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Feature Bikes

The Hooligan Sportster

Featured in The May 2015 Issue Of Cycle Source

Article & Photos By: Chris Callen

Feature 5a

We ran across the little Hooligan you see here this past season when it took the Best Sportster Award at our show during Thunder In The Valley. This build was the collaboration of two men in what they call a hobby garage; Adam Karns and John Dunning. Together they work on bikes for fun, three to five a year, in a small shop they call Karns Kustoms now located in Delmar, MD. This one was literally a bunch of stuff that had just been laying around the shop and Adam had his eye on it since it was his birth year, a 1974 XLCH. Adam was riding bikes when he was five so to say he’s been a lifetime enthusiast is a safe bet. His brother was a motorhead car guy and when it came right down to it Adam said he couldn’t afford to do the car thing. Bikes were cheaper, less parts, less hassle so that’s the direction he took. Growing up in Bedford , Pa there are quite a few months out of the year that one type of garage activity or another are almost a mandatory for mental health, which is a directive I can personally vouch for. This region has always been a hot bed for creative minds in the fabrication department, a n d that’s the case here as well. Being a two man operation at Karns Kustoms, these cats use whatever they have and do the best with it that’s possible. Their bikes have taken some prestigious awards for the hard work too. Easyriders, Rats Hole and even at the IMS Show, a credit Adam feels is from the amount of time they spend in the front end of their builds. They like bikes to be clean so painstaking efforts are taken to run tubing to hide all wires and smooth all their fixtures out ahead of time. So when it came to the bike were here to talk about today it was an E-bay find. Like I mentioned above a ’74 for the year that Adam was born and in his mind he wanted to make a rough and ruckus little bar hopper that combined the old styling and new features of functionality. To start off with there were tons of hours put into the metal work to keep it nice and clean and have it come off smooth. They hardtailed it at the shop, as a matter of fact it all gets done in house. Even the custom graphics you see screaming out of that yellow paint was done by Jason Wharton, in their shop.

Feature 5b

New components like the brakes and controls, the burly looking fat spoke wheels, of which the rear wheel was a front that they machined to use as a rear. Let’s not forget to mention the fact they figured out a good solution for a hydraulic clutch for an old Ironhead on this project as well. If you don’t know there aren’t a lot of options out there to get a hydraulic clutch system on an Ironhead. Luckily they have an in with a machinist that helps them with detailed projects like this. The motor was good, it didn’t need much but they still did a top end. Keeping in mind that this is a kick only CH, the compression was kept to a reasonable amount. Even still the kicking is half of the reason for the name. Adam says this bike always has some sort of drama attached to it. It gets stubborn sometimes when you’re kicking it, sometimes the yellow paint makes people mad enough to harass him at the bar. It’s a hooligan through and through, you know the kind; trouble you can spot from a mile away. In closing we’d like to thank Adam for bringing this bike out to our show at Thunder In The Valley and letting us bring it to our readers. It’s exactly the kind of custom bike born from determination and adaptability that makes us proud to be from this part of the country. We’ll keep an eye out for what the two man hobby garage crew comes up with next as they will always have a place in our pages.

Feature 5c

HOOLIGAN TECH SHEET
Owner: Adam Karns
Fabrication By: Karns Kustoms
City/State: Delmar, MD
Year: 1974
Make: Harley-Davidson
Model: XLCH
Value:
Time: 3 Months
ENGINE
Year: 1974
Model: Harley-Davidson
Builder: John Dunning
Iignition: Harley-Davidson
Displacement: 1000cc
Pistons: Harley-Davidson
Heads: Harley-Davidson
Cam(s): Harley-Davidson
Carb: Keihin CV
Air Cleaner: Mooneyes
Exhaust: Spit Fire Motorcycles/Karns Kustoms
Primary: Harley-Davidson
TRANSMISSION
Year: 1974
Make: Harley-Davidson
Shifting: 4 Speed
Frame
Year: 1974
Make: HD XLCH Front w/ Mod Hammer In Hardtail
Rake: Stock
Stretch: 5” Rear Section
FORKS
Type: Karns Kustoms/Three Two Choppers
Builder: Karns Kustoms
Extension: 4” Under
Triple Trees:
WHEELS
Front Wheel: Fat Spoke
Size: 21”
Front Tire: Avon MH 90-21
front brake: None
Rear Wheel: Fat Spoke
Size: 16”
Rear Tire: Avon 140-90-21
rear brake: Modified Sprotor
PAINT
Painter: John Dunning
Color: Chrome Yellow/White
Type: Houe of Kolor
Graphics: Jason Wharton
Molding: Karns Kustoms
ACCESSORIES
Bars: Front Street/Karns Kustoms
Risers: N/A
Hand Controls: E-Bay Special
Fuel tank: Cleveland Cyclewerks/Karns Kustoms
Front Fender: None
Rear Fender: Led Sled/Karns Kustoms
Seat: Rich Phillips Cycles
Foot Controls: Modified Harley Davidson
Oil Tank: Karns Kustoms
Headlight: Cycle Standard
taillight: No School Choppers
Speedo: None
Photographer: Chris Callen

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