Paul Cavallo, owner of Spitfire Motorcycles in lovely Rancho Cucamonga, California, is obviously okay with his manhood and loves this 1975 Ironhead-powered custom he calls Jolie Rouge. Without getting too deep on all of this, Jolie Rouge does not refer to a certain Mr. Pitt’s cuter half, but to a term (beautiful red) associated with real pirates way, way back in the real pirate days. For those who give a damn (there probably aren’t too many as nobody gives a damn about much anymore), Jolie Rouge is where the bastardized English pirate term of “Jolly Roger” apparently came from. According to Paul, “Bikers have always been compared to pirates, so we built this 1975 Ironhead custom in their honor.”
One unusual and nice thing about this bike is that it was really built just because. Paul’s stated that it wasn’t intended to be really anything other than a build because he wanted to. It’s not a customer bike, a fluffy show piece for the company, a dedicated show-only bike, or whatever. It was built because he had some ideas and he could.
The 1000cc Ironhead was totally rebuilt, mildly hopped-up, and cleaned up until it was worthy of being the centerpiece of a show bike. Finished off with ‘70s-style upswept megaphones, the Ironhead Sporty mill is about as shiny a piece you can have without going to the “Now that’s too much” side of things. I would say it’s Goldilocks’ approved if the picky little darling was into motorcycles instead of beds. Even though doing over a 37-year-old engine is a lot of work, it was only a small part, time and effort-wise, of the overall finished project.
Paul and crew whipped up a hardtail frame for the bike that broke no new ground as far as I can tell, but did have perfectly clean lines with a perfect stance to my eyes and that’s ground anybody should be proud to stand on. Actually, everything’s kind of wispy and airy looking including the narrow and skinny tubed fork with that shiny old Ironhead being the focal point and anchor of this design. The brakeless 5-spoke Invader-style front wheel is about as airy a design as was ever designed while the rear wheel looks straight off a mid-sixties dragster and evokes a feeling of power and beefiness with a sprotor setup making sure you get all the 12-spoke goodness at first glance.
After whipping up a couple of tanks, fuel and oil, Paul tastefully laid a simple rear fender over the rear tire which looks like it got mislaid on the way to a mid-seventies dirt bike. A rough-and-ready touch that never gets old on a bike that will probably spend most of its life being ogled at than ridden with reckless abandon. The House of Kolor Red Candy over a gold base paintjob is the fine work of Sweet Baby James and brings up lost eras of time without overdoing it in any way. Tasty, pretty, cool, far out, groovy, beautiful, whatever you want to call it, that’s a nice paintjob. Topping it all off is the leather work of Pascal Davayat of Riff Raff Leather that pretty much tells the whole story of this bike without being too informative. It’s all about the vibes baby and this leatherwork has plenty going on.
Speaking of vibes, this whole bike has got them going on and I don’t just mean the Ironhead engine at 75mph. It’s a laid back look to the past with a nod to present-day skills that ends up in a Sporty that (almost-I’m sure there are still a few jerks out there) anyone would be proud to call their own. Damn fine job all around for a custom that was built just because.