Two bikes I worked the frames over on, show up in the same magazine, in the same issue. Features on Scott Di Lalla's Harbortown Bobber, and Kevin Baas' '47 Knuckle are both in the Nov. '09 issue of IronWorks. The Harbortown Bobber even made the cover.Kevin Baas' Knuck frame was a major salvage, and if it hadn't been a late "bullneck" frame that was 80% Factory electric welded, I probably would've passed on the repairs. The complete lower frame was in really sad shape, along with the seatpost. The '47 frame got a new lower frame tube from the sidehack forging all the way to within about 6" of the axle plate on the R/H side, and the L/H side got a new lower tube from the sidehack forging to the rear transmission crossbrace. The upper seat crosstube was rotted thru, so that was replaced as well.
The seatpost and the backbone were the usual "Let's stick a Pan in a Knuck frame..." hack & whack, so a complete seatpost tube and lower crossmember from a swingarm frame were welded in, and 6" of the backbone was repaired where they had "clearanced" it to fit the Pan's rear valve cover. I also repaired the top of both rear legs of his OEM springer, where somebody had hacked them off way below the top clamp - probably to get the top clamp off when somebody welded the risers into the legs.
Scott's HB Triumph rigid wasn't as extensive a workover. After my buddy Dennis at Wadda Blast! Sandblasting did his thing, I just had to check it for plumb and square, remove (without fucking up the frame tubing ) about a dozen brackets that previous owners had welded on, weld up about an equal amount of holes drilled in it, and masage some nasty scars out of it. I also welded up some good-sized holes in the neck where some past owner had cut too deep to remove the lugs on it, and had just filled them in with bondo.
I did a good job on both frames - Scott has been riding his all over SoCal for about a year with no complaints, and won his class at the GNRS in January, and if you've ever seen photos of Kevin Baas, you know he has relentlessly beat on that Knuck for two years, and the frame has stood up to it.
Makes me pretty proud, go buy the magazine. It's due on the stands next week.
I can't thank you enough Rich, the repairs are top notch and have been put to the test and passed. From Drag racing at the Smoke Out in NC, to pounding the hills in Arizona, to flat tracking and burnouts in Sturgis, TN, WI, Iowa, Indiana, and Chicago, I have racked up close to 13,000.00 miles in the two years this bike has been running. And seeing as we only have about 6 months to ride them miles were pounded out hard and fast with no problems ever. You get an A++
ReplyDeleteI can attest to Teach riding that 47 in sturgis this year as we all had a blast on the flat track racing at Broken Spoke! And that bike still runs straight! Kevin is a good friend of mine and your right, he rides the crap out of that bike....but it holds up. Hope to meet ya one day to man.
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