Long time Octane readers may recognize the orange bike pictured here as the Buell Blast chopper featured in our March/April 2004 issue.
We stopped by Generation's new shop last month to see what they were up
to and found them taking their bikes back to basics. The Blast chopper still
sports its stock Buell front end and Blast motor, as well as the rigid Sportster
frame. The difference is in what's missing.
Generation's Clint Deardorff tore out the bike's wiring and electronics,
leaving only the headlight and starter circuits. There are no frills here.
No speedometer, no tach, no idiot lights, turn signals, or horn. Just lights
and a starter.
The next thing to go was the Buell carb, which Deardorff says was finicky.
An old school CV (constant velocity) carb does the fuel atomizing now.
Deardorff wasn't happy with the sound of the single cylinder blowing through
a straight pipe, so the back half of the exhaust was changed to a wider,
slash cut pipe with a baffle. The exhaust was "tuned" by inserting
a metal rod into the exhaust and beating the baffle down until it produced
just the right sound.
Finally, the most obvious change is the paint. The bike was treated to a
medium orange coat with gold flake, set off by metalflake black cherry insets.
The classic pinstriping was once again laid down by Igor.
When we last left off with Generation they were telling us about their ideas
for a '72 iron head rigid chopper. Dubbed "Papa Chulo", which
loosely translates to "Pimp Daddy", the iron head represented
new challenges for these builders, and all work would be done in house.
The boys started with a Paco rigid frame, giving it 40 degrees of rake and
8" over fork tubes.The next step involved some sheet metal work on
the tank, bringing the top of the tank to a crown. A radiator cap was used
as a gas cap, and the tank was modified to incorporate the overflow tube
into the tank vent.
Papa's got plenty of stopping power with disc brakes on both ends, and he
chooses gears through a jockey shift on the right side of the bike. As with
all of Generation's Cycles, the finishing touch is a custom seat pan, upholstered
by Precision Glass & Upholstery.
The custom bike craze will likely continue to grow, and the major builders
will keep fabricating one extreme bike after another to keep The Discovery
Channel in business. And on a small industrial block in Norfolk, Generation
Cycles has found their niche. Bikes built to ride. Built on a working man's
budget. No frills. No autographs. Just wind in your face fun. Just the basics.
© Copyright 2006, Octane Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
