The Chopper Compendium

i hear ya, Bob. i wanted to try and kick it over so bad this weekend. we had a 3 day weekend and i almost couldn't stand it. i don't wanna be spending more time in the hospital though.

i think i'll try it next Sunday if i'm feeling stronger.

-dan

it's been a long wait, but finally yesterday it fired up! I won't even try to tell you how happy i am.

-dan

nice sounds good looks like you got some ride weather too

Wow man....didn't realize you were down for so long.Does look & sound good.

thanks, guys. the seat, turn signals, and rear fender/sissybar are just for the inspections and will get changed back to my original short fender after inspections. i'll also throw the flat fender/sissybar on there for longer trips, etc.

now just have to retighten the head bolts and base nuts a couple more times, then take her for a spin!

-dan

Wow, that turned out nice.

LOOKS and SOUNDS GREAT!

Got to like that feeling when you get her going!

I am pleased to see the bike running so nice. Merry Christmas ?

nice one dude, now go do some sweet miles

Maz

Wow, congratulations! That was a long time coming. Well done Dan!

well i guess some of you may have noticed me being pretty much MIA for the last year. i had just finished inspections on the knucklehead, and took it out for the first ride, only to have the pinion shaft snap.

broke. clean. off.

ironic huh? the only parts i didn't rebuild myself (was going to, but sent them to a shop at the request of a friend) were the ones that broke. i was pretty maxed out on funds since i had pushed it pretty much to the limit just to get the knuck back on the road in the first place, so i knew it was gonna take several months to save up the cash.

then at the end of March, a cager ran a stop sign right in front of me on my way to work, totaling the dual purpose bike i rode to work every day and busting me up real good in the process (broken arm, cracked ribs, etc).

i had to stop hanging out around the forums, etc. because it was literally making me so depressed (yeah, yeah, i know, go down to the local drug store and get ya the biggest jar of "toughen the heck up" you can find, right?).

finally back in the fall i was able to get another dirt bike to ride to work, and as of a couple of weeks ago i scraped together the money for the parts i needed to rebuild the engine again (still wish i had enough cash for a set of S&S heads - maybe i need a Go Fund Me page, LOL). i got the parts ordered from Dave at American Legends in Lexington, Kentucky which just so happens to be right next to the town i grew up in. i highly recommend Dave btw, he's got the best prices i've found anywhere, and he's good people too.

while i'm waiting for the parts to get over here - they should be here next week - i've been busy tearing the engine down again and working on a few tools i'll need to do the lower end work myself this time. i'll post the build of the tools in that part of the forum.

anyway, i go in next week for surgery on my wrist (still problems from the wreck) and i'll be in the hospital for 5 days or so, so i don't know how much that will affect the rebuild, but i'll try to keep steady progress anyway in the hopes of riding this summer.

well,


so here ya go.

take care,
-dan

Thanks for the write up and the pictures.

I would have had 40 fits with all these set backs.

All the best, and will be watching this and the other posts re. the rebuild.

Holy Crap. Didn't know about all that.

yeah, it's been an interesting year.

sitting here in a cast, looking at the box of parts that i needed to rework the knuckle's crank. it'll be at least 2 weeks before i can really start doing anything on it.

and wouldn't ya know, i have the next 2 weeks off work for spring break here. ironic, ain't it?

oh well, i can wait a bit longer.

-dan

Just bumpin' ya to see if ya have any progress.
I'm stuck on my projects, gotta get moving again...
Aloha from Maui,
Willy 2Loose