This is the story of the Dragon's Sled

PART I

During years, I was fascinated with bikes, but never was allowed to own one. When growing older, I plunged into bikes with a Honda Shadow 750. After learning how to manage it, I decided I needed a bigger bike (I’m 6 feet tall) and purchased a Honda Valkyrie. While riding Japanese bikes mainly due funding concerns, Harley’s were always in my dreams. Since 2001, I started attending Daytona Bike Week shows and started loving Choppers since day one, especially Pro-Street versions. After that first visit to the show, the idea of owning one started growing in my head.

 In 2004, I started looking for alternatives of owning a Chopper, but their prices were very high. At the same time, in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, where I live, the custom motorcycle fever was getting more adepts in an exponential way. There are already several bike shows and events bringing bike builders from the Estates to show their marvelous machines. Also, some local shops were doing custom modifications on bikes. While I like the looks of “ready for sale” bikes, there were some aspects and accessories that I would rather change. That situation forced me to start thinking on building something especially for me. Having budget issues, building a custom bike from an already proven platform was my choice.

 After several months lurking in the Internet for bike kits and reading every Chopper Bulletin Board, the decision was to purchase the Big Bear Chopper Venom Kit. The advantage of a kit is that you are sure that all parts will bolt on without any major modifications and you will receive all the part required for the bike to run. The experience of some friends that purchase everything separately was that parts sometimes don’t match with other ones. Another important aspect is the electrical system and all electronics.  Everything needs to match for your build to be success: Battery size, charging system, starter size, etc. The wiring harness was also an issue and kits already include everything required.

I placed the order for the Venom model but after a couple of weeks, a new model was displayed in their Web site…a very long and low bike that created in me a big dilemma. The best way to make an intelligent decision was to see the new model in person, so I traveled to Los Angeles and went to the town of Big Bear up in the mountains. After seating in their unfinished demo, the decision was easy so the order switch was made. At the same trip, some upgrades to the original kit were made including a bigger engine (124” S&S), inverted forks and the controls I liked, Accutronix tribal.

These are pictures of my trip to BBC:

While waiting for the kit, I made the decision to look for a shop that may help me not just assembling the bike but to do several sheet metal modifications to personalize it to my taste. The services from C&G Customs were made based on the experience of its owner, Chris Brewer, building Hot Rod Cars in his native Canada and his ability to make sheet metal modifications, mold and paint bikes. The kit was delivered to Chris on March 2005 and he started the mock up to allow us to sit down for hours and make decisions on the type of modifications we want to accomplish. Since Chris has a lot of ideas, free hand was given for him to express his art. After a couple of days, he called me to his shop and for my amusement, the bike was covered with molded cardboards showing more or less how the modifications will look like.

 The major modifications to the kit consisted on making a pointy scoop with the down tube with a tri-dimensional look. A pair of fog lights were integrated on the sides to improve the looks and visibility at night. Both fenders were going to be modified to make them pointy and follow the lines of the tires. After replacing the PM Wheels that came with the bike with RC Components Gladiator ones, the fender was cut using the same pattern of the wheel. The seat area was going to be completely redone, with a new seat pan, welding the oil tank to the frame and creating some sheet metal work. Finally, the backbone was modified to stretch the tank and integrate it with the seat area making a better flow of curves. The tank base was completely covered and the neck was modified to improve the look and hide the brake/clutch and headlight lines. Also we wanted to install air shocks to impress crowds.

These are pictures of the building process at C&G Customs

Kit Received and initial build jut to make sure all parts fit well:

Building the sheet metal. First the down tube work:

This is the work to the backbone, tank and body:

Work to the seat area and oil tank and final preparation: