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ContentsMARCH 2011

ON THE COVERVolume 21 • Number 2 • Our 172nd Issue

Walt Siegl Motorcycles, tucked away in the wilds of New Hamp-shire, builds some of the most sanitary machines this side of theGreat Divide. Say hello to this issue’s cover bike, Sordillo Salt Flat,a hand-wrought piece of long stroke, functional, V-Twin go-fastmachinery that is simply stunning to see in person. Check outmore of this great bike at Ironworksmag.com, on the BUMP.

FEATURE BIKESDriscoll’s ’47 Flathead ......................8A durable distraction

OCC Trike......................................24Far out custom from TV’s cool kids

Red Hot Road King.........................32Daddio’s convertible bagger

Harry’s FXR ..................................50Accessorized Swedish style

FEATURE STORIESMeet BigTwin................................20IW’s new Swedish connection

Way Out West ..............................28Margie Tours Yellowstone

Klock Billboard ‘Shield ....................44Clear, classy, Klock

Riding Cape Cod ............................46Perewitz’s Fall Foliage Run

Home Hobbyist Welder...................54Eastwood outfits your shop

JIMS Bag Latches .........................70Iron Glass adds a special touch

Wesco Custom Boots .....................77Keeping the dogs happy

IW GARAGEElectric .........................................56Three-phase explained

Demystifying Audio.........................58Head unit is the boss

Paint & Finishes ............................60Chasing perfection

Metal ...........................................62E-Fab on tank fab

All About.......................................64Custom boots, proper fit

Gasket Materials ...........................66It’s all in the ingredients

Buell Brothers...............................68Keeping records straight

DEPARTMENTSLetters...........................................................18What’s on your mind?

Buyer’s Guide..................................................72Getting geared up

REGULARSSteve B ............................................................6Diagnosis, a rare art…

Sam Kanish ....................................................12Biking bloopers

Brian Klock .....................................................14Creativity over cash

Marilyn Bragg .................................................16Getting lost rules

Margie Siegal..................................................781917 Indian Tracker

SPOTLIGHTWalt Siegl MotorcyclesTaking the time to carefully view the machines built by WaltSiegl, you can’t help but appreciate that a lot of effort and focuswent into defining his unmistakably clean and classic style.Walt’s talented take on the modern urban custom is flavored bytime riding the bad streets of NYC, tempered by time spent onthe racetrack flogging state-of-the-art Ducatis. Enjoy Walt’swork, and get down on one knee with us to take a closer look.

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Diagnosis

Iwas reminded recently about the salientdifferences between hearing, listening,and of the importance of being able to

take a step back and diagnose a situation. My workshop is a crowded space with

two bikes, two workbenches, four sewingmachines, two rollaways, machine tools, aspare parts stash taking up one wall, buck-ets, ladders, rolls of leather… it’s basically10 pounds in a five-pound bag. Wherethere isn’t stuff, there are stickers coveringevery exposed surface. The inexperiencedwalking among us might say it is cluttered,but I like to think of it as an efficient, com-fortable, and productive workspace, andsince it’s all I have (and believe you me, Iam not complaining in the least), I cope.

Bringing a new tool into my shop re-quires I get rid of something, and this timemy object of affection is an important newtool for my leatherworking endeavors—it’sa sewing machine. I sold a machine I was-n’t using to make room and fund the pur-chase of this new one.

Setting up a hand-powered sewing ma-chine is similar to setting up a new comput-er or a new machine tool, in that all the ad-justments that you’ve used in the past onprior equipment is meaningless. You are,for all intents and purposes, starting fromscratch, creating new baseline adjustmentsand settings from feel, experience, and in-tuition. So you have to pay attention to whatis happening based on your inputs and ob-served changes. In essence, you are cali-brating both yourself and the machine towork together harmoniously.

Well, harmony is not always easilyachieved and the critical calibrations arenot easily identified and implemented un-less you are darn good at listening, ob-serving, and diagnosing what is happen-ing. Most of us, myself included, are notso good at this and we fumble and bum-ble. We read the instructions 50 timesand for the life of us can’t figure out whatthe hell is going on, trying to determine ifthe issue at hand is based on operatorerror, lame-assedness, or a machinefault. It can get frustrating and after awhile you find yourself looping back on theefforts that netted you nothing the first go-round. In a word, ugh.

I’ve been there a few times—at thecrossroads of hair pulling, crying, and get-ting a can of gas and a book of matchesand ending it right there. One of the mostmemorable of these meltdowns was tryingto dial in the then ground breaking innova-tion of the S&S Super E. This was around1993, as I recall. I had my FXR allprepped for what I thought would be aneasy morning of wrench twirling and after-noon riding. Well, that was not to be thecase and after eight solid hours of losingmy mind trying to get the bike to run prop-erly, I threw up my hands and ran to thefridge for an adult beverage to wash downthe sour taste of failure. Eventually, I fig-ured it out. Between intake leaks, a stuckfloat, and improper accelerator pump ad-justment, I finally got the carb dialed in.Then I found out the problem was a bro-ken coil wire. Pfeh.

Sitting in my shop last week with myspanking new, made in America, hand-powered sewing machine, I commencedto get some hands on experience and feelwhere the settings needed to be—time totest, to learn, and to listen!

Six hours later, my knees were lockedsolid; I was up to my arse in thread,leather scraps, and snips. I had triedeverything I knew to get a passable resultending with nada, nothing, junk, and plainold, “it ain’t gonna happen.” About 2:00a.m. I finally gave in—after a near com-plete disassembly and then reassembly ofthe machine—and still nothing. It wasclearly time for a Woodford.

