The Chopper Guy

Billy Franke is the chopper guy at Bill's Cycles. His own bike is made up of an Amen savior frame modified and married to a stock Kawasaki by Crumley. Billy applied the custom paint job and did all the engine work and fitting to the frame. The engine is a 1979 Kawasaki Z-1 900 punched out to 1015 cc Wiseco big bore kit, with Andrews cams, K&N air filters, wide open Kerker 4 into one megaphone. 21" front wheel. + 5" over Honda front forks and Santee electrics box. It's fast and loud [and fun].

Building a Chopper

The engine in the picture is a Honda 750 bored to 849 cc. with web race cams, high compression pistons, Heavier cylinder studs, Dyna ignition. Yes, that's a clutch lever on the side of the engine. It will be linked to a forward mounted foot clutch and a hand fabricated jockey shift will be used. The dual mikuni intake kit is by Cycle X. This setup will be dropped into a Santee frame. The owner, Stacy Gilliland, is doing all the work. Billy and I are watching and giving him a hard time when we can. Stacy will do any bodywork and painting. We're shooting for a shakedown trip in mid-May '09.