Take this lovely little piece called the LC Speedster for instance, it’s a completely practical motorcycle that looks like it would be a fantastic blast to hop on to and ride until the tank hits empty. And, that’s exactly what I wish I could do as it just looks so road-right from axle to axle in a barrel-chested way. Compared to a couple of previous Barnett’s Magazine Online features like his ingenious hybrid single-cylinder Masterpiece of Engineering that couldn’t win enough awards or his stunning Birmingham Bee Liner BSA, you’d never know these motorcycles were products from the same brain. Each bike has its own approach to custom life with the only commonality being the superb details, lines, and finish Mr. Cupp can’t help but seem to do.
Although I’m an unabashed fan of all his bikes, Jeremy’s latest build for the Smoke Out’s Pro Chop build gets me where I live ─ an absolute knockout of a bike that’s totally usable and still show-worthy. There’s so much going on here that you really have to look into the bike to really appreciate what Jeremy’s accomplished with this build. For one, that seriously hopped-up Harley-Davidson Sportster engine is rubber-mounted. I’ll say it again ─ rubber-mounted and that alone brings in a lot of usability to all the other radical modifications he’s done throughout the rest of the bike. The Evo’s cornucopia of aftermarket power can really be used right up to throwing a rod time simply because of that sometimes maligned rubber mounting.
But wait, there’s more! Take a look at that frame. Jeremy’s come up with his own take on twin-shock cantilever rear suspension that gives me Vincent Black Lightning goose bumps just looking at it. The archaically beautiful shrouded chrome shocks follow the lines of the top tube as they lay almost horizontal over and parallel to the LC Fab swingarm. Kinda reminds me of JATO bottles on an airplane for some reason. The execution is fabulous with clean and simple mounts for all the parts. Throw in the swingarm pivot bolt and one of my favorite bits, the sprung sprocket chain tensioner and its just a piece you could hang on a wall as abstract art.
There’s so much more going on frame-wise that you keep finding more stuff that’s completely Jeremy like the whole back half that curvaceously goes about its business in a sweep of tubing where needed and nothing else please. No crazy rake need apply either as Jeremy’s kept the Sportster’s inherent goodness intact although we now know “Where’s the Beef?” Take a look at those super clean forks in all their chrome glory and you’ll know exactly where it is. I just can’t stop digging Jeremy’s setup with what looks like a small driving light backed by a stage of metal that has Hydra-Glide overtones to me. The thickness of the forks at the top and bottom is tremendously appealing like they were cut from the same tubing and connected by the short run of fork tubes.
I wish I could tell you more about what appears to be a retro-modern version of an old classic Invader wheel and the front wheel off an old dragster, but I can’t. I can tell you I like it a lot and unlike most Invader-style brakeless wheels, this one has a totally satisfactory disc brake setup for a change. Out back, a solid wheel sporting brings its own serious vibe to the party while both wheels are covered in classy looking Heidenau vintage block tread tires in just the right bad ass size. There’s a touch of flat tracker in the bike and these tires remind me of race bikes from the ‘60s.
The Sportster engine simply looks marvelous from the raw cases to the black cylinders and on up to the S&S Superstock heads. There’s a quiet serious intent applied with the engine covers and various bits lack of chrome male enhancement. Sure there’s the iconic S&S Teardrop air cleaner in chrome, but that’s to be expected as it looks best that way, but take a gander at the exhaust. The multi-piece titanium 2-into-1 exhaust almost looks MotoGP in design and materials, but it doesn’t look out of place on this bike. This bike is only trying to be itself and it has no rules other than looking right. And as the kids say, “OMG!” check out how that exhaust just cuts through the reshaped engine covers like it should have been done that way in the first place. That’s one cool touch.
Even though there’re only two bits to the bodywork, there’s so much Jeremy’s done with them that it’s hard to relate to. The two-piece fat bob style tanks are seriously underslung so much so that the right side had to be cutaway in a large bite to clear the front head. The recessed tunnel through-frame mounting adds just the type of overt detail that I love and so does the LC Fab twin gas caps that appear to have wire mesh venting, but appearances can be fooling. Capping it off is a neat touch of a tank emblem tastefully copying AMF Harleys from 1966-1971 but with LC Fabrications instead H-D. Classy stuff Mr. Cupp.
The seat/tail section is another story too sitting on its newly fabbed subframe. There’s a hint of café and flat tracker in style and it’s a damn fine looking unit by itself. The all metal tail section doesn’t have a slightly offset mesh cap on it for nothing as it also doubles as an oil tank with a dramatic trio of hard lines feeding the engine. Look hard and you’ll see the small LC Fab battery box hanging under the seat pan. Plus there’s a nicely integrated tail light sitting in its own lovely metal surround. Finish it off with a wonderfully distressed oxblood leather diamond-pleated seat cover and you couldn’t ask for a nicer rear end. On a motorcycle.
Jeremy topped it all off with about as subtle a paintjob as you can get. The black and silver paint scheme is almost factory looking and that’s not a bad thing at all. There’s a serious finished look it provides that’s a great backdrop for everything else that’s going on. There’s a touch of race bike to the tail section, but it’s just trying to look good not copying anything in particular. Like everything else on this bike, it was well thought out and tops it of with a harmony that blends right into the motorcycle itself.
Personally, I can’t fault anything Jeremy did anywhere on this build. That’s saying a lot. Plus, like I mentioned earlier, this bike is completely different than anything he’s built and I don’t expect his next bike, whatever that might be, to be anything like this one. I will say this is my favorite LC Fabrications build so far even though it’s not the most radical or possibly beautiful. This particular build is pure motorcycle lust to me.
For more info on LC Fabrications visit http://www.lcfabrications.com/ or catch ‘em on Facebook or whatever you’re socially into.