a certified motorcycle freak, but that’s not all as Frank continued, “I started back racing flat track in 2001 and raced regularly until 2011, winning a National Championship with AHRMA in 2009.” Phew! That’s a lot for even our beloved boss, Mark Barnett, of Barnett Harley-Davidson fame.
With that out of the way, let’s get on to this bike Jack Cofano shot at the last Smoke Out which has its own back story. “It all started with a trip to Vintage Bikes on Main Street in Chesnee, South Carolina, July 2013. While walking through the swap meet I found an old crusty peanut gas tank I bought. I brought it home and said, ‘Now I will have to build a bobber around it.’ My original plan was to build a bike with a diesel engine,” said Frank. “I talked to a friend about the project, he told me he knew where there was a rigid frame. Well a few weeks later, he showed up with a brand new home-built frame. After studying it for a while I decided it was too nice to cut up to put the diesel engine in.”
So all Frank really had was the swap-meet tank and nothing else but the urge to build something. Plan B started to formulate. “The search for a Harley-Davidson Evo engine began. One Saturday morning, I checked out a local shop to see if they had a wrecked bike I could buy cheap. After reaching a dead end, I was headed out the door and they said, ‘Hold on, what about this bike?’ It was a custom Heritage-style bike that another local ex-Indian dealer had built. I said, ‘That will cost more than I want to pay.’ He said, ‘Maybe not,’ ” said Frank. “That morning I left with the donor bike. I brought it home to the shop and, in a few hours, it was in pieces and the mock up of the bobber started.”
The mockup consisted of a just few pieces, but it was enough to get Frank going. “I used the front end off a 2001 Indian Chief, slid in the Harley 80-inch Evo engine and the 5-speed tranny, a Heritage rear wheel, and a British rear fender out back,” he said. Frank added a matching 16-inch front wheel sans brake along with a foot clutch and hand shifter just because he could. “I have a good friend, Jeb Cornerstone at Cutworm Specialties in Hayesville, North Carolina, that builds some cool hot rods. He helped to make the custom oil tank and the stainless steel exhaust,” Frank said. “I made a few other parts like the Chopper Shox suspended seat, a battery box, forward controls and bought some stuff from Lowbrow Customs too.”
But what about that damn crusty peanut tank that started this whole crazy build? “The tank that started this whole project just wouldn’t fit the build, but I had a Sportster tank on the wall and it fit great,” Frank said with a laugh. “I had it painted Old School gold flake by my buddy, Preston Wrenn, and had Robert Madden, who has striped for me for years, do his magic with the brush.”
So how did Frank think his project turned out? “I’m proud of this build. It took about seven months off-and-on. I finished it up just before Daytona 2014 and rode it trouble- free all week at Bike Week,” he said. “It rides and handles good. You have to be a little careful on the turns as it is pretty low to the ground. I don’t want a cookie-cutter motorcycle like everyone else has. It’s bare bones and fun to ride. Rear brake-only, foot clutch, hand shift, no speedo, no horn, a headlight, and a tail light. What more do you need?”
Yeah Frank, I’d agree with you about that last question you posed about “What more do you need?” except for one little detail you forgot you mentioned earlier in the story. Oh, you don’t remember? Well let me point that one out to you, “. . . 22 bikes in all.” Yeah, I’d say you were definitely a certified motorcycle freak and to me, that’s a great thing. As they used to say back when you first started riding, “Keep on keeping on!” and we look forward to your rejuvenated Flathead project to hit this page sir!