Couple Cool Bikes

[jtemple]

I'm not into cruisers or choppers at all, but these two bikes are kind of cool. We picked this father-son pair up on our way to the bike rally in Sioux City, IA. My stepdad knows the father, I believe. I'm not sure from where.

The first one is a 100% home-made hardtail, by a 23 year old kid. He hammered out his own fuel tank and even assembled his own springer front end. Even the frame is handmade:





There are no controls on the left grip. The foot boards are on pivots. The left one is hooked to the clutch cable. The right one is hooked to the rear brake. That clear shiny thing in the second pic is the shifter knob. It is a doorknob. The headlight came off of an old tractor. This kid built 100% of the bike himself. He did all his own paint work, pinstriping and air brushing.

I don't know much about his dad's bike. It's (I think) a 1977 Harley. I'm not sure of the model. I was told it's all original and was Harley's attempt at making a cafe racer. From what I understand, it didn't sell very well:



He and his dad own a shop. By the looks of what's inside, they sell new and used tractors, and also restore old automobiles. Here's a cool old international fire truck that they rebuilt:





The engine is 100% original:



They also have this old Ford that's just unbelievably well done. I hear there's over $100,000 into it.





They started it up and you could barely hear the thing run. It was the smoothest running old engine that I've ever heard. I suppose for $100,000, it should be.