BREAKING

Feature Bikes

Iron Pit

Article And Photos By: Grizzly

Originally Published In The June 2014 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

Feature 2a June 14 Kerri

Ronny, owner from Iron Pit, Helmond, Holland is becoming a pretty big name across the big pond. The man started drawing attention by designing and creating performance parts for panhead motors and today he is building very cool bikes, like the one pictured here. I am visiting Iron Pit, a one-man bike shop in the south of the Netherlands . Reason for my visit? This gorgeous panhead chopper! I saw the bike for the first time at a trade and bike show held by the Dutch Bike magazine Bigtwin in Rosmalen. It was drawing crowds! Like all other onlookers I immediately fell in love. What a clean sweet bike this is! I just had to photograph it. Today I am at Ronny’s shop and I ask the man what inspired him to build this great panhead. Of course I am following everything that is happening in the chopperscene but I try hard not to get influenced by it all. You might think you recognize some ideas I took from others but to be honest the Super Pan almost looks like the very first chopper I ever had, some twenty years ago. Okay, I made this bike narrow, as narrow as possible, and yes, I have noticed other people doing that too. And of course I must subconsciously have been mixing ideas from others with mine but I always try to be original, that’s all I can say’. And indeed, we see a lot of stuff on Ronny’s panhead we have never seen before, starting with his cylinder heads. ‘I designed those a long time ago’ Ronny explains. ‘Stock panhead heads have a pretty bad flow and they also tend to get too hot. I made downdraft heads with a complete different and much improved flow and mounted them on one of my own bikes. I rode it years and years and I can assure you they work way better than stock ones! I have already sold many’. The other unique thing I notice is the sweet gas tank that, or so I am told, once started life as a Jesse James Villain tank. The grips are made f r o m slices o f leather like you once saw on old hammers and look so good.

The chopper has a vintage looking seat with chrome inlays and a neat little one-off hinge. Also the two into-one pipes are one-offs . What do you think of that spool hub? ‘I wanted a spool hub but really hate riding without a front brake. So I made my own, a spool hub with a disc bolted to it’. When Ronny started dreaming up this bike he first thought mostly about the technical side of it. ‘Actually, I never start thinking about looks’ he said. In this case, he first thought up a perfect motor for it and decided he wanted the gearbox to be mounted higher in the frame. Then he started thinking of what kind of brakes he needed. Not until he knew exactly what he wanted to make this bike run, did he begin thinking of how it had to look. The frame had to have a lot of stretch for instance.

Feature 2b June 14 Kerri

It is entirely hand built by Iron Pit. Ronny wanted it to be as light and narrow as possible. So he incorporated a single down tube and decided to go for a stock rake of 32 degrees. The frame sits low to the tarmac. ‘By making sure nothing sticks out, I can take any corner I want without hitting the street, even though the ground play must be less than 4 inches’. The 1440 cc motor has a generator of a Volkswagen Bug. ‘Those things deliver much more power than the stock Harley ones and you can run them with single fire ignitions without a problem. The downdraft heads in combination with the dual 36mm Mikuni carbs are good for quite some extra horses and because the bike weighs less than 200 kilos it is super fast.’ One of the things that count for keeping a bike light are the wheels. Ronny has used wheels with aluminium rims and hubs. The frontend is another awesome lightweight Iron Pit product, it is very narrow. Ronny bent the apehanger to fit. The foot controls are hand fab’d and the pegs are made in the same style as the grips. As you can clearly see Ronny has made a lot of parts by hand and everything looks the tits! The license plate holder is welded to the hydraulic rear brake, have you ever seen that before? And both the head and taillight? Yep, made by Ronny too.

The bike was painted by Ben Oud. That’s another reason why this bike looks so damn good. Ben did an outstanding job! Although Ronny was drawing crowds of droolers at several shows last year, he always had his bike on his stand and never competed in a show. One time he was given the Best Bike Award at a venue called the RMC Chopper show while he himself did not even now he was in for the prize. With this Chopper Ronny is showing everybody both his outstanding creative and his excellent technical skills, a rare combination for just one man!

Feature 2c June 14 Kerri
Iron Pit Tech Sheet
Owner: Ronny, Iron Pit
City: Helmond, Hollond, Europe
Fabrication By: Ronny, Iron Pit
Year: 2012
Model: Super Pan II
Time: One Year
ENGINE
Year: 2012
Model: Panhead
Builder: Iron Pit, S & S
Ignition: Dyna S Single Fire
Displacement: 1440cc
Pistons: Iron Pit, S & S
Heads: Super Pan Heads from Iron Pit
Cam(s): Andrews Ev 27
Carb: Two Mikuni’s 36mm
Air Cleaner: Iron Pit
Exhaust: Iron Pit
Primary: BDL 2inch modified by Iron Pit
TRANSMISSION
Year: 1974
Make: H-D Ratchet Top
Shifting: Jockey by Iron Pit
FRAME
Year: 2012
Make: Iron Pit, hardtail with single down tube
Rake: 32 degrees
Stretch: a lot
FRONT END
Type: Telescope
Builder: Showa 39mm
Extension: Stock
Triple Trees: Narrow by Iron Pit
WHEELS
Front Wheel: Iron Pit, aluminum rim & spoolhub
Size: 21” x 1.6”
Tire: Speedmaster
Brakes: PM/Iron Pit/K-Tech
Rear Wheel: HD/Iron Pit w/ aluminum rim
Size: 16” x 4.25”
Tire: Firestone 16” x 5”
Brakes: Hydraulic Drum
PAINT
Painter: Ben Oud Paintshop
Color: Candy Gold
Type: Metal Flake
Graphics: Ben Oud
Molding: Ben Oud
ACCESSORIES
Bars: Narrow Apes by Iron Pit
Risers: Incorporated in bars
Hand Controls: K-Tech
Gas Tank(s): Iron Pit
Rear fender: Iron Pit
Seat: Iron Pit
Foot Controls: Iron Pit
Oil Tank: Iron Pit
Taillight: Iron Pit
Headlight: Iron Pit
Sissybar: Iron Pit
Photographer: Grizzly

Related Posts

1 of 54