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Click here for more photos…
This bike feature originally appeared in Barnett’s Magazine issue #58, October 2007.
SPECIFICATIONS | |
---|---|
Bike Name: | Doin’ Time |
Owner: | North American Warhorse |
Year / Make: | 2004 FXDP Dyna Defender |
Fabrication/ assembly: | Joe Gambacorta |
Build time: | Two months |
Engine: | 2004 1450cc Twin Cam 88A |
Cases: | H-D |
Flywheels: | H-D |
Rods: | H-D |
Pistons: | H-D |
Cylinders: | H-D |
Heads: | H-D |
Cam: | H-D |
Ignition: | Thunder Heart Stand Alone |
Carb: | S&S Super E |
Pipes: | Joe G. / NAW |
Air Cleaner: | K&N |
Transmission: | 5-speed H-D |
Primary: | H-D |
Clutch: | H-D |
Frame: | 2004 Dyna |
Rake: | 28-degrees |
Stretch: | 3″ in swingarm |
Forks: | V-Rod |
Fork length (+or -) Stock | |
Additional rake in trees: | 4-degrees |
Rear Suspension: | Ducati swingarm/ Ohlins shock |
Wheels: | 17″ Ducati 996 |
Front Tire: | 120/70×17 Metzeler |
Rear Tire: | 180/ 55×17 Metzeler |
Brakes: | Ducati996/ Brembo 4-piston |
Rear Brake: | Ducati996/ Brembo 4-piston |
Fuel Tank: | 2004 XL1200C |
Handlebars: | 2000 Indian/ narrowed 4″ |
Risers: | Welded on |
Headlight: | 4.5″ Headwinds |
Taillight: | Cat Eye |
Hand Controls: | Jaybrake |
Foot Controls: | Joe G./NAW |
Electrical: | Thunder Heart |
Painter: | Fish Giello |
Color: | Copper Pearl/Black |
Seat: | Ray’s Upholstering |
Special thanks to: | Fish for last minute paint work and Ron at Ray’s Upholstering |
North American Warhorse: Doin’ Time
Story by Buck Manning, Photos by Sedrick C. Mitchell
I love movies and try to see as many as I can as often as I can. For me, there’s nothing like a night out at the local Cineplex 52 catching a movie that spins my head around and is some sort of new earthshaking, mind expanding experience that lasts longer than the drive out of the parking lot like too many instantly forgettable movies do. One thing I’ve just about given up on, though, is watching a sequel to a flick I really enjoyed. Anybody else see Speed II? Or Rocky 17 (or whatever number they’re up to)? Too often the originals are just the best and it’s impossible to top them. Sequels are often artistically inferior and simply repeat the story of the original with just more money thrown at them in hopes you won’t notice that it’s a watered down version of what made the original so captivating. Custom builders face the same problems as moviemakers when it comes to topping themselves and some succeed, while many just add a new little twist here and there to the same old thing. Hey, I’m not getting on anybody’s case as this is what makes it so challenging to be a builder and ultimately so rewarding when they can pull it off. Joe Gambacorta had a wild V-Rod custom featured in Barnett’s issue #47 that he built for North American Warhorse in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, as the centerpiece of their display at the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in New York City. Every year for the past seven years, Joe’s had to turn out a sequel that ups the ante in making an innovatively styled custom from a production bike. His take on a reworked FXDP Dyna Defender, Doin’ Time, makes for a sequel worth seeing. Kevin Decker of NAW said, “We build these custom bikes to show everybody what we can do at our shop. We actually have two specialized shops, one strictly for performance and we have a fabrication shop where we can make you a bike or customize yours.”
Joe’s creation is not some tarted up “Live to Ride” theme bike built to grace the dealership floor and sell silly trinkets, but an all out custom in the Old School tradition of using imagination, fabrication talent, and a bevy of used parts to turn sh*t into Shinola. “Doing the same stuff is boring, everybody’s kinda copying off everybody else and I wanted to do something different,” said Joe. “A lot of parts came off a wrecked Ducati 996, everything else I tried to make except for certain things, like the headlight I bought. This goes back to the way things were done, scavenged off of different bikes and doing the swap meet thing.”
