Wanting to play off the speed-hole pattern of my billet aluminum drive sprocket cover, I opted for a Sprocket Specialists 530 series "ultra light" sprocket paired with a Russell standard vented 11.5-inch brake rotor. The single rotor aptly handles all of the bike's braking needs with help from a four-piston Performance Machine caliper mounted on our own billet caliper bracket.
My buddy Fabricator Kevin dropped me out a Double Shot taillight, and I finished off the rear wheel with an RK Racing chain.
Clean but functional was the motto for the handlebars. I milled an undimpled set of swap meet super bars to be run upside down with a StreamLine Designs internal throttle set-up. Black Mountain Precision provided the grips while Joker Machine got the call for the solitary clutch perch.
The foot controls are a variation of a set I was already offering, but instead of pegs I wanted to update the classic rubber half-moon style floorboards. Knurled and inlaid with a pair of tattoo-inspired swallows, they make for comfortable riding through a multitude of possible foot positions.
Coating Specialties in Windsor, Colorado, handled the gloss black powdercoating, while S&S Anodizing in Henderson, CO, stained the close tolerance bits. Painter Bryan Koufal matched Buell's Magnesium Tone side covers on the tins, while Mart Ford once again validated his legend with the lettering and striping. Dan Ballard's Bitchin' Stitchin' finished things off with a bison hide seat as comfortable as it is unique.
I think my granddad would have appreciated the finished product, and I find myself remembering him now and again as I roll down the road, one hand in my pocket on the dead spark plugs he always told me to carry for the windshields of tailgating cage drivers. Like I said, he was a little rough around the edges.
I had to have a nautical star...
I had to have a nautical star on the bike, so this is a good place as any.