Goose It

Arte sent me these awhile ago. It's his buddy Chucko. I believe the Gooseneck was done by Skip Fisk. It looks like the neck is lower than on some others.

The bike features some South Bay standard items. Dick Allen Springer, collector exhaust, Sportster headlight, and sissy bar swoop support.

A Loco Notion Part 3... Done!

It's been several months since since I've posted anything and really long since Arte finished this bike. As a matter of fact it was finished two years ago this month!

As they say, better late than never.

Keep in mind, Arte was going for his own take on Loco-Motion, not an exact clone. I really like the stance from this side.

Arte had the muffler re-chomed since these photos so it now looks that much better.

Arte takes a break to enjoy some iced tea. Hmmm... sort of looks familiar?

A Crazy Idea... or a Loco Notion Part 2

Arte knew that one of the most important parts of this build would be the forks. He figured that even if he could find a set of Dick allen forks, they'd need to be refurbished and re-chromed. He also wanted to run a front brake which would be a difficult fit in the very narrow forks. For these reasons he decided it would be better to source a new one.

He contacted an individual who builds Dick Allen style springers. The conversation was friendly until he mentioned a brake, then the old timer turned cold and said what he's heard before, "you can't run a front brake on them, it ain't going to work!" 

After that pleasant exchange he contacted Sugar Bear. Sugar Bear makes them two ways. Very narrow for no brake or slightly wider with a provision on each rear leg for a brake anchor. And in addition to his two styles of signature rockers, he still offers the Dick Allen type.

Sugar Bear proudly holding the newly finished forks. He makes them look very small. Arte started to wonder, "were they really 12"over?"

Arte not really being a long bike guy and a bit of a conservative builder, ordered a 12'' over springer. He knew he wasn't trying to build an exact clone, but rather kind of a Loco-Motion tribute bike in the general South Bay Chopper style. After putting in the order, he started to wonder if he should have gone for 15" over?

Sugar Bear said they would be done in about six to nine weeks and they were. 

While waiting for the forks Arte had been busy working on all of the stuff covered in part one, plus painting the tanks and building the motor. 

Arte did a slight variation of the lines surrounding the lettering. Working from old and tiny photos, he did his best to capture the feel of the lettering on Dick's tanks.

The left side was even more challenging since fewer photos exist of it.

The engine started around an old set Knucklehead heads, lifter bases, and a few other parts he's had for many years. The cases are new S&S with a alternator left side for modern reliable juices. It was also chosen for the readily available and less costly '70 and later OEM electric starter hardware.  

The New Old motor in all it's glory. A good last minute decision was to send the new cam cover out for a polishing.

Since Arte now had his forks, he could finalize the rake and weld up the neck.

A narrow glide spool was chosen for the 18" front wheel which he also already had. The front and rear brake are late model swap meet finds. Again readily available and cost effective. Also, since he's used them on more than one build, he's very familiar with setting them up.

Some last minute checking of the stance before the tear down.

Off the bike he thought the forks looked short, but once mounted he was happy with them.

Did I mention Arte does his own paint?

Once torn down the frame was lightly molded and painted. Now the final assembly would begin.

A Crazy Idea... or A Loco Notion

Our story begins about a year and a half ago when Arte accompanied me to the Dick Allen Memorial party. 

 Arte got to thinking... Since he already had a few parts like some knucklehead heads, a flat rear fender, a Wassel peanut tank, a Lucas tail light, and some Anderson pegs.Why not build a Dick Allen Loco-Motion inspired chopper? It didn't have to be a perfect clone, but rather something with the general look plus a few of his own touches and some updates for comfort and safety.

First up was the exhaust. Arte had made a few collector systems before but it had been with existing mufflers. A friend was throwing out some stock 3" dresser mufflers so he took them to play with.

A Goldilocks tale. From the bottom up: A collector he had laying around. At about 3 1/4" It was a bit too big in diameter. The middle one was an experimental first try with an improvised turn out (it's since been refined with a proper one). Top: I gave him an old muffler with a good turn out and he got the next try just right.

Moving on to the tank. Dick's tank rested high on the backbone Frisco style... so out comes the tunnel.

Tunnel relocated and front filler piece ready for welding. After welding, the sides were indented

Arte chose a Kraft Tech frame to stay within his budget. While he's not crazy about the thicker 1 1/4" tubing, Kraft Tech's $400 swap meet price made it easier to live with. Also, since the frame will be black the larger diameter won't be so noticeable. While at the swap meet, he ordered a seat from Bar Enterprises. While Dick used a very thin cobra, Arte being a senior biker made a concession for a little more back comfort.

