JAMESVILLE’S 1948 HARLEY PANHEAD

James Roper-Caldbeck is English, lives in Denmark, and builds custom Harley-Davidsons. It sounds like a League of Nations recipe for disaster, but fear not—James has an amazingly good eye for stance and proportions.

This long, low Panhead is James’ latest creation, a ground-up build for a customer from Romania. Panhead customs are two-a-penny, but as you can see, this one is a level above the norm.

“About a year ago I had a custom Evo Sportster featured on Bike EXIF,” James explains, “and a gentleman named Andrei fell in love with the bike. He emailed me simply saying ‘I want one,’ but unfortunately he now lives in Germany—where strict rules make it impossible to register a bike like that.” Instead, James decided to build a 1948 Panhead.

The starter bike was in bad shape, but when it arrived in James’ Copenhagen workshop, it was in good hands. James rebuilt the engine and brakes, and replaced every bushing and bearing on the whole machine—from the forks to the wheels. The original Harley frame had been butchered too, with 36 holes drilled into it, so James re-welded it and cleaned it up to better-than-factory spec.

“After that (and a whole lot more) was done, the fun could begin,” he recalls. “I fabricated a new set of bars from the old ones—which were so wide, I couldn’t get them through my shop door!” The 3½ gallon tanks were narrowed, then pulled back and raised on the frame. James also made a blanking panel out of aluminum, which now houses the ignition switch and warning lights.

The rear fender is a reconfigured 1930s Ford spare wheel cover, and James built a mini sissy bar to hold the vintage rear light. Straight exhaust pipes are hooked up to trumpet-style mufflers, which reportedly sound glorious. The foot controls and brake brackets were de-chromed and Parkerized, a process that was used on metal parts before chroming was available.

The final touches were to convert the Panhead to a foot clutch with a police-style shifter, and chop down the original seat pan and cover it with tan leather from an old suitcase.

Once the fabrication was finished, it was time for the paint. Andrei chose petroleum blue, a deep and lustrous shade that’s difficult to replicate in photographs. Then James rewired the whole bike using vintage-style cloth wiring.

The first time Andrei saw the bike was when he visited James’ shop to collect it. “We didn’t really email or talk on the phone that much,” James reveals. “He said he trusted me to build him his dream bike, and he did not want to interfere. I would like to thank him for letting me do so.”

A smart move on Andrei’s part—and amply rewarded with one of the most beautiful Panheads we’ve ever seen.

Head over to the Customs From Jamesville website for more classic Harley builds. James Roper-Caldbeck is one of the featured builders in the book The Ride—which you canorder here.

via BIKEEXIF

FUNNY !!!! Camburg Racing 2013 Best in the Desert Silver State 300 Trophy session

Boneshaker Choppers’ The Mutt

Benny from Boneshaker Choppers in the Midlands is a bit of a legend on the UK custom scene, and has been building bikes of all kinds for a while, but Boneshaker are mostly known for their choppers, so we were happily surprised when Benny sent us this scrambler/brat style 125, which looks like a mini Triumph Bonneville. We’re always going on about the fact that the scene needs more small capacity cool rides, and this bike fits the bill perfectly, so we asked Benny for the full lowdown on how it came about.

“I’ve never professed to be a bike builder, I never really wanted to be one either. I just couldn’t ever find bikes that I wanted to buy and the only way I could get the bike I wanted was to put it together myself, those initial thoughts were some 22 years ago and from that stemmed a business that has been my life for the past 15 years, a business that caters for people who want a motorcycle they can’t buy anywhere else, from café racers, to period choppers and traditional bobbers.”

“The Mutt came about for exactly these reasons, my love is old Harley choppers but I love motorcycles of all kinds; that is ‘motorcycles’ of all kinds, not two wheeled vehicles.. I hate modern scooters with a passion, I hate the way they sound and I hate the way they look which got me thinking why doesn’t anyone make a cool small cc bike? So I got to work.”

“I wanted to offer a bike that was still somewhat of a ‘custom’ but I also wanted it to be accessible, I’m used to building bikes that command high price tags mainly because of the parts but of course also due to the amount of hours they take to build, the Mutt had to be cheap, fun and kinda groovy.”

“I’d read some great reviews on the HMC Classic 125 which is a cool little bike loosely based on triumph styling, after checking them out in person (60mph flat on the tank) I decided these were the way to go, these bikes are very well designed and built bikes in the first place, all I needed to do was give them a bit more style and clean a few loose ends up.”

“Briefly the changes we make comprise of the rear wheel being relaced to an 18”, Dunlop 4.00 x18 tyres front and back, U.S style triumph bars, Beston grips, new paint, alloy mudguards, a flexi rear light and a new exhaust system with Burgess style silencer. You think 125’s sound like a fart in a tin can? Not this puppy, it’s got a nice thump to it and the bike is physically bigger than the average 125.”

“The Mutt isn’t necessarily a bike aimed at learners and 17 year olds, it is designed to be a cool small cc bike, easy to handle, maintenance free and accessible, a cool commuter and not too serious but hopefully with a bit more style than the majority of 125’s on the market.”

“I’m sure people will have to have their comments on this machine and compare it to this and that but the ethos of this bike is that it isn’t pretending to be anything it’s not ( aside from the obvious Triumph influences of course…) it’s not pretending to be cutting edge design and fabrication, it’s not trying to compete with hand built specials, it’s cheap, it’s fun so love it or hate it for what it is…”

We think bikes like this are exactly what the doctor ordered, and we hope to see planty of them out there on the street. Find out more on Benny’s new Mutt website.

Thanks to Benny for sharing, and thanks to Sam Christmas for the photos.

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