Garage for a little bit more

[FatDog]

The bike I've been working on for a year, yea yea i know, is my old '63 panhead. Matching engine and tranny numbers. New frame and 18=over front springer.
No front brake on the springer, hand built rear fender, no front fender. Hand made jockey shift. You can see the jockey shift in the last pic.
The old frame was decades old and had a crack in it. So I bought this new frame and front end from paughco a while back and am now getting it close to street ready. The rims i have are all black - skinny up front and very wide in rear.
Whats really cool is the combo gas/oil tank. I cut the streched custom tank 1/3 2/3 and welded a wall inbetween and reconnected. The smaller side is for oil and plumbed to the engine. The bigger side is for gas and plumbed accordingly. The bike will be a minimalist, black, and as i remember from when i rode the engine last ... a quick little sod burner. Open primary. All you can see on the frame will be engine and the kick-starter tranny. No chrome. Obviously.

[TXiceman]

Well, FatDog was the first to find the new Forum. With this he get a cup of coffee at McDonalds, provided he has a couple of dollars with him.....

Project is looking good. My wife has told me that if I come home with a scooter, I had better have divorce papers in my pocket...so no scooter

Ken

[FatDog]

I used to carry my RoadKing in my toyhauler sometimes and that is a pretty good sized bike - heavier then most bikes by 100 or 200 pounds and the bags made it wider then most. It provided some challenges at loading into the hauler.
Well my panhead is a lot lighter and has no bags, but with the loong extended forks it will provide numerous new challenges of its own.

[mountainkowboy]

Nice project "dog", when I'm done with the van, I would like to build a real bobber! Like the ones that were around when I was a kid, not the present definition.

[tmar10]

Hello Fatdog,
Nice looking project. I have built numerous bikes with jockey shifts and nearly killed myself on each one. I have never used a hand clutch handle on the shifter, only foot and one electric actuated. Are you concerned with fuel vapor issues due to heating?
Thomas

[FatDog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmar10 Hello Fatdog, Nice looking project. I have built numerous bikes with jockey shifts and nearly killed myself on each one. I have never used a hand clutch handle on the shifter, only foot and one electric actuated. Are you concerned with fuel vapor issues due to heating? Thomas

I have a little bit of question i guess at what heating the gas tank up a few degrees will do, but then again the tank is air cooled and the gas and oil lines are on seperate sides of the tank and seperated by a thick guage sheetmetal. I have personally never seen it done before, and I firmly believe that I own the record in Calif for having walked the most number of miles along the freeways because one of my vehicles breaking down. I just don't think it will happen with this bike.. Suuure
I have used an old clutch lever mounting it to the jockey shift and am running the cable to it. Pretty interesting but since i have no front brake i thought it might give me one extra life.

and Mountainkowboy,
yea bike definitions sure do evolve over the years ehh???
While building a couple of my rides I have used images from my memory of growing up in the SanFran area in the '60s / '70s and all the rat bikes and bike gangs roaring up and down the streets. Those bikes were not built cookiecutter and they had a real style.
(then again, they ALSO seemed to walk a fair number of miles down the freeway. i loved the look )

[mountainkowboy]

I moved to Socal when I was 11 from New Jersey.............what a culture shock!! Shortly after that I got into Harley's and Hotrods. I lived next door to Larry Abercromby (bad spelling) who built the Stick City Camaro, The Texas Rare Bear, and a host of other 1/4 mile cars, hotrods, and Harleys. I grew up in that garage, gettin greasy and learnin to wrench.

[mfolsom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatDog The bike I've been working on for a year, yea yea i know, is my old '63 panhead.

Nice!
Let us know how having the oil and gas tank together works out.

I've added a couple of pics of mine. My son and I built it over a couple of years. 80CI, 4spd kicker ratchet top tranny, lots of spare parts. It did have a foot clutch and side shift but I switched.

[StevePav]

Thanks for the photos of your choppers. They look great. Fat Dog, are you running a Linkert on that Pan?

I rode a series of Panhead and Shovel choppers that changed as I aged and opted for comfort. First came a front brake...then came a wider front tire (went from (21" to 16" after a blow out), then a front fender (got tired of residual road moisture soaking me long after it quit raining, and a non leaking primary (got rid of the black streak up my back). Then came the switch to a frame with shocks (God how I came to dread railroad tracks on my hardtails), and finally morphing into a bagger, the ONLY way to ride long distances...comfort...carrying capacity...ya gotta love 'em.

Now, my toad is my FLT...no car...and I'm happier for it for I can become intimate with my surroundings as I ride, not a spectator inside a car.

Steve

[mountainkowboy]

I ;oved my choppers too. My last one was a 65 pan in a Denver frame. I lost all of the pics I used to have to a fire, but she was a sight to behold. 14 over girder with a 21 up front. Trident back bar with a highback king/queen. I decided to get a bagger when we went on a ride to San Diego down the 5 freeway, I always rode with a kidney belt and kept the rear tire a little soft for some bounce. When we got to Oceanside I pissed blood, that was the one of the last rides I took on a hardtail. I love the Road King I have now, very comfy.

[mike brez]

Still dont know how to post pics but this is my last homemade chopper http://rides.webshots.com/photo/7528...45769361tbffYA

[mountainkowboy]

nice bike mike!

[Lued]

This was my first old pan, open chain primary, jockey shift, no front brake, drag pipes, what a fun bike, it sounded like a freight train coming down the street. If you want to turn around you go around the block. Harley riders have longer front ends. Now I ride a 1998 Fat Boy, what a change. Denny

[FatDog]

".. if you want to turn around you go around the block ..."

that is funny!, and it sucks
and great pic

while testing anything new that i have (messed up) worked on my bike i ride it up and down my street and have to do a 3 or 5 point turn at the end, the neighbors down there just shake thir head and smile