IWapr12pgs SS IW0204Pgs CSbakerdrivetrain.net/articles/IW_0412-Baker-in-Gear...Contents APRIL 2012 ON THE COVER Volume 22 • Number 3 • Our 182nd Issue Rick Krost considers himself

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ContentsAPRIL 2012

ON THE COVERVolume 22 • Number 3 • Our 182nd Issue

Rick Krost considers himself more of a component de-signer and vintage bike aficionado than a builder forhire. But when U.S. Navy Fireman and Afghanistanveteran Gabe Wingard asked Rick to build him a bike,Rick couldn’t refuse. His US Choppers board trackplatform was the perfect basis, aided by authentic H-Dparts such as the drivetrain and front end—plus aslew of capable friends.

FEATURE BIKESScreamin’ Yellow Psyclone........................8Creatively cloning a classic

US Choppers Board Tracker ...................20Convention takes a contemporary turn

Super Glide in the Family ........................30From neglected to noteworthy

Boney Joe’s Black & White Rider.............36Is simplicity an illusion?

Persistent for Performance ....................44“Pipes” resurrects a respected race bike

“SALT” Bike Helps with Horsepower.........48Empowering girls to grow strong

Pappy’s Flatside Flier .............................52This Shovel goes the distance

IW GARAGEIW Product Review ................................40Mustang touring seat

T-Man Performance...............................56Demystifying performance headwork

About Avon...........................................62Talking about tire types

S&S Cycle Story....................................64Engine Science 101

Shop Time ............................................68Billy the kid rides again

IW Product Review ................................73Kreiga tool roll

FEATURE STORIESRunning the Front Range........................242-wheeled traction in the Mile High City

Chopperfest .........................................34Honoring Dave The Man Mann

DEPARTMENTSReaders, Writers and Riders ..................19Your letters

Bagger Buyer’s Guide.............................70Get road ready

Seasoned Citizens .................................76A winning Wagner

IW Eye .................................................82Worth a thousand words

REGULARSMarilyn Stemp ........................................6Making frugal fun

Sam Kanish ..........................................12Sunny side up

Bert Baker ...........................................14Recognizing the new normal

Kiwi Mike Tomas ...................................16Honoring man and machine

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My parents grew up asDepression kids, peo-ple who lived throughAmerica’s formidable economictimes of the early 1930’s. Afterthe excesses of the RoaringTwenties and the stock marketcrash of 1929—when investorsleaped to theirs deaths in de-spair from Wall Street office windows—there was a serious economic awakening inAmerica. Pundits and observers in today’smedia have referred to the Depression erain light of our current economic woes andrightly so; there are parallels to draw thatcan be educational if you’re paying attention.

Depression kids like my folks developedcoping mechanisms and a sense of austeri-ty that became ingrained in their lives. Theirattitude of frugality became second natureto their kids, too. In my family of five chil-dren and one wage earner, my stay-at-home Mom managed our resources withcare. Funny thing is, I don’t have any recol-lection of feeling deprived. We had a bigbackyard to play in, ate dinner every night,and all of us kids got a dime to put in thecollection plate on Sundays. We even tookvacations–all seven of us packed into anOpel station wagon for a (free) week at myaunt’s beach cottage.

My parents were frugal with dignity. Mak-ing do created character and built workethic. Fact is: we had enough. Hand-me-downs and a car from the last decade gotthe job done and no one complained.

The difference between then and now isthe long stretch of fat years we’ve had in be-tween. During that interim we got brain-washed into thinking that if something wasn’tthe very latest thing, it had no value. Latelythough, it’s heartening to see a differenttrend that harkens back to Depression dili-gence: one in which buying used isn’t consid-ered merely acceptable but even smart. Thenumber of posts on Ebay and Craigslist, inboth the buying and selling sections, provesthis. And the can-do spirit is regenerating aspeople are taking pride in fixing up a vehicleor house on their own instead of dependingon experts, no matter that it’s out of neces-sity rather than choice.

These attitudes bode well for the motor-

cycle industry. Companies in theAmerican motorcycle aftermar-ket today have their noses tothe grindstone as they concen-trate on making solid productsthat people want and need tokeep older bikes viable or topiece together runners fromparts. And smaller American

manufacturers are making strides in waysthat are gaining notice.

