BMXS

Joe Cupp – This is my first bike build and we started it in October of 2010. The bike is an 83 heritage special. My friend Chris Baun helped me trouble shoot the electrical and we got it running. The intention of this build was to teach myself how to trouble shoot, fabricate, rewire, tune and conquer any issues that may arise. Everything on the bike was done in house without the help of any commercial shops.

The entire build would not have been possible without old BMX friends that now ride motorcycles. I wanted to make sure my frame was straight and welded on perfectly so I asked my friend Judd Linder to TIG weld it for me in December of 2010. He’s a millwright by trade, so I was sure the job was done right. Once that was done, my old business partner and good friend Steve Luckett took me under his wing and taught me the basics of metal fabrication. I learned a lot over that winter.

It instilled the desire to turn my garage into my own little man cave. Steve is responsible for all the really tech features on the bike. He frenched in the Jim Beam sight glass and the pipes were also his brainchild. The machine work was done by another good friend, Bob Millerleile. He made the brass gas cap, wheel spacer for the 21 inch narrowglide and a bunch of misc bungs.

After all the fabrication was done, Kerry Sayre powder coated the frame, triple trees, motor mounts and a bunch of small odds and ends. The Tins were done by Josh Scott of old school helmets(digthelid.com). Reassembly was pretty smooth until it was time to wire everything up. I have never wired anything before, so I made a bunch of mistakes and blew a bunch of fuses!! I couldn’t have done the wiring without my friends Shaun Jordan and Nathan Diclaudio. They kept me calm when I wanted to throw the bike off a cliff.

The carbs were completely torn apart, cleaned and re-jetted. Once the bike was finally on the road the charging system died an I had to swap out the electronic ignition and install a Pamco and Hugh’s PMA kit. Everything else on the actual motor is stock. I dropped a few teeth off the rear sprocket to lower the rpms on the highway. This is a single kick bike and it’s reliable as hell!! I can’t believe how well this thing handles and it’s now my daily rider.