Riding our local roads around North Texas with a bunch of guys on vintage bikes, stopping for barbeque and some impromptu grass track racing, ending with an evening cool front blowing away the hot summer day…about as good as it gets. Adventure rider and writer Jon Beck was in town chronicling a road trip from LA to Texas with his longtime bud Jason Lee, and we met up for a ride. Jason was riding his 1948 Indian Scout, a bike that despite its age and restoration, gets ridden hard. Jon was riding Jason’s “Goldie,” the 1971 Triumph TR6C repaired in the last post, buddy Ben D’avanza was on his 1974 Norton Commando, John Green on his 1970 Honda CB750, Fabian Campos on a modern Honda XL650, and I was on the Jack Wilson 1967 Triumph Bonneville. Knobbies on Jason, Jon, and Fabian’s bikes, but the rest of us were rocking street tires and feeling the fresh-cut grass slide on the turns.
Getting ready to roll. There was no specific plan, but we found plenty to do.
Jason giving the ‘48 some hot laps on the grass. Even with knobbies, grass can be a little unpredictable.
John Green surveying the bikes after our ride.
Goldie. the ‘48 Indian, and the ‘74 Commando on the roadside in Argyle, Texas.
The Red Baron was back in the shop for a banana seat, sissy bar, and low pipe mods. I wanted to do the seat and sissy bar combo a while back, but it took a couple years for owner Ben D’avanza and I to coordinate a time to do it. The cocktail shaker muffler sounds great and flows well. The kickstart lever and brake pedal were slightly re-bent to clear the pipe.
The seat cover came from a discard custom seat another customer left with me, and I thought it was the right vibe for the build. Ben had the sissy bar, and it was modified to be part of the one-piece seat mount.
Mocking up the parts and photo-testing the profile. The seat pan was made from cold rolled 16 gauge steel sheet. The high pipe is still on at this point. The original 5/8” diameter exhaust was designed for a 50cc engine and is too restrictive for this 90cc engine. The new pipe is a 7/8” and makes for better top end power.
Ben found this LED powered Maltese cross tail light to finish off the look.
Still kind of awkward and fugly…just the way I like them.
The Wilwood brake calipers and rotors are in for the 1993 H-D FXR build. More on that in the next post.