Born Free 3 Triumph Turnout

ALL PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY: JON RISPANTE


Thee Classic Formula

Gotta admit I have a weakness for rigid forks on choppers, especially when part of a total package that could easily pass for a bike featured in a late 60's issue of the original Choppers Magazine. Nice one.

Featured build by Todd Asin. Show winner in my book.

Baron's Speed Shop period correct show dragbike. All around done right. Love the primary cover!

This one from Classic Cycles Inc. really does it for me. Dying to see some good profile pics of it. Add any good links to the comments or send me pics!

This beauty from back east speaks for itself.

Another one from Todd Asin. The guy has a knack for building traditional triumph choppers with unique design ideas that turn out really sweet! Check that frame...

Nothing better than a survivor like "The Sunsetter". Pssst, hey buddy, you know that thing is suppossed to have drag bars, right? Super cool show card with original A.J. Lewis Motorcycle Shop reciepts.

Mark Drew's unbeatable "Solitary Confinement".

Don't know if this bitchin' reversed head chop by Scott Craig has a name or not, but it should. Biggest problem with riding this bike is that I think I would want to have the throttles wide open all the time. Another great traditional Triumph chop with a healthy dose of bad attitude.

A perfect all purpose custom fun machine for rough mountain roads, trails, beaches or highway, Jon Rispante's "Grass Hopper"

And lastly, working from that big pile of BSA parts he cleared out of my garage, a sneak peak of his latest creation "The Gold Digger". Not quite finished yet, but sure to shock the bolt on/weld on hardtail crowd to their core...

Update pic

Of Lee Thiessen's low rider.

Bloody Nose gone, but will go again...

Some people have asked if I'm gone too. Trying to really focus on making progress with whatever it is that's driving me from day to day. New posts will come but probably not very frequently. I am bikeless right now since my old chopper was loaded on a truck a few weeks ago, so I really need to get something new rolling. Hopefully before the end of summer.

The buyer wanted to make a few changes, to put it mildly. After getting over the initial reluctance to tear apart what was a finished work for me, I really didn't mind doing it. That's because I made a few extra bucks on top of what I sold the bike for, and I got to keep the forks, Z bars, headlight, gas tank, oil tank, rear fender and sissy bar! All those parts have a place in my heart and getting to keep them made the pain of letting go of the bike way easier. Old Joe the Painter passed away last year, making this paint set his last old style chopper job. The sissy and Z's were made in the Club shop with the help of our P-resident metal wizard, Jonathan, and now when I build the next chop I have these pieces with all the personal history and many proven miles to use again. I did the conversion of the bike in my garage and I think it turned out pretty good. Now I continue to hold the Bloody Nose name and if it's in the cards for me, the Bloody Nose will ride again!




The tanks retired to the rafters for now...

The original Z's I narrowed and the headlight with first generation DTMC mount permanently retired to do duty as centerpiece for my little shop that,

has a whole lot going on at the same time.

The sissy bar and Z bar that will be used again!

I had already started building another very similar set of extended glide forks for the next chopper, so I am going to go ahead and sell this set of ready to go 8" over legs. If your interested check them out HERE.

The Assasin in Dice

Check it out!

Jon Rispante's Grasshopper in The Horse

Get a copy to see more.

Family heritage. Bitchin' photo of Jon's dad, Jim Rispante that the Horse failed to include in the feature.

Early 1950's Triumph 21" Spool Hub Racing Wheel

Believe it or not I found this mid-day at the Clubman's swap meet. Why it did not get snatched up early is probably because of the amount of parts there were to dig through. There was an estate sale from a collection of 1950's - 1960's Brit parts that took up six spaces. I ran back and forth from my spot to this area quite a few times that morning. Without this estate the swap really would not have been that good, but that's the way it always goes. The last thing you want to see at a once a year swap meet is all the same old faces! You don't even wanna know what I paid, the prices for most of the parts there ranged from fair to steals. This wheel is the real deal, dated to the early '50s by the painted rim center, 21" Avon Supreme tire and super neat alloy hub with internal bearing sleeve to fit early 1950's Triumph forks that has the tell tale grease fitting typical to early spool hubs. I sold the tire to Bobby SirKegian, will probably sell the rim separately and I have hopes to have the hub laced to a NOS 21" Borrani Record rim that I bought at the same spot. This hub is cast alloy and I have identified it in some 1950's era photos of pre-unit Triumph race bikes. I don't know who made it but would love to find out.

Factory Triumph Front Wheel Racing Hub

Same as the hub originally fitted to the 1955 T100R but laced to a 19" shouldered alloy rim with a super cool Beck TT Special tire. I actually found another wheel exactly like this one the same day at the Clubman's swap. There was a guy there that was trying to piece together a T100R replica that I sold the second wheel to for a fair price. Finding two Triumph spool hub racing wheels in one day gives you an idea of how good this swap was!