Calling the manufacturer helpline or techdesk for a clue is like stopping and askingfor directions when you are hopelessly loston a road trip with your family. It’s the lastresort; I am not wired to do it naturally. Sowith tail between legs, I called the manufac-turer and asked for help.

Tony picked up the phone with a cheery,“How are ya, Steve? How’s the machineworking for ya?” I felt like I was confessing;“It’s not going so good, Tony. I am not wor-thy and maybe it wasn’t meant to be. I thinkthis thing hates me.” (Sniff, sniff.)

“Nonsense,” he said, and then hebegan his virtual diagnosis. I call them the“didyas.” Didya check your top tension?Where is it set? Didya check your bobbintension? How is the machine’s timing? Isthe needle cocked? Do you have the right

needle? What thread are you using? Is itbonded, left or right twist? What materialare you sewing? It went on like this for halfan hour. I had checked, adjusted, anddone everything perfectly to spec and itstill didn’t work. We were stumped; myear was hot from being on the phone forso long. Then he said, “Turn the cone ofthread over; what is the thread made of?What’s on the label?” I complied and said,“Polyester,” like every other cone of threadI have in my cabinet.

“Aha,” Tony said, “that’s it. Seems thismachine—because of the way it pulls thethread through its mechanism—doesn’t likepolyester, it likes nylon. (Because of the in-herent elasticity in the material, it pullsback quickly after being stretched.) Well, asit turns out, every other machine in my ar-senal likes polyester. How was I to knowthat’d be the culprit? Well, had I had moreexperience with a wider array of machinesand materials, I’d have just “known,” asTony said. My experience was in a very nar-row band of the entire picture. I only knewwhat I knew—and in this case, it simplywasn’t enough. (Although I do kill at Jeop-ardy, so am not a total loser.) I’d havenever figured it out on my own; someoneneeded to hit me with the clue by four.

This is one of the reasons I have cometo rely on knowledgeable people to help meget my work done, as they know how to “di-agnose.” My listening skills and experience,as good as they might be, can’t competewith the trained and skilled eye/ear/handof someone who knows how to listen, ob-serve, diagnose, and fix things for a living.That is an unusual and increasingly rareskill set in the age of “replacement over re-pair,” and one to be held in high regard.

Please, check in with us on Facebookor Ironworksmag.com. We’d like to hearfrom you.

Stephen BernerSteveb@steveb.biz

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A Mile a MinuteSTEPHEN BERNER

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Story and photos by Stephen Berner

Bill Johnson knew what he wantedand during Thanksgiving 2009 hegot it, in spades—and he got it deliv-

ered to his door. After three left knee re-placements and two left hip replacements itwas damn near impossible for Bill, a con-firmed bike nut, to ride his two-wheelers,forget about hauling a passenger.

Never having ridden a trike or even con-sidered one before this challenge rearedits head, this was new territory for Bill.But being a collector of fine two wheelers,he wasn’t simply going to take the easyroute and buy a trike off the floor of a fineretail establishment. No, he was going tohave a ground up custom trike built, withhis ideas and to his specs.

Like the rest of us, Bill was familiar with

the work of OCC from television. He wasalso familiar with high quality machineryand, not surprisingly, he has a toy boxstuffed with mechanical goodness. Bill want-ed a standout, eye-popping trike that wouldturn heads, roll effortlessly, and allow himto travel in style with his wife—enhancedwith a modicum of storage. Bill thought thatOCC would be the right team to take on hisidea of what his trike should look like (stand-

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OCC’s Big Red TrikeOne happy owner, one beautiful custom

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25IronWorks March 2011

out) and how it should work (well).Clear on what he wanted—a machine

with a very custom appearance with a fewspecific characteristics—he was sure theOCC team could satisfy. Bill came to thetable with an idea based loosely on a bike hehad in his stable, a Jim Nasi Afterlife. Bill letthe Montgomery, NY team have free reignover the design of this machine, albeit, withthree clear stipulations: he needed sometrunk space, he wanted 300 meats put outback (OCC had originally recommended240’s out rear), and it had to be red—withflames (of course). Have at it OCC!

Designed for two-up riding, the machinefits Bill and his beautiful riding partner to aT. The custom fitment included Bill need-ing to hand over his better half’s inseam

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measurements and a host of other specs,like his arm reach. Accomplishing longand sleek is no mean feat in terms of trikedesign and the OCC crew nailed it withthis custom build. The frame as well asbody panels and tins were crafted entirelyin the OCC fab room. Of special note arethe rear fenders; notice the way they fitand flow along with the bike’s lines.

Starting with a Softail frame, an S&S 124power plant, and a Mystery Designs trikesuspension, the OCC team had to conjure away to make the parts play nice and notcome out looking like a rear box bolted to araked out bike frame. Quite to the contrary,the OCC team did an outstanding job of cre-ating lines that flow from front to rear andreally set off the great rims and tire-hugging

fenders. The fab crew, led by the inimitableSkeeter Todd and his design and engineeringcohort Jim Quinn, had more than dress upduties on their mind however and needed tomake sure the rear axle was properly locat-ed in terms of geometry and worked right.

Riding the trike is a pleasure relates Bill.Handling is neutral and the powerful enginekeeps it moving smartly. An attention getterfor a number of reasons, Bill finds that thequestions don’t stop coming when he is onthe machine around town. Building a chop-per trike that handles safely and has a rea-sonable turning radius is not a snap, butthe OCC fabrication team dug in and figuredout the geometry. In the end, good designand competent fabrication make riding thismachine a no-fuss proposition.

Bill states unequivocally that this ma-chine has exceeded his expectations inevery single regard; fit, finish, horsepow-er, design, and handling. Seems like ahome run any way you measure it. Nicejob OCC. IW

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*RESOURCEOrange County ChoppersNewburgh, NY845-522-5258www.orangecountychoppers.com

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