The brass reverse handlebar levers and kickstart pedal were engraved by Wade O. Wilson of Mansfield Texas. He also did engraving and pinstripe on the Honda CL175 Cabracer and Elsinrore MT250 Brother Bike built for Steve Caballero. Wade came up with the Freebird script that echoes the original Thunderbird script on the primary cover,.
I wanted a vintage checking on the levers like you see on pliers. Wade used a rounded tip graver to get this appearance. Everything was buffed to break the edges and then oxidized.
A Japanese Koi fish on the clutch lever perch. The fish is my personal symbol, explained in the “about” section of this site.
Also taken from a Japanese painting, this is the bird chosen to be the Freebird. I was wanting a simple small bird, the type of little consequence that is free in the sense that he is free of expectation. Think about it, song birds, beautiful birds, predators, scavengers, everyone has their eye on them and expect a certain behavior or appearance, but the little unremarkable one gets to go around unnoticed…which one is more free?
The Born Free script on the other side of the kicker pedal. Wade did such a killer job on everything!
Some saddle bags for the rear rack of the bike. Beaten on a steel hammer form, they are made from single pieces of 22 gauge steel.
Just held temporarily by tape, the edges had to be tweaked quite a bit to get them to line up together.
The boxes will be for tools and anything else that will fit in them. They will be suspended in the triangular section of the rear rack.
20 gauge brass and some brass tubing is being used to make the hinge for the boxes.
The boxes will be covered with leather and the brass will be oxidized after the soldering is done. There will be a toggle type latch in the circular part of the hinge strap, and a flap over the top.
Freshly rebuilt by Joe Hunt Magnetos, the magnets were switched out for some of the Neodymium ones that never need re-magnetization and are supposed to deliver a dense spark.
Paid a good bit for the sticker…too bad it is coming off.