Big Pink's Not Pink Sporty!

Ian has this weird love of the color pink. I don't understand it, but I guess if his Wife can deal with it so can I ;-) A while back Ian bought this Sporty off of ebay and was happy with it. Then he decided to actually ride it on a road trip or two and suddenly the love affair was on the rocks! With the help of a few friends and some cool new parts I am happy to report that the relationship has now stabilized. It seems that the earlier version of the bike was a bunch of flashy eye catching distractions to keep you from seeing the issues this beast had. Now that a new and MUCH better gas tank has been mounted, the rear fender has been painted to match, a new headlight has been added and most importantly the transmission and carb problems have been addressed she's like a new woman. I look forward to many miles of shared roads with this beast. Wish you could make it to the Bash Ian, but I understand.

Everyone knows about my fetish for upswept pipes, the only thing better are upswept fishtails.

Ian did all the leatherwork on this bike. He's new to the leather game, but is catching on REALLY quick. He's even had a paying customer for some of his work.

That Super Glide style tank just sets off the natural lines of this bike. The old tank distracted you, this on invites you in.

Lean, mean and very clean.......until you get 5 miles down the road. It IS an ironhead so you know there will be some oil slinging somewhere.

Good view if the saddlebag Ian made.

Nice new air cleaner, one day I'll talk him into chopping that cam cover.

The seat with Ian's work for all to see.

Posts will be kinda slow for the next week as I get ready to head out to the Bastard Bash. Stay tuned!

The Suicide Imbecile at the Big Mtn Run.

Another beautiful Sporty I saw at BMR. I need to start carrying a notebook and trying to get more details about these bikes when I see them. I can certainly tell you a few things about this bike such as the details are kick ass and worthy of looking for. There is some really cool engraving in places like the brake plates and kicker cover. The air cleaner is a one off for sure and the way the paint was done makes me smile. I'm not into the fake aged paint where a guy paints a bunch of layers and then grinds some off. These guys did it differently though. They used this technique, but not to look aged. They painted the silver to match the tank and then in places like the side of the front down tubes they made a grind stripe (for lack of a better term) so that it looks like they painted a really cool stripe with a quick brush swipe, but it has a better look done this way. You'll have to see it in person to really get the effect, but I can assure you it is worth the look.

Suicide Imbecile in all its glory. I'm not sure about the all terrain tires, but they are growing on me. I think it gives it a meaner more aggressive look.

I love the sissybar/tailight set up, it looks like the light is an original piece as well.

I love those old tin primaries.

You can look at this pic for days and still not catch all the details. I know I've looked at it at least 20 times and still see something new. I like the way the shifter is done. If you make a shifter too heavy it's going to wear out your seals faster and can cause other issues. This way of doing it keeps the weight down and at the same time doesn't over power all the other cool details.

A closer view of some of the engraving.

(SOLD!!!!) Need to Sell these Wheels to Fund the Project.....

OK, these are the wheels that came on my new Sporty project. I've already replaced them with spokes so I need to sell these to get more stuff. The rear is wheel only, the front has a new Firestone replica tire with less than 20 miles on it. They are powdercoated black, the rear has one small nick out of it. The front looks good but there is one small area with a little fisheye in it. I'll try to get a pic of the flaw if you want it, the pic I have makes it look a lot worse than it is. I'll be putting these on ebay soon, but I'd rather not mess with it if I can help it. Ask questions if you need to. I will sell these with free shipping (one of the perks of my job). Help a Chopperfreak out and get some cool stuff for your bike. I'm asking $250 OBO for the set, but will consider partial trades. Let me know what ya have to trade.The bearings are for 3/4" axles and the PN for the front wheel is 43499-78, the rear wheel doesn't have a number on it, but it is from the same bike as the front I'm pretty sure. Tell your friends! I want these sold without having to screw around with ebay!

The rear wheel

Other side

The front with the Firestone tire.

Very close up shot of the nick on the rear wheel, it is actually slightly smaller than a BB.

UPDATE: The Weed Steed

Some of you will remember when I posted a while back about the Weed Steed. This was Nick's bike that he sold and Duane had fallen in love with it and wanted it so he tracked down the bike from the person Nick sold it to and bought it. Since then he has been working with Nick and Spenser to get it back to chopper glory. It's not done yet, but it's getting close. It still needs the wires run and a few other details but here it is for now....

New paint, rechromed oil tank, new pipes and a few other details.

Me being artsy again.

Dig those classic lines!

I LOVE the old ribbed primaries and king/queen seats.