The Seventh Creation

September 18, 2017

Article By: Will Ramsey

Photos By: Holly Marcus

Originally Published In The January @017 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

Humility and success as a custom motorcycle builder seldom go hand in hand. The days of extreme fame and fortune in the custom bike business have subsided, and the changes in the economy have rid the industry of those seeking nothing more than an image and a pay check. Today, those builders who survived the “golden years,” as well as the new generation of builders, recognize that success is now defined by the gratification and love of the process, rather than the accolades of television fame and fortune. With that said, success in this industry still often requires public recognition, and enough recognition can challenge anyone’s sense of modesty, leading to the all too common “rock star” attitude in the industry. However, Jeremy Cupp of LC Fabrications completely defies this common paradigm. Nestled in the hills of West Virginia, Jeremy has grown up in a family bound by spiritual devotion and forged from generations of hard working fabricators. Working, himself, as a welder and now a machinist, Cupp honed his skills in the fire of true American manufacturing. His love for motorcycles grew from a desire to do something more creative than industrial machining. Jeremy is used to doing repetitive production work as an accomplished machinist, so when it is time to express himself as a custom motorcycle builder he makes a conscious choice to never repeat anything he has done previously.

This philosophy has led him to successfully design and build motorcycles ranging in styles from a euro inspired cafe racer to a gnarly authentic hill climber. Building a truly unique custom motorcycle requires many different skill sets across a broad range of trades. From design engineering to upholstery work, there are very few builders that possess all the skills necessary to do everything required to build a custom bike in house. As a result, many exceptional and respected motorcycle builders sub out different aspects of a build in accordance to their own skill set. A builder with excellent fabrication skills may choose to sub out the motor and transmission work to another shop, while an exceptional painter may choose to have a rolling chassis built to spec by a well know fabricator. It is very rare to find nearly all aspects of a build occurring under one roof. However, that is exactly what occurs at LC Fabrications. Jeremy has pushed himself to extend his personal skill set to produce every detail of his amazing designs. Thus, his work has found a great deal of well-deserved recognition in some of the most prestigious motorcycle shows in the nation. Having placed in the top 10 at the AMD world championship twice already, he began setting his sights on the top show title in the industry. With winning the world championship in mind, Jeremy set out on his journey to once again outdo himself and build the best bike of his career. The bike known as Seven completely dominated every show it entered and swept the custom motorcycle industry like a storm in America, ultimately winning at the AIMExpo and earning a spot to compete in the world championship in Germany.

The simple reason for naming the bike Seven was that this is in fact the seventh complete build of Jeremy’s career; however, there is a deeper meaning to this ambiguous moniker; in the biblical sense seven refers to completion or perfection, and although Jeremy would never claim perfection, that was in fact the standard by which he was holding himself to throughout this build. Seven was designed around the feel of an authentic speedway bike. But the engineering and design work involved in building this bike is nothing short of revolutionary. Staying true to the speedway form he had chosen, Jeremy needed a vertical single to power this racer. Rather than simply finding a vintage motor, Cupp chose to design, engineer, machine, and build his own unique motorcycle motor for Seven. Starting with a Buell motor, Jeremy tossed the top end in the trash and began reworking the cases to accept a single cylinder and head from a 750 Ducati Monster (yes you read that correctly). After back halving the Sportster motor (chopping the transmission off), Cupp finished the drive line with a pre-unit Triumph transmission. In every sense of this motor’s inception, Jeremy Cupp single handedly designed and built his own overhead cam, vertical single motor. This driveline is housed in a one-off board track inspired frame that, of course, Jeremy designed and built himself. If the motor didn’t impress you enough, look at the front end. Jeremy calls it the Hydro Springer. This is a fully functional front end with the nostalgic look of a springer coupled with the performance characteristics of a hydraulic front end.

Yes, the rear legs function as an oil dampening shock in difference to the spring rate of the exposed spring… Brilliant!! The perimeter brake on the rear wheel was designed and machined by Jeremy from a large piece of 400 series stainless steel and made to accommodate two separate calipers with independent braking systems. The aluminum sheet metal was all shaped, welded, and polished by Cupp. Previously he had felt criticized for building polygon gas tanks without complex shape in the sheet metal. He reached out to Joe Copper and dug into some Cycle Source Tech articles to once again further his skill set and accomplish his vision. By the end, Jeremy had finally left it all on the build table. There was no part on Seven that he felt he could have built any better and the resume of uncontested wins across the country solidified his accomplishment. But sometimes in life there is an underlying lesson that emerges after the accomplishment is achieved. After dominating every show, it entered in America, including the AIMExpo qualifier for the world championship in Germany, Seven was poised to make the journey across the ocean to compete against the best builders from the rest of the world. It was at this point that Seven gave something back to Jeremy; a reminder of the humility he has always been known for. He became aware that all his commitment and all his success had begun to affect the clarity of his own view point. So, in a truly selfless and respectable manner Jeremy Cupp made a personal and spiritual decision to withdraw from the world championship and settle back into family life in Virginia. Free from the intensity an anxiety that can accompany touring the world for motorcycle shows, Cupp is continuing to ramp up production of high quality parts from LC Fabrications and of course preparing for the next mind blowing build.