There’s recent news that Sucker PunchSallys will continue building bikes, as an ex-ample, and you’ll find only American madeparts for V-Twins at www.stores.allameri-canharleyparts.com. Every bit that goes intoRinehart Racing’s exhaust systems is madein-house or sourced in the U.S.A. andthanks to current growth the company plansto build a new facility to make even morecomponents on their own. And I’d be remissif I didn’t mention Baker Drivetrain. As a do-mestic manufacturer, Bert Baker is justly vo-ciferous (in these very pages) about bangingthe gong to support American companiesand buy American-made products. (Pleasewrite and tell me about other ones.)

And if you can’t find exactly what you’relooking for, there’s no scarcity of metal fabri-cation and machine shops staffed by Ameri-can craftsmen who would gladly make thatone-off component you’re after. Yes, it willbe pricier and the process requires more ef-fort than clicking the “buy now” button, butyou’ll end up with something truly unique andthe benefits will ripple far and wide.

Garage bikes built on a budget are nowgetting more respect than they used to andyou have to admit, they have individual ca-chet you can’t always find in productionbikes. Motorcycling in general is looking eco-nomically smarter as gas prices stay high.This isn’t simply my opinion and I’m not mak-ing it up; there are surveys showing that theratio of used to new bike sales is on the in-crease—and has been rising for severalyears now. We’re finding ways to keep ourcurrent machines healthy instead of greedilybuying the next new thing. What a switchfrom the days of waiting lists!

According to a 2009 Polk Report, regis-trations of used bikes were increasing sub-stantially, reflecting the used-to-new sales

ratio. Said the report, “Historically this ratiohas been around 1.45, meaning that usedmotorcycle registrations top new motorcy-cle registrations by 45 percent. In 2008,the ratio rose to 1.88 and is on track toreach 3.07 in 2009.” This was especiallytrue in the Midwest where used over newsales increased more than 20% within oneyear in several metro regions. Early in2009, Polk projected that year would showthe fourth consecutive increase. Though itmight not sound like it, this trend is goodfor bike retailers, too, because the profitmargin on a used bike is often greater thanthat of a new one.

You might think this trend bodes ill fornew bike manufacturers, but at least whereHarley-Davidson is concerned indicatorsshow otherwise: used Harley-Davidsons areoutselling some other OEM brands and2011 totals for new bike sales from H-Dshow an increase of 5.8% in the U.S. and5.9% worldwide. Increased production isplanned for 2012.

With more people riding motorcycles forfrugal transportation, the need to purchasenecessities such as oil, tires, and bad weath-er gear is increased. Used bike buyers areworth catering to because they need partsand accessories now and present the poten-tial to “buy up” later.

Statistics aside, I see the best news asthis: people are still buying motorcycles andriding them. If you already have a bikeyou’re keeping it maintained. At the sametime, both new and current riders are buy-ing both new and used bikes. And the ten-dency to ride for economic reasons, whichmay be the current impetus of the trend, isas good a reason as any. Bikers have al-ways known that riding is fun and hip, alongwith the showboating and superiority weenjoy on two wheels compared to cage dri-vers. Now that the secret of riding’s effi-ciency has become more apparent, we canbe proud for being frugal, too.

America in recent years, with job losses,home foreclosures, and ubiquitous belt-tight-ening, is not so different from those Depres-sion times that my parents survived. Thepersistence and fortitude of the people whoweathered those tough times in the past tothrive and persevere is a lesson to us now. Ifyou wonder if we’re up to the task, just lookaround or glance in the mirror: we arethose people and we’re making it work. IW

6 IronWorks April 2012

The Other HalfMARILYN STEMP

Making Frugality Work


Istarted at General Motors in1984 and it took me fully 14years to figure out I was a squarepeg in a round hole. The stuffinessand constraints of the large corpo-rate confines were nauseating andit took me that long to figure outthe hot steamy turd sandwichesserved up daily by GM were makingme sick. We used to call it mis-sion-of-the-month. Managementwould hand down an edict foreveryone to stand on their left footand stick their right index finger intheir right ear. And everyonewould do it. The next month it wasstand on your right foot and stick your left pinky finger in your leftnostril and everyone would comply. It was dumb but thankfully I finallyfigured out I was a weirdo, a lone wolf, a sociopath, whatever youwant to call it. This is not a slam to GM and corporate America; Isimply lack the genetic programming to run with the corporate herd.

