Hands On Approach

March 18, 2016

0Points

Article By: Chris Callen

Photos By:Michael Bann

Originally Published In The September 2013 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

Jeff Carr is the kinda cat this magazine is made for. He’s gotta have his hands on everything he can and is a nut for learning. This may have started when he was in college as a sculpture major at IUP until he switched to graphics for the reality of job hunting. Either way, his need to be hands-on has driven him to try anything in his life. It’s also taught him to stay away from working on things like dishwashers and small electronic devices, but that’s another story. When it came to building his first ground-up custom, this would be exactly how he would go about it. Jeff got into motorcycles in the usual way; his old man bought him a dirt bike growing up and they used to ride together the whole time he was a kid. His father also had street bikes back then. Then it came down to a day when the old man was buying a new bike and decided not to trade in the Dyna Low Rider that he had. Jeff scooped it up and started to tinker with it to make it fit his custom need. That’s when he got the bug.

A little while later, Jeff decided to try his luck at building one from the ground up. So, he picked up part of a roller out of Florida, got a Revtech motor from a shop in PA. and started to plan out what he’d do. He knew that no matter what had to be done on this build, he was going to try and do as much of it himself as he could. He went ahead and bought a welder, started to move things around on the frame and even picked up some side jobs to pay for the parts as he went. He kept learning and wrenching, in no real hurry to finish the bike, even the paint would be a lesson in technique. He had a buddy that worked at an autobody shop who would let him and his father come in at night and on the weekends to learn. He taught them to mix paint, do bodywork and eventually Jeff sprayed his own sheet metal.

Believe it or not, that whole ordeal took about four months. Jeff and his dad did the bodywork in the family garage, and the graphics were done at Jeff’s kitchen table. That’s another part of the story that’s a trip. Apparently, this other friend of his works for the clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger; the camo pattern was from their inventory. Jeff’s buddy gave him several swatches to see what he’d like to use to achieve the design in his side panels. Once he finished, the people from Hilfiger used the bike to make prints on T-shirts and boxer shorts. Jeff laughs now and says that he’s probably the only person with framed boxers, but hey, they have his bike on them! One really cool feature of this build is the line lock that he has for holding the bike on hills. Since it’s a foot clutch — and this is genius — he has a small switch located at the back of the shift knob that triggers the line lock. Ready to roll? Just release the switch and off you go. Brilliant thought, man!

The entire build would take him three years to complete, but like I said, this was more about the journey for him and he was in no hurry. He thinks that this has gone a long way towards helping him enjoy his ride since it is a garage built bike and Jeff said it does break down occasionally. Now, however, he has the experience to fix it himself. It’s been a great hobby that keeps him out of the bars and even today he is on his second build, waiting tables at night to make extra dough to put into another creation. This is starting out with a Redneck mono-shock frame and a motor from Long Island. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with from that. Since the completion of this build, he’s had it all over the place with several first place trophies from shows like Thunder in the Valley, The Sturgis Road Show and Carlisle BikeFest. The only real problem he had was at first the bike was eating up batteries since it was so hard to start. No big deal; Jeff threw in some compression releases and it’s been solid since. So the next time your out at the mall, stop in where they sell Tommy Hilfiger clothing and ask for the boxers with the camo chopper on them. It will freak that sale’s girl out! Ha ha!