Something Old
“Back in the early ‘90s, I was working with Kevin Starke in Canada who was making frames and boy, the quality was there. We sold a ton of his Softail frames back in the ‘90s. He called me up one day and said, ‘I’ve got an idea for a rubber-mount Softail using an FXR drivetrain.’ Kevin did this one frame for me that we had fun with, it had a gooseneck and some rake and the swingarm has axle adjusters like an early rigid Flathead, just to screw with people,” said Kirk laughing. “Not too long after that I got a call from one of his friends who said, ‘Kevin’s dead.’ That frame got put up on a shelf and out of mind.”
Obviously that’s not the end of Kirk’s story or that would be the end of this story. “Finally, I got together with Kevin Boyle from Motorcycle Medic in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and said, ‘Hey, what should we do for something that’s kinda fun?’ I pulled the frame down and said, ‘Here’s something different.’ Kevin rides an FXR chopper himself, so he took it and went from there.”
Somehow it wouldn’t be a proper FXR custom without an H-D Evo stuck in rubber. “I had an Evo motor left over from when I sold a lot of bikes to Europe,” he said. “They’re readily available, relatively inexpensive, and they’ve always been a good motor, that’s for sure.” Kevin paired that up with a 4-speed Harley FXR transmission and the basis for the build was laid out.
Something New
The old 80” Evo got a new lease on life with a rebuild incorporating Mega-Sphere pistons, Stage 2 heads by Hillside Motorcycle and Machine, a Woods #9 cam, an S&S carb, and finally, fired by a Daytona Twin Tec ignition making the UK Radius pipes come alive. “Because the pipes face down, when I ride that sound just bounces off the pavement and it’s a radical sound,” said Kirk. “They’re pretty wild!” Passing the noisy power to the 4-speed is a combo of a Rivera Engineering belt drive and Primo clutch.
Shiny new spoked wheels with Avon rubber sport two-piston Excel brakes front and rear. The skinny 21” sits between 6”-over Paughco Springer legs sprouting Paughco Apes while the 16” rear works over Works Performance shocks. That graceful tank is a Fat Katz item and looks the biz.
Something Borrowed
Kirk’s a straight-up kind of guy so he’s not going to do a lot of borrowing, but technically he did raid his company’s parts bin for the glass rear fender and borrowed a bit of time in the powdercoating booth and in polishing it up.
Something Blue (Purple)
“Usually on any project I start with a color,” said Kirk. “A good friend of mine is John from House of Kolor. I sent him a purple powdercoated plate and he mixed up the paint in an exact match.” A gentleman by the name of Wee Willy sprayed the HOK Candy Purple and finished off the graphics.
Summing up Blast From The Past, Kirk said, “It’s very nimble handling, very quick, and it’s very loud. I have five bikes that I ride, but there’s always a time for a chopper.”
Up Close:Paughco Springers
Nothing makes a statement like a springer hanging off the front end of any custom bike. I would have to assume that a builder using a springer designs the bike around that and everything has to make sense in relation to the springer vibe. Or, at least that’s the successful way as throwing one on as an afterthought usually ends up looking that way. If you’re contemplating a springer, the first place you’d probably check out (or should) is the legendary Paughco lineup.
Paughco has been turning out springers in all sizes and styles for oh I don’t know how many years as they just seem to be there forever. If you peruse their lineup, you’ll find classically styled narrow, wide, and wide shock springers that they claim to “meet every need and application.” And, you don’t get a box of parts when you order one as every springer comes fully assembled with a choice of 7/8” or 1” neck stem and a Dog Bone or Glide-style top clamp. Most styles of springers are available in stock length or varying sizes up to 24” over with straight front legs and tapered oval rear legs. If you need more length than that, what are you building anyway?
Paughco offers them in black powdercoat, chrome, and brass finishes, but they’ve taken finish options a whole step further where you can combine any or all of these finishes in one unit. For instance, you want black rear legs and brass springs with chrome front legs? Or vice versa? Or any
Paughco offers them in black powdercoat, chrome, and brass finishes, but they’ve taken finish options a whole step further where you can combine any or all of these finishes in one unit. For instance, you want black rear legs and brass springs with chrome front legs? Or vice versa? Or any other combo? Just let ‘em know, the choice is yours.
Check ‘em out at www.paughco.com or call 800-423-2621 for info.
Builder: Kirk Van Scoten
Situated in the small village of Oriskany, New York, Kirk VanScoten’s company, Sumax, is world renowned for powdercoating for over 22 years, but there’s a hell of a lot more going on there than just making products look pretty in a durable powdercoat finish. Sumax offers a wide range of products produced in-house from composite glass fenders (for all styles of bikes) and saddlebags (in all sizes and configurations) to high-performance Taylor spark plug wires and battery cables. Possibly it’s this product diversity and dedication to high quality along with a forward-thinking business plan that makes Sumax continue to roll on successfully in tough economic times. “The orders aren’t as fast and furious as they had been, but with a new distributor in Canada and we’re still heavy in Europe, we still have ‘em coming,” said Kirk. “With the fall of many highly-specialized chopper shops, we’re okay ‘cause we’ve been sorta middle-of-the road. If you’ve got a Harley, we’ve got the fenders or the wires for you. We’re three businesses in one between the glass fenders and bags, the Taylor wires, and the powdercoating.”
Powdercoating is probably the most famous aspect of Sumax and Kirk said, “We get a total mix of powdercoating from ground-ups to somebody who’s doing a total refurbishing. Plus, Diamond Heads are still very popular and we drop-ship parts to them for customers.” He’s also not afraid to enter new markets, sometimes out of necessity. “One time I had subcontractors making glass for us, but then we ran into problems with those suppliers. I got frustrated and said, ‘Okay that’s it. It doesn’t have to be a filthy shop to do glass. I figured out how to not just do it as good as what we were getting, but better,” said Kirk.
Check out Sumax’s products and services at www.sumax.com or call 800-654-5546 for info.
SPECIFICATIONS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|