With a frame in hand work began on a South Bay Style Sissybar and the fender mounting. The swoop bracing was made as a separate bolt on section to make chroming and installation easier. 

Tabs were added for passenger pegs and at the rear for some turn signals and running lights. This was done to keep it legal (easier to get pass the CHP inspection), and to be seen on the busy SoCal streets.

Stay tuned for part 2.

It's A Small World After All

From The Better Late Than Never Archives

Kerry & Arte
A Short Tale of The Brotherhood Between Builders

5/27/2014
Hello Chris, how is everything?  Still liking your MC art blog. Always interesting and informative. Anyway I was really liking your story and pics about your friend Arte. I remember meeting this guy at the swap meet too, I think he bought some stuff from me. He had this red and black panhead in Supercycle that I really liked. Found out we had a mutual friend so I got together with him and went out to his place.  Back then he was the only guy that had a disc on his VL front end. So he let me measure everything up so I could do it to my bike. Very cool of him to do that. Had a great day with him checking out some of his work. Back then I thought he built some of the nicest bikes around. Saw some of his other builds in Supercycle. I agree with you that he has a certain style and that he is still building killer bikes! Does he still have that sweet pan in the pics? Man he should ride that out to born free and let some of these youngsters check out that. Do you know if he might be going? Like to say hi again. Glad to see he is still out there doing it.

Arte still has this Panhead and it looks as new as in these photos. The collector is a Dick Allen unit but Arte built the header pipes. A Cal Mag brings up the rear.

Kerry's Panhead. Other than more chrome it's pretty much the same formula from the bars to the brake. Both bikes also feature Fat Bob tanks with emblems, rear disc brakes, dual button seats, tool box and bullet (guide type), running lights.

Kerry continues:

I liked his style and simple paint jobs so much I used some of his ideas on a couple projects I did up here in Placerville. Candy red and black shovel I put together for someone and a paintjob for another guy. Sorta looks like a Arte bike.  Thought you might get a kick out of these pictures.

Harley Hoarder

Noot's comment in a previous post prompted this photo

You can't see them but there's nine Harleys in this photo...  what's the space in the middle for?...  the shovelhead dresser was rolled out... and this is only about two thirds of the garage.

What's in your Garage? 

Theme Bikes, Flying Tigers, Shark Mouths, Walt Disney, Triumph, Howard Hughes, Hells Angels, Joe Petrali, and Swim Suits...

...or the mother of all post

Six degrees of separation is the theory that you can connect everyone or anything in six steps or fewer. These connections between individuals and how one thing affects another can be very interesting.

Before the rise of the television chopper build offs and Orange County Choppers there weren't too many theme bikes running around. Notice I didn't say none. After all, my old buddy Arte (see a few post back), built one while Paul Jr. was probably still in kindergarten.

Nose art or personalizing military vehicles isn't new and while stationed in Viet Nam as a tank mechanic, Arte remembered seeing all kinds of art, slogans, and names painted on various vehicles. He also had admired the Flying Tigers P-40's for some time, so years later after building a few bikes he decided to take the nose art concept a bit farther. Now remember this was the eighties.

I don't know when Arte started building it, but his Flying Tigers chopper was featured in a 1987 issue of Supercycle.

Not only did Arte want to incorporate the famous nose art on a bike, he wanted it's entire paint job to be as close as possible to that of the planes. To this end he actually enlisted the guidance of a WWII pilot who happen to live nearby.

The Flying Tigers in China with their P-40's at the dawn of WWII is where Arte's inspiration came. This happens to be the Hells Angels squadron of the Flying Tigers. Take note and remember both the red winged angel and the flying tiger logos. 

Where it all began. The Flying Tigers got the idea after seeing a photo of a RAF P-40 squadron in North Africa featuring such markings, who themselves borrowed the idea from German Luftwaffe ZG 76 heavy fighter wing pilots flying Messerscchmitt Bf 110 aircraft in Crete in the late 30's.

Other than a dragon or skull bike, I don't recall seeing any aircraft theme bikes before Arte's. Years ago I did think of a similar concept while going through my own growing interest in aircraft, but it's one thing to think it, and quite another to do it.

Not only did Arte make the extra effort to make his bike historically correct, the bike it self is detailed nicely

Arte flying his tiger then...

