IWaug11pgs SS IW0204Pgs CSstephenberner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/iw_0811-berner-ron … ·...

IWaug11pgs_SS_IW0204Pgs_CS 6/1/11 8:11 AM Page 1

ContentsAUGUST 2011

ON THE COVERVolume 21 • Number 6 • Our 176th Issue

Tribute bikes are nothing new but most of us would agree thatforging rolling art from metal alloy and honest sweat is a righteousway to honor someone we cared about who is no longer among us.Motorcycles that claim this genesis are always more than the sumof their parts and it's the story behind those parts—and how thebuilder assembled them—that enhances the bike. Kirk Taylor'stribute to Johnny Chop, photographed here by Stephen Berner, hitsall the high points: born from a genuine connection, handled in arespectful manner, and producing a striking result.

FEATURE BIKESIn Tribute to Johnny .........................8Kirk Taylor calls in favors

Frisco Ron’s .................................20Freak’n Pan-A-Rican

Dream Rides Bagger......................32Keeping the good ones roadworthy

Mad Jap Customs .........................36A viewpoint from north of the border

Metal Dragon’s Matte Dragon.........44Tipping the attitude scales

IW GARAGEMade the Mustang Way .................18Project FLHX takes a seat

All About ......................................30Vanson: Highly constructed gear

Horsepower and Torque .................48Posie tells all

Buell Brothers...............................49The Jet-sons fly again

Electric ........................................50The simple complexity of field coils

CTEK Battery Charger ...................51Charging done smart

All About ......................................52Race Tech defines suspension

Modern Battery Tech .....................54Maintenance and performance tips

Andrews Explains…........................56The right cam matters

Dave’s FLTR..................................60Adding soul for riding comfort

Road Glide Blackout .......................64All dressed up and ready to ride

Project XR1200............................68FTF addresses better breathing

Steadymate Wheel Chock ...............80Tried and tested

DEPARTMENTSBuyer’s Guide..................................................70Performance parts

IW Eye ...........................................................82Worth a thousand words

REGULARSSteve B ............................................................6Making choices

Sam Kanish ....................................................12Ride in the rain, get wet

Bert Baker .....................................................14Predictable ambiguity

Marilyn Bragg .................................................16Lost and lovin’ it

Margie Siegal..................................................76Screaming yellow Panhead

SPOTLIGHT: Cook CustomsDave Cook is a guy who’s been around the block a few times—and sometimes he takes that lap of the city block on his mo-torized couch! But no matter his mode of transport, you canbet that any vehicle bearing the Cook Customs stamp withhave its share of visual appeal and functional dependability witha spark of astonishing cleverness tossed in. That’s becauseDave’s been on the scene for some time now and he’s here tostay. Visiting with Dave at Cook Customs on Milwaukee’s eastside, and meeting with his band of merrymakers, convinced usof that. Join us on page 24.

24

8

IWaug11pgs_cs_IW0204Pgs_CS 5/31/11 10:54 AM Page 4

Sitting in the Editor’s chair requiresmaking a lot of choices. Part of mak-ing choices is explaining yourself, and Iget to do a lot of that, too: the usual whythis and why that. Selecting bikes to run inthe magazine is one specific area we getasked a lot about. How do we select bikesfor features? How do we select shops andbuilders for spotlight stories?

So to keep on track and on point, we usea guiding principle applied to identifying thebikes for IronWorks, described thusly: “bikesworth celebrating.” Okay, I can see eyesrolling, but bear with me. I describe a bikeworth celebrating as the sort of machinethat has handmade,thoughtful touches, a ma-chine that is uncommon inits design, function, manu-facture, collection of partsand appearance, andstands out in a crowd forthe right reasons. Theseare machines you have toget down on your knee toappreciate fully, that drawyou in and beg to be under-stood, carefully scopedout, and ridden.

Ultimately, “bikes worthcelebrating” are fun to lookat. This is about the pur-suit of fun, right?

A machine worth celebrating is a platformfor ideas and for showcasing theartist/builder’s talents. This is how a builderreflects an understanding and a respect forthe functionality of the two-wheeled art form,as the machine must work and perform theduties of a motorcycle. And they need to befun to look at.

So do the bikes that you and I hose downin our driveways, ride daily, and keep in oursheds, garages and living rooms in generaland for the most part qualify as bikes worthcelebrating? Well, we as owners certainlycelebrate our own machines and rightly so,but in the world of media, not so much.

