Son Of The South

July 10, 2016

0Points

Article By: Roadside Marty

Photos By: Adi Rubinstien

Originally Published In The February 2016 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a very lucky guy. I get to write for this fine publication, emcee at Choppertime and have been able to help Willie with the show for the last 13 years. I’m abl to travel all over the country including Sturgis, BMR and the Smokeout so I get to see all kinds of bikes from OEM original paint stock Knuckles and Pans to Twin Cam FXR’s that absolutely redefine how a Harley Davidson should perform as well as everything in between. Every once in a while I come across a bike and it’s owner that just makes me want to build a bike similar to it because everything about it is just plain awesome. That’s what you’re looking at right now! Jovanny Benitez, Geo to most of us dirtbags, is the man behind the bars of this sweet chopper and take my word for it he’s just as cool as his bike! Now, when I saw this bike pulling a wheelie in the alley behind Quick Draw Cycles in Daytona this past March I knew I had to take a closer look but that would have to wait until another day or till Choppertime when I saw it in the front parking lot. Once I had a chance to check it out up close I knew I had to share it with our readers.

Geo started this journey with a stock ‘79 FXE that he picked up from a retired truck driver named Speed. According to Geo it was ugly as sin but since it was his first Big Twin he knew that it had potential. Lucky for Geo he had a great brother named Art that helped him along the way. Art would joke that Speed really didn’t want to sell his bike because the redo was no walk in the park and the problems were actually Speed getting his revenge. After a few months the bike was road worthy as a strutted swing arm with a wide glide front end, fat bob tanks and apes. Geo actually really dug the way it turned out. With his two best friends Kevin and Marco they made a round trip ride to Pennsylvania for a wedding, that’s when Geo really fell in love with it! Unfortunately, right around that time his parents were going thru some rough times and Geo stepped up not only as a good son but also as a great man and sold an ‘81 Ironhead project to help get his folks situated again. From that project he managed to keep an 8” over 35 mm narrow glide and a Sporty tank that had already been Frisco’ed. With the Sporty gone, Geo figured that now it was a good time to turn the Shovel into the chopper dream that he always wanted. His buddy Kevin from Crilly’s Custom Welding stepped up and let Geo slice and dice his frame at his shop, which turned into a lot of long early morning hours and weekends. Geo really wants to thank Kevin for allowing him to use his shop as well as helping him hardtail the frame and stretch the neck since he had never done anything like that before. Since this was an all numbers matching bike Geo and Kevin cut the stock neck off, stretched it up 6” while keeping the stock rake and adding a new backbone and stretching the seat post up 2’, after the front loop was mocked up he followed the backbone angle straight to the axle plates which really set the stance for this bike!

Once the tank and fender were mocked up he welded everything up with a Miller 250 machine, and sent the tins to Bryson Lunger of Eastwood Customs who laid down some awesome root beer and gold leaf hues. Geo’s proud to say that everything on this bike has been touched and worked over by his own hands except for the paint and the transmission rebuild. He built the frame, machined the needed pieces, laced two different sets of wheels, split the cases and rebuilt the motor while Art rebuilt the transmission. Geo says his favorite thing about the bike is the fact that it was influenced by all of his shithead brothers and their rides…a piece from Kevin, a piece from Marco they all helped in some way! Geo wanted to especially thank his folks, Kevin for getting him into choppers and his vast knowledge, Bryson Lunger for the paint, the guys at Verdows Motorcycle Repair in Ft. Meyers FL and Art for helping him find the bike and teaching him how to work on it and the transmission rebuild. I’d like to thank Geo for entering his bike at Willie’s for the show because this is exactly the kind of bike we love to see and for letting us feature the bike, excellent job brother and I look forward to seeing you doing another wheelie soon!!!!