Turning back the pages...

Jon Rispante found a pic of this bike on a page of mine located on a website that will remain unnamed and recognised it as a bike he had seen before having been rebuilt by a local to him custom bike builder. He emailed me to enquire and after seeing the pictures of it again I thought the back round story on this bike would fit into the blog mindset perfectly, so here's the tale.

About three or four? years ago I found this bike on ebay with no reserve and to my benefit it was located near-by my location of Central California in the Bay Area. The bike had been found in a San Jose shed where it had been stored for the last 40 or so years. It was one of those chopper projects that had been built by a local motorcycle shop to about 50% completion and then abandoned. Obviously "those" projects are far and few between. The description included some not so good pictures where I could see a swazi tailight that turned out to be NOS, a leather bates seat and other goodies that sweetened the deal substantially, but were not so obvious to whoever may have looked at the listing. From what I remember I paid about $1200 for it. Some of the really cool details of this bike were that the gas tank and matching fender were custom painted items from the Fiberglass Works in Santa Cruz CA. For comparison, I recently saw a similar custom painted set of tank and fender from this outfit go for $1200 on ebay. The acetylene and flame paint job on these pieces was close to flawless and the fender was undrilled! The frame had been painted way back when these items were new and done to match the fender/tank as close as possible. The paint on the frame was far from perfect and had some chips to the tubing here and there, but was still very acceptable in my opinion. I built an internal rear fender mounting brace that used three mounting points with the sides having chrome dome nuts strategically placed between seaweed flames. I also made rigid mounts for the seat and installed a set of stock exhaust pipes with turnout extensions. The early 1970's period NOS rear struts were added by myself as well as it had some jap shocks, and with no fender mounting arrangement, that was one of multiple problems for finishing this custom. The rear frame had been slightly modified and one of the struts needed to be bent to fit and mounts were added to it for the license plate bracket that came with the bike. The girder was a very rare NOS period chopper fork that as far as I could find out was a early Wayne Engineering piece. I took it apart and found that some fussing with it in the area of machine work would be necessary for it to fit the BSA frame properly and make me happy. The struts were the same small diameter tubing of the girder and I was real pleased with how the rear section turned out and matched the front so well, but I was having problems deciding on what to do for an oil tank due to lack of room. About the time I sold it I realized that the fender just needed to be bobbed in the front to solve that problem. I was building this bike in the early days of the DTMC shop to be my club bike, but came to the conclusion that the bike was more of a showbike than something I could thrash around the country on with the club. The cost of rebuilding the engine and figuring out all the details was going to be unrealistic for me at the time so I resold it on ebay. From what I remember I sold it for about $1200. Since I had made money on the other parts that came with it I had pretty much broke even considering the time I had in it. The guy I sold it to was nice enough, but not quite receptive to my advice and opinions about this particular piece of history. He could just not get past those chips in the paint on the frame. If he built it, it had to be "perfect". Despite my arguments the entire machine was repainted. From what I know of what he had to invest in it he was lucky to break even when he finished it and sold it on ebay for its third go around. To his credit he did finish it, and the other bikes he's built are of high build quality and style, but was losing that original artistry worth getting a "perfect" finish? What is more important, originality or no visible flaws? New paint almost NEVER reaches the level of the period paint when the period stuff is good. This is something many guys have a problem with when they find a old bike. Seeing how the bike turned out makes me wish I would have stuck with it and saved something that is now lost. Instead I built the Bloody Nose, because it was a lot more straight forward for me and I did not have to backwards engineer it like this cool old abandoned project that had been painted too soon. Confirmation of a commandment most custom bike builders know. Build first, then paint!



As far as what to do when you find a funky and cool as hell old painted piece from the day that may have moderate to heavy damage. Look no farther than Jon's "Assasin" rebuild!

More Jon Rispante & His Latest Build

The Trio

Jon's latest. Looks like very high build quality, with nice lines and superb detailing. Listed on ebay NOW. Check it out!

On The Road

Sweet pre-unit BSA pics from Alberto.