We love our personal machines and welavish attention on them and honor them asfamily members, and that is what keeps ourpassion propelled forward. But alas, when itcomes to what appears in a printed publica-

tion, we strive to find the top-shelf gems thatyou are not going to see at most local bikenights. Isn’t that the point?

It’s a hustle, ferreting out and telling thestories behind these cool machines that arefor the most part off the radar. But it is ourresponsibility to bring you the very bestthat’s out there. For the record, it mattersnot one whit if a bike rolls from a shed, bed-room, or pro’s shop—cool is cool and if themachine in question is, we want to knowabout it, we want to feature it.

Another choice: do we use our valuablepages to showcase reader’s letters andreader’s rides or do we bring you more un-usual and high quality machines you’ve prob-ably not seen before? We choose the latter.Really good reader’s rides (and we have fea-

tured many) become bike features anyway,as we contact the owner to make a shootand story happen.

As moto-consumers we buy stuff andmake lots of choices nearly every day. Thereis a lot of gear designed for V-Twin enthusi-asts and to help navigate the waters ofchoice we choose to use as much of thebest, relevant product as is reasonable. Wealso endeavor to report back on how thegear we got worked—a check-back, if youwill. It takes time to wring a product out andthat is why the check-back is important. Weweave product usage into much of our edito-rial so over time you get a sense of howthings are performing as we travel aboutusing and abusing our stuff.

Tech is an area that is always up for dis-cussion. Do we show splitting cases andground up engine builds or do we show the

type of work that most modern machineowners are contemplating? While I have toadmit a personal fascination with seeing con-necting rods and pistons on scales, I ampretty sure—based on what I’ve heard andbeen told—that talking about stage 1/2/3upgrades and the options therein (cams, in-take, exhaust, tuners) is a little more alongthe lines of what most long riding, aftermar-ket supporting owners want to learn about,so that is where we focus our attention. Notto say we won’t be cracking cases in the fu-ture…

As the TC population gets more milesunder its collective belt, we will be delvingfurther into the maintenance issues encoun-tered and that is where things will get juicy,as the aftermarket always comes up with

good solutions and en-hancements to keep us onthe road. Keeping older(pre-TC) machines on theroad is also on the agenda,so we will have the basescovered… hopefully.

IronWorks Spotlight, thesingle shop/multi-bike fea-ture we’ve developed, hasturned out to be success-ful, with readers andbuilders alike being pleasedat this innovation. So weare going to keep it up.Finding the shops that wefeature hasn’t been a chal-lenge, and to boot, there

are many talented folks that we know aboutwhich we just haven’t had the time to visitwith, but we will. We are always on the look-out for talented shops we haven’t featuredso if you know of one clue us in.

Having choices, choices, choices: it’s apart of what is so great about being anAmerican and a big part of what makesowning a V-Twin so much fun and interest-ing. We want you to know the fact that youmade the choice to read IronWorks meansa lot to the IronWorks team and we hopethat you choose to let us know what’s onyour mind. Check us out atironworksmag.com and on FB and if youwant to save a few bucks, choose to sub-scribe.

Ride safe, long and like the wind!Stephen [email protected]

6 IronWorks August 2011

A Mile a MinuteSTEPHEN BERNER

Choices


Story and photos by Stephen Berner

Straight up, the second I met FriscoRon from Daly City I knew he was agood guy. No braggadocio, no bull-shit, just a thankful enthusiast who washappy someone had seen his bike and dugit enough to ask some informed questions.

The engine is a 2005 Pandemoniumfrom Custom Chrome, partnered up witha Baker 6-speed. A 3-inch Primo belt drivespins an 18X250 rear and a PaughcoSpringer sits proudly up front. Never hav-

ing assembled his own machine, but hav-ing spent many long years working onthem, constructing this bike was the cul-mination of a dream Ron had had sincethe 70’s but up until recently didn’t havethe resources to pull off.

The Frisco mounted tank with the rakishangle speaks loudly to Ron’s club influences.The tank is a 1986-era donor that wasstretched and then lengthened 3.5” to ac-commodate the frame and design he had inmind. The tank needed some work to makeit fit just right; finally settling around the

backbone rather than on it was the cure.From there on out, the bike just spoke toRon and he was smart enough to listen.