...and flight ready today.

Not being completely satisfied, years later Arte decided a Sportster tank and a different fender would better lend itself to the design. During the re-paint he also changed the sissybar and handlebars.

The five fictitious kills are for effect.

To this day, many a biker has chosen the Shark Face theme but rarely includes the Tiger.

Now days it just takes money. It's gotten to the point where a local H-D dealer is offering new Sportsters or your existing one done up this way.

The Shark Mouth has not been limited to aircraft or motorcycles. By the way, nobody ever mentions why a Shark Face would be on a Tiger?

That's it for Arte's machine, but let's dig deeper.

The Flying Tiger logo is said to have been designed by the Walt Disney Studios. While in it's self  that's a somewhat strange connection, I can't help wondering if the Flying Tiger' logo influenced the Triumph Tiger logo?

 Flying Tigers Ace R.T. Smith with those two logos again. 

The Triumph Tiger.

The connections continue.

It's often said that after returning from war some serviceman craved more excitement than what everyday civilian life offered. To fill this void many turned to motorcycling, it's clubs, and their associated activities to blow off this pent up steam. One such group of guys would eventually become the Hells Angels MC. 

The Hells Angels squadron logo...

... and the Howard Hughes film poster.

Research says the name Hells Angels was suggested by an associate of the club who was a WW II pilot and the same is said of their famous death's head logo. So, the Hells Angels motorcycle club name comes from a WWII squadron, which originally came from Howard Hughes' movie about WW I pilots.  

The 552nd Medium Bomber Squadron patch (above), is said to be one of the patches that inspired the Hells Angels first death head design (Below). 

The early death head patch does echo the squadron patch.

Another Howard Hughes connection to motorcycling is Joe Petrali. If you don't know 'Smokin' Joe then you're probably new to the sport.

Joe has many motorcycle racing credits to his name, but is probably best known for the 1937 land speed record run of 136.183 mph aboard a factory (H-D), prepared knucklehead. 

The streamlined tail section was removed for the record run. It was said to actually decrease stability.

After his glory days of racing, Joe became a confidant of Hughes and later served as flight engineer on the Hughes H-4 Hercules Flying Boat. 

Hughes hated the name "Spruce Goose" (especially since it was made of birch), which was a name that a reporter came up with. 

My own connection is that I worked at Hughes Aircraft Company in the eighties and nineties. One day I was shown this poster in the Public Relations department. They wanted to reprint an original which had all the crew's signatures on it.  I remember at first being surprised to see Joe Petrali. For a moment I had completely forgotten his involvement with Hughes. (I'll post a better shot of this poster when I get the chance)

I guess Joe's elevens were up as his record stood for 11 years until September 13, 1948 when Rollie Free famously broke it by approx. another 11 mph while laying prone in his swim wear aboard a Vincent.

Rolling Free (sans safety gear). A guy named Rollie Free breaking a motorcycle land speed record? It sounds made up. Many call this the most famous photo in motorcycle history.

That's all folks!

You could probably go on forever making various connections but, I got to stop somewhere.

Cacti Pan

Another clean build by Arte. 

Compare it with his '39 and the Electra-knuckKnuck. See what I mean about the way he details them?

Artistic Knuck

8 posts down I featured my friend Arte's last build (Electra-Knuck). Here's a 1939 Knucklehead Semi-Bob Job he built. He has a way of detailing bikes that is his signature style. You'll see what I mean when I get around to posting more.

Electra-Knuck

I have what you might call some swap meet friends. You know, friends that you pretty much only see at the swap meets. One of these guys, I've probably known for more than 20 years and we jokingly fight over parts every time we bump into each other. In the last year we've become closer and I finally made it over to his pad to see what he's been up to.

Arte is a somewhat quiet guy who keeps to himself. He's restored several bikes, but also builds customs that you might call Blend Bikes and does just about everything himself, including the paint. Once upon a time he had a few of his builds featured in magazines, but doesn't seek attention or need to be part of the 'cool crowd'.

His latest build is totally within his personal code. That is, to build bikes from mostly a blend of Harley parts from all eras. Parts he already has or happens to find a good deal on at the swap meet.

 If you knew Arte or his other bikes, you'd probably recognize this as one of his machines. Yes the style of the collector exhaust is a nod to Dick Allen. 

Alternator left side case. Classic style with modern touches. The trick is...  make them blend together.