No offense, but that's kind of bullshit, isn't it? The fact is is that a home built leaf spring or girder is about as cheap as you can get. Guys have been throwing girders together forever. If you have a decent amount of fabricating experience it should be a pretty simple task. Taking one's time, one could build a girder or leaf spring with a drill press, angle grinder, torches and MIG...
That said, it's a killer scoot. The little faring throws it off balance, but I really dig the use of... what, about 40 lbs? of brazing. Lots of cool details, unique parts, an overall badass effect. Sweetest set of pipes I've seen in a while.
thanks for the thumbs-up, teebs, but no bullshit. i've left
the link to my site where you can see the complete build, read about the time frame, and discover who helped with what.
on
bikerMetric you'll see that it wasn't only money, but time that was an effect on the final product. just because there are springer plans out there does not mean we had the funds to purchase the steel, aluminum, springs, or whatever (we were literally counting change the last two weeks); or that there was enough time to develop a front end. i was hoping to paint the forks, but there was not enough time for even that. wanted to paint the spokes, too.
the builder, jeff of
saint motorbikes, did the entire thing in five weeks, evenings and weekends only, with two weeks off in the middle for other projects. this wasn't a sixteen-month build. it was three weeks and done in about 130 hours. that's amazing.
cheap and fast was our motto. custom choppers straight outta the microwave....
KA-BLAMMO! no screwing around. no over-thinking. no time. no money. we just wanted dudes to see that they can build something badass real fast and real cheap.
i appreciate the steampunk reference, cooltouch. that's exactly what we wanted.
now that it's here in austin, we're messing with it. there will be some minor mods to the handlebars because right now the handing is mighty squirrely. it wasn't ridden until saturday, after our unveil party downtown, when we discovered this. we're also going to mod the fairing/flyscreen slightly. additionally, the "oil tank" is actually another gas tank. jeff mounted a little vacuum pump above the tank under the frame that we just need to hook up. then it will get another site gauge. in all, the FREEDOM OR DEATH Machine takes over four gallons of gas.
as for the exhaust, it was assembled with a donated biltwell exhaust kit, some .120 wall tubing, and four cast steel plumbing elbows. it sounds incredibly angry and unlike anything you've ever heard.
the black and brass/gold is not only because it helps with the steampunk/antique look, but also because i am a huge new orleans saints fan. black and gold! it's been a good year.
i'll post new pix as they come, guys. we all appreciate your kind remarks and your support of the metric motorbike revolution. it's cheap, fast and fun.
garage-built freedom machines!