Geof took the bike home on Super Bowl Sunday in 2005 to his Shirley, Massachusetts, residence and set the bike up in his basement (see builder sidebar) to prepare it for restoration and his own version of personalized modification. “I was able to buy all the replacement sheet metal online. Each piece is from a different state, and came from bikes built from ’01 to’04. I had real good luck with each person I dealt with¾not one guy lied to me about the parts, everyone was honest and there were no surprises,” Geof said. The surprising part is that everyone he dealt with was straightforward with him, but then Harley owners have a tendency to watch out for their own.
Once Geof had collected and fit the new-to-him tins to his bike, he tore every component from the frame and sent them to the painter. He knew that he wanted the bike painted blue with flames but he wasn’t sure exactly what hue of blue. “I looked at a million different shades of blue, including every GM and Porsche blue from 1950 to now. After talking with the painter he helped me choose Dupont’s Hot Hues Midnight Tide with silver metallic flames. Then he told me not to worry and not to call him, he’d call me when he was done,” Geof said. A few months later, the frame and sheet metal were returned to Geof molded, smoothed, and with all excess holes and mounting slots filled in and covered in Geof’s new favorite color.
When he had shipped the metal out for paint, Geof was left with a stock motor staring him in the face — leaving the motor in that state wouldn’t be right. He sent the motor to Gary Conton, a local motor builder, for a 95” kit for his stock 88-incher. Gary split the H-D cases and filled them with a Harley flywheel connected to S&S rods and pistons inside bored H-D cylinders and under H-D heads. A pair of S&S 585 bump sticks was secured inside the cam chest to operate the valve train while a Hawg’s Breath air-cleaner cover allows air into the motor and a set of Vance & Hines 2-into-2 Big Radius exhaust pipes evacuate waste gases. The stock transmission and primary were kept for their durable and steadfast traits, plus they’d have no problem handling the additional power (the bike recently took a spin on a dyno, and churned out a very respectable 105-horsepower).
As the motor and sheet metal returned to the warmth of his basement, Geof reassembled the entire bike. He replaced the stock triple trees with a set of Pro-One five-degree raked trees for a total of 39-degrees of rake and used stock- length Deuce legs that appear to level the bottom frame rails with the ground. The stock wheels were replaced with West Coast Choppers’ Creep billet wheels with a 180mm Avon Venom tire in the rear, along with a matching pulley and rotors. He did keep the chromed H-D calipers, but upgraded the throttle and clutch cables, and brake lines with stainless-steel braided versions of each. Drag Specialties handlebars and risers were bolted to the top triple tree with chromed H-D hand controls and grips, plus a set of new H-D foot controls. Geof’s oldest brother used to work in a tannery and donated his time to make the bike’s solo seat, decorated in tribal-flame stitching.
Since he’s had the bike back together, Geof has been riding it as often as the weather will allow (and sometimes when it doesn’t) and he’s entered it in a few shows. His deuce won first place at the Connecticut Convention Center at an Easyriders’ Show in the spectator class. “The people at the show were so nice. Everyone commented that the bike was cool because the entire crowd could relate to it, it’s a bolt-together custom, but it’s something the average guy can do with his bike if he puts his mind to it,” Geof said.
Up Close: Kuryakyn Silver Bullet Taillight/Turn Signals
Among their incredible lighting inventory for many different bikes, including imported and domestic varieties, Kuryakyn manufactures a number of different marker lights specifically for Harley-Davidsons. Designed to fit a short fender with struts, Kuryakyn’s Silver Bullet lighting kits will fit ’00-’02 Softails, ’93-’05 Dyna Wide Glides, and ’00-’07 Deuces, much like the ’03 Deuce seen here.
Matching the quality lighting components like the Headwinds headlight, Kuryakyn’s Silver Bullets are more than just another place to add a bit of chrome flash. They come with either super-bright LEDs or high-shock, heavy-duty single- filament quartz-Halogen bulbs that keep the bike visible even when on an unlit country backroad. The LED version comes in either amber or red with lenses that match the LED color and each LED Silver Bullet kit comes with a load equalizer so there is no need to purchase one separately. The Halogen version also comes in amber and red and there is no need to use a load equalizer. Small Silver Bullets measure 2.5-inches by 2.625-inches while the large style measures 3.25-inches by 2.3125-inches and can be used as either turn signals or “Run-Turn-Brake” lights with Kuryakyn’s plug-in rear Run-Turn-Brake Controller (P/N 4859 sold separately). Matching Silver Bullet turn signals are also available for the front end, including many different styles of mounts, clamps, and innovative placement for stock to modified Harleys.
View Kuryakyn’s easy to use, informative, and extensive parts and accessories catalog online at www.kuryakyn.com or call 866-277-9598 toll free to order a catalog, find a dealer near you, or for further information on their products and company.
Builder:Geof Hemenway
Not everyone has a garage that is designed for building bikes. For instance, Geof Hemenway built this bike in his basement. When he first got the bike he didn’t even have a garage and as a New England resident, the basement held another perk, it’s warm there during the winter. “Working on the bike in the basement was great, but I found it’s not exactly the ideal place to build a bike. When I finished assembling the bike and it was time to take it for its first test ride, my friends pushed me to hurry so I could enter it in a local show the next day,” Geof said. Unfortunately, there’s a series of stairs leading down to the basement that made it difficult to get the bike out, so he built a ramp, thinking it would be enough to get the bike out. “My son and I set up our tractor with a rope attached to the handlebars to pull the bike up the ramp. I was hanging on the bike from the rear trying to steer it and as I approached the top of the ramp I suddenly realized that the handlebars would never make it through the door. I immediately yelled at my son to stop the tractor, but the brakes were wet (and it’s a very old machine) and it didn’t stop. The bike destroyed the doorframe and of course, the handlebars, risers, mirrors, and hand controls were mangled beyond repair,” Geof said. But the destruction didn’t stop there; Geof’s tractor also took out the family’s hen house by knocking it off its legs before finally coming to a stop. He put the bike back in the basement to fix it, but the second time he tried to get it out, he unbolted the handlebars and risers from the triple trees and set them on protective towels parallel to the length of the bike. “Thank goodness my son told me to remove the handlebars the second time around. I was ready to cut holes in the doorframe with my chainsaw,” Geof said.
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