GREEN MACHINE

In the days of old when knights were bold, and toilets weren’t invented, the prevailing doctrine and superstition was that a guy should not ride a green motorcycle.  Naturally, this had something to do with the desire to separate bikes in the civilian world from those ridden in times of war, hence the belief that more guys have died on green bikes than any other color.  It’s definitely a loaded statistic, and a dated one at that.  

Well I’m not a very superstitious bastard at all, but nevertheless I’ve never had a green bike or really been struck by any green bikes in particular until this long lanky piece of work caught my eye.  Chris rode it over to the shop as he was breaking it in, and I couldn’t help but stop what I was doing and investigate.  

Now I’ve seen a few bikes set up with taller wheels front and back, it’s a pretty cool look but I have not seen many of them on the road. This one in particular looks fantastic getting down the street. Yeah, lots of guys have busted his balls about “lack of a contact patch” bla bla bla this and that, but it hasn’t slowed Chris down at all.  He says it’s super nimble, and dives into the corners with the greatest of ease.  

The devil is in the details, and this bike is exceptionally tidy, with everything in its proper place.  She’s tall and skinny, and built to run.  Its built around a 51 EL motor that was built up to 74”, which is fed gas by a nice and tidy little Linkert M-74. Of course it has a ratchet top four speed behind the classy old mill, and is all surrounded by a 57 straight leg frame that has been hacked up a bit, but perfect for a chopper.  Actually it was somewhat de-chopperized, metal finished, and powder coated too.  

We can’t help but mention “Stevie Wonder”, Chris’ exceptionally meticulous friend and mechanic who helped with a lot of the painstaking details of this bike.  He helped figure out the linkages, made a lot of hardware, spacers, and shaved the fork legs.  He even wet-sanded them in the shower with him!  Our pal Fred Reese was responsible for the paint, and the Haifley Brothers made his mid controls. 

I think it’s a pretty sweet looking sled, all the way around.  Dig it, in all its glory!

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