The frame was left stock except for that little back-end modification. “I really like the square backbone, it’s nice and strong and handles well, but I also like it exposed,” said Joe. The addition of the cool single-sided swingarm was no minor mod, though. “The Dyna swingarm pivots off the back of the transmission and the Ducati swingarm wasn’t deep enough to grab the pivot so I ended up making a new one, pushing the pivot back 3” and used a primary spacer kit to get the sprockets and tires lined up,” said Joe. “I loaded the frame into our Computrak machine, took a whole bunch of measurements, said a few Hail Marys, and welded it together.” Final measurements placed the rear tire less than 1/8” off which, Joe said, “Unless you’re sticking it into a turn really, really hard, you’re not going to pick that up.” I gotta agree as a V-Max has its rear wheel 10mm off center and from personal experience, that’s not bothersome at all. Obviously, the twin stock shocks headed for the dumpster being replaced by an Ohlins piggyback mono-shock taken from an Aprilia Mille R for a very simple reason. “It was the only one that fit and worked properly,” said Joe. “I really like their shocks, it’s money well spent.” Up front, an inverted fork was installed, but it didn’t sit right. Joe grabbed a V-Rod fork with stock 4-degree raked trees and machined them to fit. “Man, it just gave it a pretty nice stance,” he said. The Ducati’s Brembo-built 17” five-spokers not only look good, but reduced the turning weight drastically compared to stock FXDP hoops. Less turning weight gives better handling, faster acceleration, and better braking. That’s a win-win in anybody’s book. Tenacious road grip is courtesy of the Metzeler sportbike radials, 120mm front and 180mm rear. “Dry, hot, cold, wet, I think Metzelers are the best all-around tire,” said Joe. The 996’s triple Brembo brakes were also installed and Joe said,” Too many people spend too much time trying to go faster and not stop and handle better. For instance, it’s true that H-D brakes are adequate, but there’s still something to be desired.”
Engine mods were simple, basically a stock TC88 with changes like the Thunder Heart Stand Alone ignition, an S&S Super E carb with a K&N filter wearing a spun aluminum cap, and wrapped pipes with a removable, glass-beaded stainless two-hole outlet. Joe’s one-word description of them is, “LOUD.” He’s a firm believer in baffles and making things run properly, but he just didn’t have any baffles available at the time, so that’s a future addition. The rest of the drivetrain is stock except for the chain final drive.
He’s especially proud of his removable subframe made from “an old bunch of handlebars” and the seat is made from an old leather vest of Joe’s that Ray’s Upholstering in Scranton, Pennsylvania, foamed out and stitched up. An XL1200C Sportster tank had a new square tunnel installed, and northeast legend Bill “Fish” Giello painted it Copper Pearl along with the wheels. No chrome was harmed in the making of this bike.
Every now and then, sequels like Godfather II or The Terminator series expand on and even surpass the originals, add one more with North American Warhorse and Joe Gambacorta’s Doin’ Time.
Builder: Joe Gambacorta, North American Warhorse
Speaking with Joe Gambacorta is a refreshing step back in time, a time when people built bikes for the sheer love of it. Trying to make something cool on a budget was a given then, now it’s something to apologize for. There’s nothing he takes greater pleasure in than using found parts and adapting them to a build. Even though he’s built bikes like his aggressive V-Rod custom, he’s still stuck in the past about what a custom should be. “A little 80” Evo motor with a 5-speed, you can’t go wrong,” he said. Even this is a bit too new fangled for him actually, “I’m just warming up to Evos, I still ride a Shovelhead,” said Joe. “It takes a good twenty years for people like me to warm up to the “new” motors.” Hey Joe, it’s been over twenty years! Joe’s stepped out of the business temporarily to do logging, and taking another step back, he’s building a ‘59 Panhead in a Paughco rigid frame for himself. Sounds to me he’s exactly where he wants to be.