What Mike’s more well known for is making some amazing vintage metric café bikes and modern metric customs. I will admit I am a fan of his other work especially the café stuff as he has a delicate hand and a good eye even though he’s colorblind. The quality is impeccable and imaginative and they don’t look like caricatures of what a café or metric chopper should be. They all stand on their own just like this rig built around a 2003 883 Sportster engine that’s had a ton more work done externally than internally, but sometimes you just have to spend your money wisely. Mike’s got a full-time day job and then puts in the hours and work in his shop to build some beautiful stuff. And, he basically does it all including paint, how’s that?
Like Mike, I’m a fan of Discovery’s Moonshiners, but it seems to have infected him more than me as he built a bike around that theme. Maybe it has some personal connection because of where he lives or a family member who made hooch, whatever, his idea was to build a fantasy moonshine runner disguised as a produce delivery vehicle form back in the day. Unfortunately, that big Moonshine Runner painted on the saddlebag is a dead giveaway, but I think Mike has a good sense of humor too along with building skills.
The whole sidecar rig is pretty damn impressive for somebody new to Harleys, but not to the business. Mike had no intention of using much of the Sportster donor bike and basically chucked everything but the engine. That engine found a new home in a Voodoo Vintage rigid frame. That’s right, no rear suspension for the retro vibe Mike had in mind. Up front, though, a two-inch-under Paughco springer took residence and looked the retro biz in one fell swoop. Then there’re the wheels.
When I first saw them I was just a bit more dumbfounded than normal as I thought someone had made wheels with wooden spokes. On a show bike that’s never ever going to go faster than pushing speed, that’s a distinct possibility. Then I remembered the hydrographics thing and knew what-was-a-going on. Mike had them dipped in the water transfer process that still seems like magic to me. Same wood technique was used for Mike’s clip-on-style handlebars and the saddlebag made from copper sheeting. It just has to be so much quicker (and cheaper) than air brushing and I’m not disparaging air brush artists for what they charge. Good ones are worth every penny, but sometimes you just don’t have a lot of time or pennies.
By the way, they’re classic 21-inch Invader 7 spoke wheels by Scotty’s Invaders in Hilliard, Ohio. With the black rims and wood spokes I missed they were real Invaders made by Scotty as I only think of Invaders in chrome. I really like not only his wheel size, but his tires of choice fit the bill nicely and probably ride decently too. A not too skinny and not too beefy trio of Continental’s Conti-Escape tires give a nice blocky tread that quietly screams the ‘30s or ‘40s in a modern way. Plus Mike mounted a Model T cap on the sidecar wheel for just a hint of vintage. With only one wheel providing stopping power, it’s probably safe to say it’s good it’s got an 883. I like to think of looking like a early Hurst Airheart brake setup that I thought was so cool back in the day.
Besides having to build a working side car with lots of little tricks up its sleeve, Mike fabricated all the lovely sheetmetal you see from the absolutely beautiful tank with a neat copper end cap and one other big trick up its other sleeve. You can’t help but notice the coiled copper tubing rising out of the gas cap like a still’s condensing coil, but that’s only part of the trick. That cap is actually the top of a Mason jar that’s inserted into the tank’s opening. That’s a first for me anyway. Mike tries to stay right with the program here and he doesn’t disappoint. The all-metal tail section is voluptuous yet sleek at the same time like a skinny-tired drag racer.
The award for most unusual use of a chin spoiler has to go to Mike who fabricated that piece with the ingenious idea of running an exhaust pipe out each side. It’s heavily insulated inside so there’s no chance of paint or other problems. The way those pipes exit in framed anger only adds to the runner attitude of “I don’t care.” The polished aluminum metalwork under the seat and central frame area is unique as it comes. The contrast with the other finishes is perfecto. Then there’s all that sidecar bodywork that’s a whole project unto itself and that’s not even taking into consideration the faux wooden saddlebag that safely holds bottles of shine inside. There’s just stuff going on everywhere you look, so keep looking.
You might remember I mentioned the 883 as having more work done externally than internally and that’s not a knock. Mike felt the stock engine was more than enough for the putting around he had in mind and I can’t disagree. He did change every external cover he could until it kinda lost its more modern Sporty looked for finned vintage. Those lovely finned valve covers are courtesy of Throwback Cycle Parts and change the look pretty dramatically for a Sporty. The TC Bros air filter fits right in the mix too and surely increases the intake noise a bit while looking cool as hell. Where things went crazy on the engine, though, was the set of pipes Mike had to fabricate to fit around and forward while intertwined inside the chin spoiler. The sound emitted from those little bastards is quite lovely. A crazy amount of work you can’t see, but you can hear.
But wait, there’s more craziness. I mentioned at the beginning that Mike was color blind and I wasn’t just trying to be a dick. He actually is, but somehow he does all his own painting too and it comes out nicer than this full-color seer ever could imagine on his own. I don’t know the extent of his color sight, but I do know he picks all the colors with some help from a friend or two and goes from there. The custom red mix is fabulous and the copper leaf graphics are a nice change too. There’s a lot of theme stuff going on and I’m not a big fan of theme stuff, but I gotta give credit to Mike as he’s had a lot of fun doing his ideas and you know it’s gotta please show crowds.
All in all, Mike has spent his off-work hours crating something really, really special and right out of left field. Dabbling in the Harley custom world with a sidecar rig like this is beyond ambitious and I think Mike pulled it off well. Now that he’s had a taste of Harley and liked it, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
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