Remember Tommy's rigid frame to swingarm conversion?

It's been a while since we did any work on Tommy's frame. Tommy has been working along with me on this, and he's been in and out of town on business the last couple months, but he'll be back here for a nice stretch now, so we're on the project again.

It all started a couple months ago, when Tommy was saying his back injuries over the years weren't liking his hardtail frame anymore, and wanted to know if we could transfer his Evo and 5 speed into a 4 speed-style swingarm frame from Paughco. I told him I had a swingarm section out back, and we could splice that into his frame, and he could keep his title and registration intact - his VIN #'s are stamped across the front engine mount.

Tommy had seen a couple frames I'd replaced the necks on with the OEM-style necks from John @ Hardtail Choppers, and wanted to know if we could replace his custom neck with one. I said "Sure, and while we're at it, let's get John to do one in stainless, and we might as well throw in a pair of his stainless sidecar loops while we're at it!". Tommy said "Yeah, why not?". That started the whole thing rolling......

If you want to catch up on how we got to here on the frame, see these previous posts:
http://irishrichcustomcycles.blogspot.com/2012/01/dalai-lama.html
http://irishrichcustomcycles.blogspot.com/2012/01/boo-yaaa.html

Shot of the new stainless 30 degree neck and sidecar loops, new 1 1/8" dia. downtubes, and a short section of new backbone, all in place. We kept to "stock" dimensions on everything - no "up and out". Now we can take it back apart, drill the plug weld holes we need, then send the neck and sidecar loops out to Jose' at Mile High Metal Finishing for a super high polish before I weld them in.

When we go to have the frame powdercoated, Taint Paint will mask off the polished neck and the 'loops, and when they're done, the neck and loops will still be a high polish, with the rest of the frame coated in glossy black. Tommy plans to do the 4.2 gal. fatbobs and bobbed hinged fender in a deep maroon and black two-tone. Should look killer!

Here's a good shot of Hardtail's sidecar loops. They're made to fit the Harley 1 1/8" downtubes on one end, and the 1" lower frame tubes on the other. They mated up pretty well, only needed to turn down the "plugs" on the castings slightly to fit the tubing ID's, and they slipped right into place.