Bill explained to us that he built his bike on a budget but didn't skimp when it came time to buy the parts he couldn't make. He went on to say that Mike at Twin Tec in Catskill, NY, was his source for not only high-quality parts but also helped solve any tech problems he encountered. The high-quality route added many extra months to his completion time but was well worth the wait.
In addition to Arlen Ness hand controls, Bill preferred to use Arlen Ness wheels, brakes, and rotors. Avon tires bridge the low-profile gap between the polished billet Ness wheels and the asphalt below.
It's interesting to note that Bill's transmission was sourced from yet another person who left northern snow, only to have his bike ripped off in Daytona. Bert Baker's state-of-the-art Baker Drivetrain facilities in Haslett, MI, manufactured Bill's polished-billet six-speed transmission. To transfer power from the 121-inch TP Engineering Pro-Series motor to the Baker tranny, a Piranha Klutch from Karata Enterprises "bites back against slippage." Bill was really pleased with the quality and high performance of his TP motor. After about 5,000 miles a year of bar-hopping and street-light Grand Prixs, the 121-inch TP motor runs and sounds brand-new.
There's more than meets the eye to Bill's bodywork. After wrapping a sheetmetal doghouse continuous to the molded-in rear fender, he concealed a modified Dave Finn retractable license plate within the right-side panel. With the sheetmetal and frame work completed, Bill's next task was to smear polyester body filler all over everything and sculpt it into shape with cheese graters and sandpaper. Once that had taken place, it was time to hose on the primer-not just any primer, but some real thick R-M goo from BASF. Making sure the final coats of primer were free from pits and deep scratches, Bill blasted on a CZZ-300 Carizzma candy-silver basecoat. Step two in the three-stage paint job was to evenly apply CZZ-400 candy-apple red utilizing the techniques Bill learned while painting his barn red with ferrous oxide. The last coat-but not the final step in the process-was a heavy coating of Carizzma clear, which was then allowed to set. Carrizzma clear sets hard and fast, so the next day Bill was back out in the barn with a galvanized milk bucket full of well water and a sheet of ultra-fine sandpaper, color-sanding his frame tank and fender. One of the final tasks was to pound out a seat pan, then send it out to M/C Seating for foam and upholstery.
Bill is a pretty talented guy. After he finished wheeling his bike out with 3-M compounds and polishes, he assembled his bar-hopper into the beauty you see gracing these pages.
Bill and his friends are still regulars at Daytona Bike Week, so if you spot his candy-apple-red bar-hopper, be sure to say hello-just make sure Bill is around and not up on a rooftop with his sniper rifle.