Sunday, August 1, 2010

Gary's 1980 XLCH Ironhead - Part 1

Got word of a project from a buddy of mine named Gary. I figured he could tell the story best, check out part 1 of his Ironhead build. Be sure to take a close look at those forward controls on the bike when it was purchased, classic design and innovation, hahha! Even has the barcode left on there for the steel to be returned to Home Depot.

"I have been riding since I was 18 I am 40 now. Iv'e had many bikes since then, couple of sport bikes Kawi 500 , Yamaha FZR then a 1986 sportster which I regret selling the most. After selling the sportster I got a 97 Wide Glide loved it but sold that and got a Fatboy got bored with that real quick and then got a RoadKing. What I realized was that bigger is not better, faster maybe but not necessarily bigger. So that brings me to my current project 1980 XLCH, Here is my story. I had been wanting to build a rigid bobber

for the longest time and after buying and reading countless "The Horse BSC" mags I decided it was time to just buy a donor bike and start wrenching. In March of 08 on craigslist was a 1980 XLCH for sale in Wilson for 2200.00 , Just like I had done almost every other time in the past I just went out without telling my wife what I was doing.

Off I went with 500.00 in my pocket thinking if anything I'll leave a deposit and figure out where i'd get the rest of the money later since all my money was tied up in my Roadking and the thought of being with out a bike for the summer was out of the question. Damm it!. After getting lost and calling this guy David like 5 times I was less than stoked about the bike. finally finding the house I meet David tells me a little about the bike and how it rode like a raped ape aside from all the tried up mud , grass and God knows what was all over the tires and fender which had been partly chopped, the bike looked reasonably intact. At this point David tells me that he was going to make a Drag Racer but he was being deployed to Iraq in a few days and his family was moving back to Georgia so he had to sell the bike. I offered him 2000.00 he said OK now I had a problem I had to call my wife and tell her I was in Wilson , I bought a bike and I needed 1500.00 right now from the nearest bank LOL. Needless to say that conversation did not go well all while A guy named David was in my truck showing me to the nearest bank. After telling my wife that I was going to build the bike for her to learn and ride just so she would agree to let me take the money , I felt like I just sold my soul to the devil not that my wife is the devil but you know what i mean. I get the bike home and just would stare at it for hours trying to figure out what I was going to do, after a couple of days of this I just said screw it and started taking it apart thinking ideas will start flowing once I start getting my hands dirty but like a lot of things I take on I go off half-cocked which only leads to more questions and confusion."