Feeling a little empty inside with nothing to work on right now.
Scott – I purchased the bike summer of 2010. It wasn’t running but after a good cleaning of the carbs it fired up and ran great. I was lucky because the original bike was complete and everything functioned which allowed me to have it safety inspected and registered prior to chopping it. With the highway traffic act here in Canada, I would have never been able to get it safetied and on the road in its current condition.
The sawzall and cutting disks came out in September of last year and with the help of my Dad, Gord Witherspoon, we grafted on the David Bird looped hardtail. The hardtail is a 4” stretch, 2” drop and the fit and finish on it was awesome. I loaded up the frame, brought it back to my place and spent the next couple of weeks cleaning up all of the original tabs, neck gussets, etc.
The remainder of the bike was built in my unheated and un-insulated garage over the winter. I live in Winnipeg and if you’ve ever been here during the winter months you know how bitterly cold it gets. It was tough to stay motivated and get out there whenever I had some free time, but I managed to get it done for this spring. Looking back it seems like I built the entire bike with nothing more than an angle grinder, files and my Miller mig welder.
Some main features of the bike are that it has a wassell style peanut tank, handmade fender made by my dad, previously mentioned David Bird hardtail from Lowbrow Customs, narrowed Biltwell bars, electrics box made from an ebay oil tank kit, 4 ½” bates style headlight, shaved and lowered front forks, pipes made by me, PMA swap and Pamco ignition.
The paint was done by DMK Customs in Lockport Manitoba and it really sets off my relatively simple build. I chose not to rebuild the motor this winter due to time constraints and the compression is still damn near perfect, but it will be torn down next winter. I left the stock frame section with the mid controls more for simplicity than anything, but I did re-engineer the rear brake setup slightly.
Future plans for the bike include an engine rebuild and making myself a new set of bars. The current bars a little cluttered for my liking.
The bike runs and rides great. It’s a blast to rip around town on and it gets tons of attention. The only major mishap I’ve had so far is that the tank sits so low, the clear tygon fuel lines I had coming from under the tank were bouncing around a little too close to the valve covers and melted right through on my very first ride. I’ve since switched to the thicker, more rigid, black fuel line for that section of hose. I’m definitely hooked and feeling a little empty inside with nothing to work on right now. Can’t wait to start the next project.
Thanks to my dad, my wife Danielle and my 5 year old son Camden, who needed the odd reminder that I do not love the motorcycle more than him.
Thanks for looking and if anyone is in the Winnipeg area let me know.
- Scott Witherspoon
- Winnipeg, MB Canada