A student of the 70’s V-Twin motorcy-cle era in general, Ron got sucked into theearliest Easyriders and that influence isclearly evident. During the time period ofthe build Ron’s daily rider was a 2007Street Bob, prior to that a 2003 Her-itage. Ron’s biggest influence, amongstothers, during the design and constructionof this machine was Indian Larry and hiscounsel to future builders: “if you hide


Ron & Janet’s Freak’n Pan-A-RicanFrisco Ron puts out an impressive machine


21IronWorks August 2011

everything, you might as well as be build-ing refrigerators.” Amen, Larry. Amen.

Built on the floor, piece by piece bypiece, the bike was started on August 3,2004 with a visit, accompanied by his wifeand patron saint Janet, to Paughco wherethe frame was ordered and the projectwas underway. Treated like family, his ex-perience at Paughco was a wholly positiveone and he was off to a good start. Ashort six years later, on August 2, 2010,the bike was finally registered. Well it real-ly wasn’t a short six years and the pathwas fraught with one step forward, onestep back at times.

Finally with all the parts in hand and thebike constructed, in riding shape and total-ly raw, Ron started his newly birthed ma-chine. There was no sound better to thissoft-spoken man, as he had earned it. It


was one of the most exciting things hehad experienced. From here on out it wasall gravy. It was alive.

Taking the bike apart for paint and finalfinishes was a bit painful. Some parts hadbeen around for so long they needed to berefinished—the Springer being one. Janet,in taking a good look at the machine, of-fered some critical advice: black out therear legs and specific parts of theSpringer to alleviate the overabundance ofchrome in that area, to balance the ma-chine better visually. All agreed Janetnailed it so the rear legs and front-endparts were painted.

A satin black painted frame sets off theraspberry red tin. The idea to go withsatin was Janet’s and what a great idea.The red just zings off the bike, set againstsuch a subtle background. Johnny Chop,who was a friend of Ron’s, introduced Ronto Kirk Taylor of Custom Design Studiosand those who know Kirk and knew John-ny see both of their influences clearly inthis bike. Lisa Taylor had a bike that usedthat same red color and it was off thehook—and so the paint was chosen.

One clean scallop makes the paint justright graphically. Kirk’s touches and advicein fitment and product selection helpedRon, and in paying props he mentions thatthe advice he was given allowed him totake on the job of prep and assembly with-out much drama. Patient folks, like thoseat Paughco and Custom Design Studios,helped Ron realize his very specific vision.

So how does the Freak’n Pan-A-Ricanride? Ron relates that during his shake-down run, the chase truck following himthrough the gears to 50, up to 60, then70, finally fell back when he snicked into6th at 75mph: the bike was in its stride.Ron states that this chopper almost ridesas good as his Dyna. This bike is perfect,exactly what he wanted from the outset, adream come true, and a testament to aclear vision.

Nice job, Frisco Ron. Good to meet you,Janet, and the Freak’n Pan-A-Rican. IW



IW_0811_001IW_0811_01IW_0811_03IW_0811_13IW_0811_15IW_0811_17IW_0811_42

IW_0811_002IW_0811_43IW_0811_83

/ColorImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorImageDict > /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages true /GrayImageMinResolution 300 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleGrayImages false /GrayImageDownsampleType /Average /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth 8 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages false /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict > /GrayImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayImageDict > /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages true /MonoImageMinResolution 1200 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleMonoImages false /MonoImageDownsampleType /Average /MonoImageResolution 1200 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict > /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile (None) /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName () /PDFXTrapped /False

/CreateJDFFile false /Description > /Namespace [ (Adobe) (Common) (1.0) ] /OtherNamespaces [ > /FormElements false /GenerateStructure true /IncludeBookmarks false /IncludeHyperlinks false /IncludeInteractive false /IncludeLayers false /IncludeProfiles true /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings /Namespace [ (Adobe) (CreativeSuite) (2.0) ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /NA /PreserveEditing true /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged /UntaggedRGBHandling /LeaveUntagged /UseDocumentBleed false >> ]>> setdistillerparams> setpagedevice






































































/CreateJDFFile false /Description > /Namespace [ (Adobe) (Common) (1.0) ] /OtherNamespaces [ > /FormElements false /GenerateStructure true /IncludeBookmarks false /IncludeHyperlinks false /IncludeInteractive false /IncludeLayers false /IncludeProfiles true /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings /Namespace [ (Adobe) (CreativeSuite)

IWaug11pgs SS IW0204Pgs CSstephenberner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/iw_0811-berner-ron … ·...

Documents

Transcript of IWaug11pgs SS IW0204Pgs CSstephenberner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/iw_0811-berner-ron … ·...