Non V-Twins
There were a variety of stock bikes to choose from as the basis of a build and Ray picked this unusual 2300cc in-line three. “I wanted a Triumph, I wanted to be different. Everybody told me not to do it, but I did it anyway,” said Ray. “You can’t buy a thing for it; everything’s got to be handmade. It’s tough, it’s so huge.” Grandpa Ray, who also happens to be a talented artist, made quarter-scale drawings of Ray’s ideas until the dimensions were worked out. “I wanted a 110” wheelbase, raked out 53.5-degrees, and the neck to be no taller than 31’5” off the ground,” said Ray. Bending 1.5” chromoly tubing to catch all his hard points was right up his alley and Ray got the frame finished in one day. The swingarm was a smite tougher, though, with having to also incorporate the Triumph’s driveshaft. “My goal with the swingarm was to make something nobody had ever done before. Every piece of tubing was bent in multiple angles and directions,” said Ray. “I didn’t want it to be symmetrical.” It’s boxed in at the back and that end point houses the LEDs Ray used for brake and tail lights. Originally, he wanted to use a walloping 360 back there, but they were out of stock when he needed it so he picked the next biggest size, a 330 Avon mounted on an Ego Tripp Revolution five-spoker. “It actually turned out for the better using shaft drive,” said Ray. “We had to add an extra u-joint to the driveshaft to get it out and around the rear tire. If I had gone 360, it would have been a pretty crazy angle out on the driveshaft.” Up front a 120/21 Avon sits on another Revolution wheel and is cradled by a 14” over American Suspension Dragon springer which just shoves that wheel/tire combo out to the horizon. American Suspension also supplied the dual disc, two-piston brakes while RC Components ponied up one of their four-piston brake setups out back. Rear suspension is air, but not your typical catalog shock system. An Air Ride Technologies Shock Wave 3.0 shock, normally found underneath lowered American cars and trucks, fits nicely under the seatpan that sits only 16” off the ground at ride height.
Kevin Sockwell of American Drag Seats covered the pan a rusty color and the result changed Ray’s color choice for the huge shroud Dad Ray made to mask the huge engine, radiator, fuel tank (mounted between the neck and the motor), and the massive collection of electrical equipment to run it. Steve Goodman of Wet Colors convinced Ray to spray it Rust Metallic with an Olive Green frame instead of the British Racing Green Ray initially chose. Engine-wise, the stock mill (132hp, 141 lbs torque!) sports a Grandpa Ray exhaust and Barons Custom Accessories velocity stacks and according to Ray, “It’s got a totally cool sound.”
So, is Ray addicted now? “I want to keep doing it, the first bike was really fun,” said Ray. “I’m enthused about building the second one.”
Builder: Ray Neff
Most builders struggle for years to get recognition in the industry, never mind getting on a televised build off. So how did twenty-year-old Ray Neff go from 0-60 in the custom world in the blink of an eye? Heritage doesn’t hurt to begin with. “I come from a family of metal fabricators, my Grandpa’s been doing this stuff for almost sixty years,” said Ray. “You name it, he does it. Guns, knives, hot rods, and motorcycles. He built motorcycles with Pat Kennedy back in the 90s. My dad works everyday in the garage at home building stuff. There’s always something going on in the garage. Right now there are about ten projects going on.” Obviously, Ray couldn’t help but pick it up too and first started welding at age five. “I didn’t get to go out to the garage everyday until I was eleven or twelve, but I’ve been working out there since then,” said Ray. “The first major thing that I built by myself was a four-seat desert buggy when I was fourteen. Working with metal is what I love to do; it comes very easy to me.”
This experience came in handy when the producers of the Metric Revolution show, Doug and Danielle Spandau, went looking for a young motorcycle builder to feature in the build off. Host John Vaughn-Chalde was a friend of Ray’s dad and told them, “I have somebody real young, never built a motorcycle before, but builds stuff way more extreme.” Catching their ear, Doug and Danielle had Ray send in a tape of what he does and that was that. Next thing you know, there’s John with a film crew and telling him he was on the show. Ray laughs and said, “They wanted someone to be the odd one out.” Picking a Triumph only cemented that. “I didn’t know much about motorcycles at all. I didn’t know which one would be the easiest and which was the hardest to build,” said Ray. “I could have built a V-twin in half the time, that freaking Triumph is a monster.” Even though it now sits proudly in his living room, Ray’s looking to sell this bike so he can start building a drag-style, turbocharged 250hp Rocket III. Check out www.rayneff.com or call Ray at 760-889-1639.
This bike feature originally appeared in Barnett’s Magazine issue #57, September 2007.