This is why I love the wacky world of American motorcycles,which celebrates weirdoes, freaks, and anti-establishment behav-ior. It’s the polar opposite of corporate America. Those who makea living from this scene are generally wacked, and wacky people in-trigue me. I got a chance to travel around America in 2011 andthere were a few visits worth mentioning.

Wheels Through Time MuseumDale and Matt Walksler run this museum located near the Blue

Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, in some of the most beautiful rid-ing in the country. They are obsessed with old iron and riding oldiron. In my book, there’s a close relationship between “being ob-sessed” and being a freak. I felt like a moron around these guysbecause they know so many details about very old American mo-torcycles. Their museum is the realest bike museum I’ve ever beento because you can fondle the bikes and parts, and most of thebikes on display actually run. No velvet ropes and rude securitymeatheads, just gobs and gobs of authentic American motorcyclehistory. But here’s the difference: We were walking through themuseum with Matt and spied a 1928 Harley 8-valve alcohol hillclimber. Matt said, “Wanna hear it run?” and I said, “Yeah, right.”He hopped on, gave it two pokes, and it came alive with blue alco-hol flames shooting out the short head pipes.

If you live anywhere within a 750-mile radius of this place you re-ally need to see the museum and ride the scenic roads. Don’t for-get: the Tail of the Dragon and all those groovy death roads are intheir back yard, too. BAKER-Spedia travel agency rates this tripten stars out of ten.

Rick Fairless’s Strokers DallasThe front showroom in this place is a motorcycle-based interpre-

tation of Madame Tussauds wax museum and Buffalo Bill’s parlor

in the movie Silence of theLambs. Don’t let his Thorazine-in-fused personality and Texas drawlfool you, Rick is a sharp business-man and a freak. But the three-ring circus showroom is just afront to pacify the proletariatmasses. The parts department inthe back is massive with reallycompetent parts people and alarge inventory. The service de-partment is not just that; it is ser-vice, fab, and a dream works.Rick can manufacture anything hedreams up right there; he’s gottalent on his staff. Then there’s

the bar out back. They could have a Led Zeppelin and RollingStones concert there; it’s massive and they fill that sucker up. Theeconomic doldrums of the last few years have barely touched theDallas area which means people there party, ride, and have a goodtime; good Americans in my book. That’s Mark P on the left in thepicture; he works at the same sanitarium as I do.

Caesar’s Motorcycle Empire, Salt Lake CityThis was my first time to SLC. I thought there would be a bunch of

religious zealots running around waving the book of Mormon andsnatching up spare wives; not so. I didn’t see a one. But I did see alot of bikers, tweakers, and weirdoes: just my kind of place. And theundisputed heavy weight champion weirdo is Caesar. To quote afranchised H-D dealer in SLC, “In every major metropolitan areathere is an ambassador of the bizarre. Our ambassador is Caesar.”

His enthusiasm for life is infectious; he just made me feel goodabout life without weed or speed. If you’re lucky you’ll get a tour ofhis collection of old bikes, old cars, and Americana. Then there’sthe camel. A real live one. He races camels overseas and is acard-carrying camel jockey, no lie; he will freely show you his card.He showed me documentation where he was turned down by thestate of Utah by the license plate division for “CAMLTOE” and“CAMLJKY” vanity plates.

The point of these loosely articulated ramblings is this. Mostwho read this magazine are enthusiasts and/or work in business-es related to the American motorcycle industry. At some point wegot sucked into the intoxicating vortex of the American motorcyclescene. We did this not because we were normal; we did this be-cause we were slightly or even severely abnormal. If we were nor-mal we would have gravitated to bird watching or gardening. Thepeople detailed above got sucked into the American motorcyclevortex and never let off the gas. As a result, they’ve amassedthese shrines that pay proper tribute to two-wheeled Americana;visiting their shrines is highly recommended. IW

14 IronWorks April 2012

Baker In GearBERT BAKER, BAKER DRIVETRAIN

Shrines, Weirdoes, and Two-wheeled Americana

That's Rick Fairless, with Mark P on the left and Bert on the right.


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IWapr12pgs SS IW0204Pgs CSbakerdrivetrain.net/articles/IW_0412-Baker-in-Gear...Contents APRIL 2012 ON THE COVER Volume 22 • Number 3 • Our 182nd Issue Rick Krost considers himself