The Beast

October 12, 2017

Article By: Chris Callen

Photos By: Peter Linney

Originally Published In The February 2017 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

In a time where it seems everyone is looking to build vintage pans and knuck choppers, it’s a hard prospect to build an Evo that stands out. John Schroder said when he firs tscored this bike he felt like he was eighteen years old again since back then all he could think about was getting an Evo Harley. Twenty Three years later he got the bike however it was far from the little ripper you see here. It had Big ol’ 6 gallon tanks, buckhorns on curved risers, extended forward controls, long shotgun pipes and a couch like seat with conchos! His wife promptly told him he looked ridiculous But John could care less. He promptly named it the Beast and it became his daily rider for the next three months. Enter Anthony Pientel who had never owned a bike before and was fresh off a test ride of the 48. He dug the vintage vibe but just wasn’t feeling it from that one. John knew that he could take the Beast and flip a few little tricks and give Anthony both the cool style and the groove he was looking for.

So he hit the Long Beach swap and loaded up on some parts for it. A barrel oil tank, a Chevy truck taillight, 16” wheel and some aftermarket fatbob style tanks. It all started with a complete strip down to the frame, motor and tranny to get a look at the bare skeleton of the bike. John had a fatboy front fork assembly from another project so he thre in a progressive drop in spring kit that lowered the bike and would give it improved handling over the soft H-D springs. He took the fatbob tanks and started cutting on them. John wanted a narrow prfile while still keeping enough capacity to not make it a 50 mile fill up. So he went with a happy medium and matched the width of the forks, keeping the centers as close to the frame as possible. Using some rubber mounts from Bungking John fabbed his own tank mounts. He was still able to squeeze in a mini speedo at the front top mount of the tanks and complimented that by using a piece of 1/8” aluminum for a dash. With some lightening holes added to give it some style he bent it up to sit flush with the tank and to cover the circuit breakers and starter relay that are neatly layed out on a piece of lexan underneath.

The bars were handmade using some .120 wall mild steel tubing and fitted with mounts from Bungking that were welded on instead of using the clamp style risers. The FLH front fender was another swap meet score and John used it in true old school fashion by making it into the Beast’s rear fender. He zipped the softail frame rails into the can, keeping the frame horns and making his own mounting for the tin. One big requirement from Anthony was a cool sissy bar but John hated how most of the standard setup looks on suspended bikes so he decided to make his own. He took 3/8 plate and welded it to the inside of the fender. John drilled and tapped the holes to line up with the frame horns to make a strong simple assembly. He got a metal ring and some 1/2” bar that were bent a little to make a clean design that is appealing yet doesn’t dominate the rear area of the bike. He used the replica of a Chevy truck taillight and fabbed a bracket out of some 1/8” flatbar to make a plate holder. He gave it a bend and a gusset with lightening holes and welded this to the axle adjuster. A few j-bends from Summit resulted in some short yet shapely pipes that were ceramic coated by the VW gurus at Carcraft.

All the stock clearcoat of the aluminum engine and tranny parts was stripped off and and given a brushed finish to balance out the natural aluminum of the cases. When it came to the paint John likes to draw inspiration from many sources. This one in particular came to him as he watched an episode of American Pickers where they were looking at an old Schwinn bicycle that had neat designs on the tank. John took that idea and tweaked them a little, added some striping to fill in the voids and made it a solid design to fit this build. American Modified in Fontana, CA smoothed out the imperfections and sprayed the red basecoat with clear on top. Next it went to Cal Signs and Graphix in Perris, CA where the winged panels were hand painted with ivory one shot. Silver metallic was used to outline them along with more pinstripes in ivory. Once the bike was finished, John hopped on it and headed out to his usual loop through the historic district to downtown. The air ride suspension was soaking up the bumps like a Cadillac, occasional blue flames shooting out of the pipes. It was late at night and of course as he headed back towards home, it started to rain pretty good! But this meant the bike was officially rain tested and ready for heavy use! And that’s exactly what Anthony does, he rides this thing constantly! That’s what they’re meant for, right?!