I’D lusted after this bike, War Pigs, when I first saw it in an American bike magazine way back. It’d been built by George Counes at Spartan Frameworks in Tucson, Arizona, and was based around a big-inch ’47 Knucklehead Harley-Davidson motor in a one-off, TiG-welded, chromoly rigid frame with a riveted springer front end. That was a while ago, but if you want to see it as I did, then go to George’s website at www.spartanframeworks.com – it’s the 13th bike down, and is apparently still for sale for $29,500. It isn’t, by the way.
Back then it had a 93 cubic inch (1524cc) Knucklehead built by Flathead Power, a Morris self-advancing magneto, an S&S Super E carb, a slop-top four-speed ’box with Andrews gears, handmade controls including a jockey-shift and a foot clutch, a 21-inch alloy front rim with a vintage Hallcraft hub, an 18-inch rear with a star hub, H-D mechanical brakes, a handmade stainless, leather-bound seat, a handmade copper oil tank and lines, nickel-plated exhausts, 18-inch apes with internal controls, and custom paint and stripes by Johnny Vegas of Hi-Speed Rods & Customs with a black base and a fishnet pattern pearl that you can only see in direct sunlight, and it took first place in its class at the Easyriders Show in LA the year it was built, and was also filmed to be seen on Speed cable and satellite TV show American Thunder.
This story is from the October 2019 edition of Back Street Heroes.
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This story is from the October 2019 edition of Back Street Heroes.
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THE SLED
I’M A SEMI-PRO SHED BUILDER, WHO BUILDS UNDER THE NAME DIRTY DICK’S… I SAY ‘SEMIPRO’ BECAUSE I’VE ONLY, AT THE TIME OF WRITING, SOLD TWO BIKES (AND, USUALLY, I GET PAID IN BEER FOR ANY OTHER WORK I DO).
THE CHIEF
I BOUGHT MY ENFIELD, A 2001 350 BULLET, IN SHROPSHIRE IN JUNE 2019, WITH JUST 11,000 MILES ON THE CLOCK. IT WAS IN TRIALS TRIM, BUT I ALREADY HAD IN MY HEAD WHAT I WANTED TO DO WITH IT – MAKE IT INTO A ‘50S-STYLE CUSTOM, BASED LOOSELY AROUND AN INDIAN SCOUT THAT I’D SEEN PICTURES OF.
MADE O'GUBBINS
OVER THE LAST YEAR OR SO, MANY OF US’VE HAD TO FOREGO THE JOY OF SEARCHING FOR PARTS AT AUTO-JUMBLES, SHOWS AND BREAKER’S YARDS, RELYING ON EITHER THE HIT-AND-MISS OF INTERNET AUCTION SITES, OR TURNING TO OUR OWN STOCK OF PARTS, WHEN LOOKING AT BUILDING OR MODIFYING A BIKE.
BUDGET BOBBER
PEOPLE ALWAYS SAY CUSTOM BIKES’RE EXPENSIVE, THAT ONLY THE RICH CAN HAVE ‘EM, BUT IF YOU REALLY WANT ONE THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY…
LEAF IT OUT
THE SUZUKI LS650 IS PERHAPS BEST KNOWN FOR HAVING ONE OF THE LEAST SUITED AND MOST RANDOM MODEL NAMES IN MOTORCYCLING HISTORY – THE SAVAGE.
SIZE O
I DECIDED I NEEDED A BIKE FOR MYSELF AS A KEEPER (RATHER THAN THE USUAL BUILD IT, SELL IT, FUND THE NEXT ONE), BUT TIME AND FUNDS WERE GOING TO GET TIGHT. I WANTED A ‘60S/’70S-STYLE HARDTAIL WITH A DECENT-SIZED MOTOR, SINGLE OR TWIN, AND SOMETHING I DIDN’T HAVE TO DO ANY FRAME MODIFICATIONS TO.
LITTLE VICTORIES
SOME FOLK SAY WORK’S A NECESSARY EVIL, OTHERS MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR SITUATION. A GOOD FRIEND ONCE SAID TO ME THAT IT’S THE LITTLE VICTORIES THAT COUNT WHEN AT WORK, USING THEIR MACHINERY TO MAKE BIKE PARTS, BLAGGING FREE STATIONARY, OR JUST HAVING A POO ON THEIR TIME…
BACK TO THE EIGHTIES!
AFTER THE STYLISTIC EXCESSES OF THE 1970S, THE 1980S SAW A KIND OF DIRECTION CHANGE IN CUSTOM BIKE BUILDING – ONE WHICH RESULTED IN NO SMALL PART FROM THE ABUNDANCE OF FAST, RELIABLE FOUR-CYLINDER MOTORCYCLES FROM THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN.
APPLE
MY GOAL WAS TO CREATE A CAFÉ RACER WITH STYLING FROM THE FIFTIES – ROUND CURVES THAT’D MAKE IT POP.
3 DIRT DIGGERS
OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS DIRT DIGGERS, HELD AT THE EDDIE WRIGHT SPEEDWAY STADIUM IN SCUNTHORPE, HAS BECOME THE NUMBER ONE, ALL-COMERS-WELCOME BIKE RACE IN THE UK.
