Swissmike on the JJ has a rad bike. Here’s some info:

It’s been a 3 year journey to get to this point. I bought a pretty sad looking 68 bonneville chop rolling basket case. Upon closer inspection I decided to junk everything except the motor, frame, frontend and hubs.

The cases had chain damge and were replaced with a set of nice ‘67 cases which came without any hardware, which turned out to be a bitch because most of the hardware changed from ‘67 to ‘68.
The late style head was rebuilt by MAP, countryside cycle installed and sized the cam bushings.

All bearings were replaced throughout and the frontend completely rebuilt.
I shortened and rethread the fork tubes 1″. New rims (stock 19″ front and 16″ rear were laced with stainless Buchanan spokes on a homemade truing stand built out of 2×4 pieces.

I machined the oil tank, engine plates, headlight bracket and fabricated most all of the parts and brackets on the bike.
The taillight lens started out as a truck cab marker light, for which I built a bezel and the interior bulb holder.

The fender is an aluminum aftermarket ebay item.

The electircal system consists of a Sparx regulator /rectifier/capacitor with a Boyer electronic ignition module and a 2.2Ah gel battery to make starting easier.

I “untunnelled” the Wassel tank slightly to make it sit level and added new outlets.
The paint was my first attempt at a flake job. It took me two tries to get it right (it helps to read the label on the bottle before using reducer instead of hardener…).
Pinstriping was done by local talent Anthony White.

Modern Japanese style by speed & noise

Dave has the madness of the best variety. Go check his site to see this beauty hand built fron the ground up. http://boardtracker.blogspot.com/

Billy’s new Shovelhead… rockin’ as usual

Playing make believe

My desire to get rubber on the road is driving me into a Denethor type of madness. The weather taunts me from outside my office window - vivid memories of last years incessant rain reminding me of how fleeting the good weather lasts around these parts. Onward we go - heave ho!

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Sent in from Wally at Wally’s Speed Shop
I’ve been restoring and building bikes in my garage for years so I’m sending you some pics of my latest bike build. She’s a ‘77 XS650 I purchased for $675. and after six weeks of work and about $1,200. worth of parts, she’s ready to roll.

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When we last left off, had my wheels off and ready to powdercoat and my tank needed to get the Frisco treatment. First stop: the land of 40oz, midgets and jackassery - Choppahead (oh, they build some pretty sweet bikes too). The CH dudes got some new digs, so I took the camera out for a few shots. Lots of cool builds going on, I’ll post more of those pics another time - but hit the read more link below for a few shots.

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Between working on the Greasebag, my regular work schedule and family life I’m getting behind on reporting on the Sportster progress. A ton of progress has been made in the last week so this incomplete photo and brain dump will have to suffice to get things back on track. (Pic above is of the bike before this all began.)

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I went to go see Jay Roche aka Special ‘79 this weekend to get some handlebars made up for the Sporty. Expect a full write with tons of pics in a couple days, but suffice to say Jay is a wizard. Here’s a shot of the man in action.

Hit the read more link for the tech info

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I’m waiting for a bunch of parts to arrive, so the weekend wrench session was a bit uneventful. Top of of the list was fixing my seatpan cutting mishap. I cut the seat pan too short, but had a piece big enough to make everything work again.

JB Welded the 2 pieces together. With the amount of JB Weld I used, it might have been fine just like this. It was pretty solid, but I didn’t trust it. I was only using the JB as “glue” to make the fiberglass repair easier…

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Let’s get on with it shall we? This is where we last left off:

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James from Killer Bobbers in Copenhagen sent some pics in of 2 bikes he’s built. Both of them rock the casbah. Stoked.

As I mentioned previously, one of the projects I was looking at getting into this year was a mid-to late 90s Sportster that I wanted to give the modern japanese / bratstyle treatment to. So a few weeks back I scored a ‘94 1200 for a reasonable number of greenbacks, and this past Sunday, I was finally able to tear into it….

I started with this - your typical bone stock Sportster 1200 with bolt on, catalog tomfoolery. Overall, not too bad - plenty of reusable / hack-worthy bits. Time to get to work.

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I was going through some old bookmarks and came across this shovel built by Faust over on the JJ. The bike may have changed since then, but I really dig the simplicity and clean lines of it in this form as well. A simple, straight ahead and smooth looking bike - great lines and everything flows together well.

Cole sent in this killer flatty that belongs to his buddy Bobby. Not much info to go along with it - kick only, foot clutch hand shift, no front brake, no signals - but the pictures do a lot of the story telling. Nice, simple and classic.

Is there anything I really need to say about this killer pre-unit besides - awesome…?
Click the pics for more details.

You may have seen Jeremy Cupp’s last build - the Panster - from the many magazine articles it was featured in. A great bike for sure, but it’s his latest custom build - the TT Deluxe - that has had me completely floored since I first saw it at the Smoke Out. Built around a 2006 Triumph motor, this bike KILLS it on every level - over-all design, engineering, attention to detail, fabrication - it’s got it all.

Jeremy fabricated everything for this build in the back corner of his family’s machine shop, including the paint and leatherwork. It seems obvious to me that the family business has rubbed off on Jeremy in all of the right ways. The attention to detail - especially when we’re talking about custom fabricated parts - is mind blowing. From the front end to the jackshaft setup to the leather tank pads to a simple thing like the taillight - everything on this bike works together perfectly and just make you stand back and say wow. That jackshaft setup definitely blew a few minds - really ingenious stuff here. I say this with all respect to all the other builders who threw down hard with killer builds - hands down, this was my absolute favorite bike at the Smoke Out.

The success of the Panster and TT Deluxe has driven Jeremy to start up his own company - dubbed LCFabrications - where he focuses on creating custom builder parts. Check out his website www.lcfabrications.com or myspace: www.myspace.com/lc_fabrications for more info.

You want more? I’ve got more - hit the read more link below to see a tons more pics, including lots of details, as well as a full tech sheet.

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As far as XS650 Choppers go, this one easily ranks in my top 10 - scratch that, top 5 that I’ve ever seen. The bike is seamless front front to back and designed perfectly - from the proportions to the choices in parts. Ever notice how it’s the really simple parts that can make a bike really stand out on it’s own? The pipes on this XS are a great example of that. Nothing crazy or fancy, but perfectly designed for this bike. Well done. Another great example that proves that anyone who thinks that cool chops can only be designed with american or british iron is full of shit.