Back Issues Feature Bikes In The Magazine

Rock-N-Roll Pan

March 1, 2011

Article and Photos by: Alex Scott

Outside of the old J and P Depot with its shattered windows and semi-American gothic architecture, I met Mike Creager with his girlfriend, Casey Sue. The depot is in downtown Fort Worth, Texas where Mike told me he’d been living for quite awhile. Fort Worth, famous for its still operating stock yards and cattle drives, is an industrial and cultural center for North Central Texas and a perfect place to cruise around on your black 1950 Panhead.

I was first contacted by Casey Sue, who thought (and rightfully so), that Mike’s bike had the potential to get a featured shoot. I was immediately impressed when I spotted Mike next to his bike. He later told me the bike wasn’t built in a shop, or even in a garage, but in his own spare bedroom. Reflecting the era of its creation, this bike was straight rock ‘n’ roll.

We had a perfect day to go out and shoot; the perfect crisp November morning. The city’s downtown was empty and the engine could be heard reverberating from the walls of every tower. The bike was no slouch in turning heads; I had some competition from other photographers who wanted to take a shot at Mike and Casey when riding close by. This wasn’t your average show bike, although it looked the part. There was no trailer hauling the bike; Mike rode it all the way to the steps of the shoot, and he was sure going to ride it back.

From some further prodding, I found out the build wasn’t in the least bit scripted. There were no detailed blueprints years in the works. According to Mike, it was a stroke of luck, perhaps a stroke of bad luck that prompted the build.

“After racing my buddy’s Shovelhead all the way home from a David Allen Coe concert, a blown gasket started this whole build,” said Mike.

Prior to the rebuild, the Panhead was constructed, rather, held together, with bailing wire and bungee cords. Mike’s high tech security system was a chain, a padlock, and the post on his front porch. But, the blown gasket wasn’t of any worry; it was just the catalyst Mike had been waiting for to get the project going and show his bike the love it deserved.

Without a shop or even a garage to work on it, it was one of those rare life occurrences when everything

just seems to align. Everyone appeared to be on board. With full approval from Miss Casey Sue, Mike built this bike in his spare bedroom and on the front porch of his house over the course of a year and a half. Dragging out tools, welders and the bike out to the porch, Mike worked on it until the last shred of light, and then a little more, until he would drag it all back inside again for the night: night after night after night.

In a fashion perhaps anyone can relate to, Mike used truck bumpers to bend sissy bars and peg stands, small grinders to cut and polish, and

numerous other improperly used tools to achieve what would ultimately become this beauty. A small Tig machine, also kept inside the house, proved time and time again to be his saving grace, doing everything from building the rear fender and some light molding on the frame, to stitching up brackets and bars.

While not everything could be done at the house, Mike was blessed with a full machine shop that belonged to his father where he was able to build the more precise pieces. The risers and modifying the brake were all done at the shop with the help of his dad.

When Mike said everybody seemed to be on board, he really meant everybody seemed to be on board. A friend of Mike’s, Tom Sheers, brought a tank back from the grave that Mike readily admits he previously had killed. Mike also called upon East Bay Cycles to punch the motor out to 84 inches, making sure it thumped as hard as he wanted.

One of the first things I noticed about Mike and Casey was the good- hearted sincerity they both possessed. When I grilled him about all the details of the bike and the build, the first thing he would say was how it wouldn’t have happened without a little help from his friends and family. He was the first to admit that it couldn’t have been finished, or started for that matter, without the complete support of Casey Sue. In true down to earth fashion, the finished bike was only the icing on the cake; the build was the true reward, and Mike thanks everyone (Roe Creager, Tom Sheers, and Casey Sue) that happened to be a part of it all.

straight rock ‘n’ roll tech sheet

owner: Mike Creager city: Fort Worth, TX Fabrication By: Mike Creager Year: 1950

Model: Panhead time: 1 1/2 Years Value: Priceless