No posts for the next week, I'm hitting the road with my Dad for a family reunion in North Dakota. Anyone interested in the BSA lot send me a email or it's going on Craig's list when I get back.

Time keeps on slippin'

Did a interview for Hardcore Chopper Japan magazine last weekend to go with a Bloody Nose photo shoot that happened months ago. My second magazine feature and the thing that has been the same about both of them so far is that by the time they get printed my bike has changed quite a bit and the pictures seem like ancient history. Last time I checked, Hardcore Chopper was next to impossible to buy in the US. For that reason I am planning on posting the feature here when I get my copy. Here's a pic of how she sits today. Such a pain in the ass, so much fun to ride the ragged edge on...

Blow Your Mind

on this photoset!

The Enchanted Parrot in COLOR

1955 Triumph T110 Bob

Yes, this is what a real Triumph bobber looks like. Quite a bit different than the main stream idea what a triumph bobber is, isn't it? Pete found this original survivor in the California Bay Area recently that looks to be mostly untouched since the last registration of 1969. If it were mine I think I would change out those funky mufflers, do a complete maintenance check, and then get those wheels spinning down the road. Looks like a fun one to me!

The Little One * Found *

As some of you may have seen, there was a thread on the Jockey Journal recently simply titled as a '50 preunit find. I was given the heads up first by Rene and then some others as the information spread. I appreciate these tips, as I just don't get to scour the web like I used to. I was pleasantly surprised by the general consensus of the jj users replies to the new owner to not mess with a good thing, and then it was identified and that pretty much made it clear that this piece of custom Triumph history needed to be saved. Stretch gave me the email of Casey the new owner and some messages back and forth to exchange information with myself and others in the scene ensued. Multiple offers were made. At one point it was almost had for $7500, but Casey had second thoughts and decided to restore it himself. My recommendation was to not even take it apart. From close up pictures, the chrome on the frame looks to be in amazing condition for the age. Casey plans on rechroming some other parts such as the covers etc. It is such a shame that the original owners grandson changed it, because it would be an amazing survivor if it had been left as is. That said a paint restoration, saving the seat, and the proper front end components is about all it's needing. I am sending him the little steel spool hub discussed in the previous post. I think he may have a line on the fork parts, but it will probably take some looking to find the correct 19" Borrani shouldered rim. If you can help please comment or email.

Street Chopper 1972

This is a later pic that I cut out many years ago from a bike show story. Probably only a year or two later than the Street Chopper feature, the only difference looks to be the funky bars.

Pre 1970's era Spool Wheel Hubs

There are people in the custom motorcycle world today who would talk trash about the effort to build "period correct" custom motorcycles. They tend to be the highly praised on the Internet type made into heroes for doubtful reasons and the type of guys that wear their T-shirts, the sawsall & black spray paint builder, and the sky's no limit master fabricators. I have no respect for those people. My focus (when I can focus) is about carrying on the tradition of the early custom bike scene in a faithful way while working on the effort to perfect those original street/strip/show & race bike styles using the correct period parts. IF a bike is to be truly considered period correct, a guy that knows his stuff should be able to give it the once over and not be able to tell if it is a newly restored period build or just built from scratch.

Case in point, the spool front wheel hub. The custom bike scene has come a long way in the past 20 years or so. Traditional customs were almost completely lost at one point, but now things have come back full circle where a motorcycle show like the recent Born Free 2 was made up almost entirely of newly built period styled masterpieces. It is a beautiful thing, but one detail I've noticed to be pretty common is the use of tiny alloy spool hubs with fins, ribs and such used on bikes that are supposed to be styled in a pre 1970's fashion. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but a 1950's era bob job or a early 1960's era chop job, shouldn't be running one of these little alloy spools. This post contains some of what I know about pre 1970's spool wheel hubs. Comments and additional info welcomed and encouraged.

