"So, we had some reefer, an' a couple bottles of.......

......Ripple Pagan Pink, some purple psilocybin caps, an' a handfull of reds to level us off, an' we had a oxy-acetylene torch, an' a stick welder.....". How true, how true.

Brad from New Mexico sent up this frame, and it's from his long-time, long bike chopper project. The frame mods were done decades ago, so Brad wanted me to give it the once-over, and get it back in sound shape where needed - especially the neck area, but he wanted to preserve the "line" and style of the original framework. Brad is putting this back on the road again........

Originally, this was an early Pan frame. Somewhere in the past, the original neck was replaced with a bullneck neck piece, and the frame tubing was replaced all the way from the lower seatpost crossmember to the neck (arrow A.). Those "wishbone" downtubes aren't the originals, but they are 1 1/8" tube, and they look pretty good. My engine cradle jig fits the engine mounts, so we're good to go!

What we're going to do, is replace the whole neck with a new OEM-style neck casting from John at Hardtail Choppers, with a 40 degree rake to match the actual neck rake Brad has now. For the downtubes, we're going to preserve the wishbone sections, but we'll partially replace the upper sections to take out the forward bend in the tubes (at arrow B.), and realign them to plug into the new casting, and they'll take a straighter line up, as in approximately line C.

We're also going to replace the entire backbone with 1 1/2" tubing - the one that's there now is 1 1/4". Brad plans on running 3 1/2 gal. fatbob tanks on this, just like it was originally built decades ago. This bike should be a trip when it's finished. Brad also has his Pan motor down at Deluxe Motorcycles right now, and Randall is just buttoning it up after going through it from top to bottom.

Amazing what hides below bondo, huh? Never trust an old chopper frame, it may be solid work, it may not. This neck has been replaced, raked, and raked at least one more time after that. Don't be a lazy ass, take the old bondo off and judge the workmanship for yourself.