I picked up this bike a few months ago. We drove 8 hours round trip. Good buy. It’s a 79′ kick only. It was already hard tailed… bonus!! It came with a hand shifter and a hand clutch? In other words, you had to take your hand off the throttle and reach across the bike to the left… to shift… what?
We couldn’t get it to start at the seller’s place. Luckily for me, it came with a correct title, a hard tail and new tires!! SCORE. Got her cheap. I digress.
On to the build – I started with the bars (it had clip-ons), way too low. So I cut up a set of 1″ and also a set of 7/8 ” so I could run 1 “ bars w 7/8” grips.
Then I took apart the forks – they were way sloppy. Stretching the springs a little and adding heavier oil took the slop out of the front end.
I made a custom bracket to attach the flh cowbells to the front forks. Then the seat was too small for my butt, so I bought one on eBay. 12 “ wide with a TC bros airbag for suspension. Rides beautifully!!
Way better than springs. I like the look of a rear racing cowl, but they always are used with a rigid seat, so I mocked it up with the bagged seat. It worked for me, so I fabbed it w poster board and bent up the sheet metal and welded it together.
Back to the hand shifter. I designed and built a cantilever shifter system and foot clutch. Took some trial and error, but I had one on my sportster chopper, so just a little tweaking and Bobs your uncle.
This 650 came w a rusty mustang tank. Rusty on the outside. Cool yet not what I wanted. Ever since the bike built offs back in the day, I’ve always loved the Harley Rapido gas tanks, so I purchased one on eBay. Payed too much for it, but it had the side panels and the gas cap.
So what the hell the heart wants what the heart wants. (Oh .. the shifter knob is a “jimmy flintstone “ from eBay. He makes killer stuff)
I found out just recently that the bike has a TC bros PMA system. Very cool, no battery needed. The headlight is from the 1940s-50s.
My buddy EZ from Galveston gave it to me. Thanks man!!
Speaking of thanks. I could have never got the Shillelagh on the road without the input and mechanical help of my BEST friend FUD!!!… muchas gracias!
Lastly the paint – I’ve spent years perfecting the art of cheap-skate metalflake! So rattled a few primer coats. Then a few coats of metallic base coat. THEN “glitter blast “ from the art supply store. Cover liberally… lastly.. find a rattle can clear that has hardener very important… regular rattle can clear will yellow and flake off in the sun.
So there it is Rhinos metalflake shillelagh.
Submitted by Ryan Skeen