The motivation for this post came from this little steel hub that I am providing to the current owner of the newly discovered "Little One" Triumph Pre-unit Showbike that was originally built in the 1960's. Stay tuned for a story on that in the next few days. From the pictures I have of the Little One, I believe this to be the same hub as used on the original build. This one has a custom made axle that I think may have been designed to go with two right side Triumph pre-unit fork sliders. Very cool, and I hate to part with it, but obviously it's going towards a worthy cause. Ive only seen this type of hub a handful of times and do not know the maker or story behind them.

Here is the exact same type of hub with a different style of grease zirk that came with my early 1960's Triumph Pre-unit Dragbike project that was originally featured in the August 1961 Issue of Hot Rod Magazine. As you can see these hubs are distinctive in that they have a steel face plate that covers the bearings intended as a grease retainer for early open bearings. This detail in itself would date these as a early period hub. The one above is sized precisely for a early 1950's Triumph slip through axle.

I'm guessing these hubs are American made, just because I'm 99% sure they are not British. If anyone knows the real dirt on them please illuminate.

I could have spent a bunch of time scouring the saved picture files for more examples of the early small steel hub, but by coincidence this pic popped up on Max's blog last week. Most easily identified by that round steel grease retainer. The bike itself is a super bitchin' late 1960's chopper style Panhead. The forks are 1960's era Sportster. Check his blog for full picture. Of course the other pre 1970's type of spool hub that was probably used more than any other would be the stripped down HD Star Hub. Being a Triumph guy, I don't have any of those!

This Triumph factory spool hub is probably my favorite type. Dating back to sometime in the early 1950's they were used on factory models such as the 1955 T100R, the hubs were also sold through the JoMo Accessory catalogs and dealerships for flat track racing. They found their way onto many custom bikes back then, including Harley's. Somewhere I have a late 1960's article from Cycle Guide magazine that Tom McMullen did on how to buy one of these from the Triumph dealer and set it up on your Harley chop. I like them because they have a clean Triumph look to them and can be used with the early slide through or clamp-on type axles. As far as I know they were available for a period of almost 20 years.


Here is another Triumph example, although I do not think it is factory made. I'm guessing it was made from the parts from two rear wheel hubs. It is brazed together and the work is so good that it does look factory made. The clamp-on type axle arrangement that came with it is not designed as well as the factory type hub previously mentioned, but I love the looks of it and it will make a great Showbike hub.


Comparison pic. The known factory version on the right has a threaded race for the bearing retainer disc, but the home brew? job on the left does not. The hub on the left is just slightly wider too.


The Webco spool wheel hub. Beautifully spun from from a large billet of alloy that would have been extremely high quality for the time which I believe to be originally offered from 1955-56.

I would really like to own one of these if anyone has a nice example for sale or trade.

Webco ad from 1956.

Desert Trippin'

"Hi there
I thought this might interest you. 2 triumphs in the desert , taken 1964. The guy in the middle with the funny hat , Is "seldom seen slim " Who lived in the (all alone) ghost town of ballerat for 50 years. Part of Easy Rider was shot in Ballerat. And i believe that they actually met this guy when they shot the film in the spring off 68 .He died in August 1968"

Best regards
Niels Bjørn Christensen

I wanna do this so bad. Set up a old Triumph just for exploring and camping out in nowhere'sville. Forgot who sent me this pic, sorry!

More Born Free pics

From Jon Rispante

This one's been on the road a long time. I remember seeing it at a SoCal swap meet about 10+ years ago. A sweet strutted Triumph.

The Classic Cycles Inc. early 60's style showbike restoration. Loved seeing this one first hand. I got to meet Andy from Classic Cycles too. I was having some troubles with my chopper's oiling system and Andy offered me the use of his shop the night before the show and Sunday as well telling me that anyone from the club could come up and use his facilities that needed to wrench on their bikes. Very cool! http://www.classiccyclesinc.com/ There was some super neat Triumphs in the Classic Cycles line up.

I took the lazy option and worked on the bike in the Super 8 parking lot, drinking beers before the after show party at Alex's bar. The fix lasted for about 150 miles on the way back and then wet sumped again and back into the chase rig she went!