Belmar Best Of Show

February 28, 2016

0Points

Article By: McGoo

Photos By: Hannah Longo

Originally Published In The April 2013 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

As I was out on a promotional mission for the Belmar motorcycle show, my wife and I pulled into one of the local bike nights. The place is usually packed, but this particular night the weather was sketchy so attendance was down. The first bike I saw after we parked was Bob Crank’s Flatty. I told my wife that it could be a winner. We stopped and talked to Bob. He said he had just finished it and this was its first ride; his goal was to have it completed for the Belmar show. At the event, Bob ended up winning the Cycle Source “Best of Show” award, beating out some very reputable bikes.

Bob bought the 1951 WL off of Craigslist from a guy in PA. about a year ago. That guy had bought it from another person who just slapped it together to sell. Needless to say, Bob found a lot of issues with it: cracked brake drums and the shoes were down to nothing. The guy was riding a real death trap! The first thing on the list was to search out some parts in order to get it back to its original condition . The front wheel on it was a metric 19” which obviously had to go. He found a 16” drum wheel and a braking plate to get the front wheel and brakes in order. Then he located an original set of rear fork legs with a 7/8” stem. Now it was on to the disassembly to see how bad it really was.

Over the winter, Bob stripped it all down. He had the frame blasted and powder coated by Lynn at Body Contours in Belford, NJ. He cut up the stock rear fender to give it the look he was after—a classic, old school bobber. There was plenty of cleaning a n d prep work on the rest of the tins so Preston, also from Body Contours, could lay on the beautiful red and black paint. The forks were assembled with new springs and rockers, and 5” Firestone Deluxe Champions were mounted up to give it that look he was going for. The motor, trans and primary were all left stock. Bob went through the motor and checked it out thoroughly. He ended up rebuilding the oil pump and putting some new gaskets, bearings and seals in it during assembly, and then it was good to go.

The Linkert carb was also given the once over. He then went through the trans and primary, and checked them as well. They were not in need of any major parts either, so after some thorough cleaning, they went back together with new bearings and seals. Bob made the wiring harness himself using the original style cloth covered wire. Warren at 45 Restoration was the go-to guy for various parts for the build. Since the day we saw Bob at the bike night, he has put about a 1000 miles on it. On one of his rides, the stock generator took a crap so a call to Cycle Electric got him one of their American made units. Bob has since put many trouble free miles on his Flatty and is already looking forward to his next build. Hopefully he will debut it at the 2013 Belmar show. Bob wanted to make sure he thanked his buddies, son Tyler, and his wife Amy.