1970 TR6C Trophy
Following the life of my Bike.

If It Didn't Start Stock, Then it Ain't a Chop!

Choppers Don't Come In A Box!

Updates are added to the bottom of the page.
Last updated September 2, 2006
It Runs, I changed forks it and I'm in Love all over again!!!!!

Click here to see my Sportsters through the years!

This is how it looked when I brought it home for the first time over 15 years ago. I paid $200 for it from a high school girlfriends ex-husband (yes, he was a druggie!). The motor had never been started since it was rebuilt because the guy was too cheap to get a new carb. The tops of the pistons were even still shiny.  I fabbed a hinge pin for the float and fired it up, rode it down the road and back and parked it because of water in the oil blowing out the vent.

I sold it to a friend for $300, he added the hardtail and decent front end, but decided he REALLY wanted the old Ironhead Sportster I had out back with the blown motor so he traded me even. I added my kickass sissybar with a REAL WWI Trench Shotgun Bayonet welded to it  a solo seat and a set of Apehangers and was on my way. This bike was my only wheels for a few years.
 

I was on my way to (my VA funded) school one day and was rear ended by a semi. His front bumper was right on the top of my tire. If I hadn't heard him coming, stood up and leaned over the tank I'd have a broken back at least. You can see how the seat is folded in half. I keep that seat on the wall to remind me how stupid some people are.

I played with a few different configurations while I was rebuilding it.

Here it is coming together under the shade tree behind my Dad's place.

Got it finished fired it up and took it down the road only to hear a nasty squealing noise so it got parked in 2000 because of a lack of funds. The insurance you say? Well, I was a newlywed and of course I had to take care of the wife and 2 kids I married into first.

The first pic is in the garage at the last house we rented before buying our own place with a better garage. The 2nd is in the basement den of the new house. Somehow I convinced the wife that it was an Art piece.

Here she is on her way back together. The rear fender is a "real" British ribbed fender that I picked up at a swap meet for $20. The springer is an old square tube from back in the day with a 21' wheel. It also has a set of 7/8"Apehangers on it now. The motor is in Texas at Born Again Bikes being rebuilt. You can see the engine rebuild on the Bonneville forum.

This is how it looked as of January 2, 2006 I still need to work on the gas tank, replace all the wheel bearings, reassemble the rear wheel, mount the rear fender and a bunch of other stuff.

Here it is on Jan 7, 2006. The brake, sprocket, and axle parts have been changed from the old bent wheel to the newer wheel that Stratcat gave me. It was a little rough looking in the spoke area, but a little "chrome" spray paint took care of that. It actually looks pretty good. We also got the lower fender mount brackets tacked on and this week Stratcat will pick up some round stock to start making the rear fender supports and a cool little rack to go on the top of the fender so I can transport a sixer when I need to. ;-)

Jan 29, 2006. I did a quick mock up to see how everything was looking. After I took these pics I stripped it down again and put the first coats of paint on the frame. The frame is being painted back to the dark blue metallic it was before I tore it down this time. The seat shown is the one from the last incarnation. This time it'll have a blue metalflake seat that should get here Monday the 30th. It'll also have blue grips to go with the seat. Hopefully next weekend I can get the springer apart and start to paint it. It will come apart again in the fall for powdercoat, but my powder coating contact (Tony Anamanamanarino LOL!) won't have a large enough oven until sometime this summer.

Here are some cool shots of the rear fender, mount and 6-pack rack. My buddy Blaine/Stratcat built this with some tig help from another buddy Mike. The original idea was inspired by an old Ron Finch rack I saw on one of the early Easyriders videos and an idea that Blaine had. The holes were already in this fender so we took advantage of them. The rack is a scaled down version of the original rack that came on the old Triumphs. Blaine did a kick ass job of making the rack and the fender struts all one package. Some of the pics may make the rack look too large, but trust me, in person it's perfect.

Feb9, 2006 The frame is painted, but will have to be touched up because of the seat mounts. The last time I rebuilt her I mounted the seat springs to a bracket on the fender, but the new fender isn't made for that, so we're gonna weld up some brackets for it this weekend. The Springer should come apart this weekend to clean up the rust and be painted black. The rolling chassis should go together soon if I can get some warm weather to finish painting stuff.

Feb 24, 2006 The engine arrived! The way it is packaged is on a wooded stand built by Grandpaul (the rebuilder) then placed in the storage tote I sent it to him in. All ya gotta do to make it work is drill holes a few inches apart all the way around then put zip ties through them to keep the lid on. A little tape just makes ya feel better about it. The motor arrived safe and sound, it also was a beautiful site to behold since I've been waiting 6 years for this.

This is Stratcat and his brother Kevin. Without their help the bike would probably never get done. Strat is the cat responsible for the cool ass rack on the back and he came up with the way to make fork stops that would work with this springer. Thanks Bro!

Feb 25, 2006 The engine is back and is in the frame now. The forks are painted and if I had some hardware I would be really far along. I'll get the nuts and bolts this week, then I can finish the motor mounts,  rear fender and supports, rear brakes and so on. I still need to finish painting the gas tank, run the wires and plumb the oil system. If everything goes right and the weather stays good, I can be finished in a few weeks or so.

Mar 5, 2006 She's almost done. Got a lot of work done this weekend. Finally finished painting the tank, headlight and pipes. The pic on the end is the sticker that is on the tank. Gotta have a Rockabilly girl to go with my Rockabilly Bobber. Got the oil tank mounted and test fit the pipes. I still need a few small parts to finish the mechanicals. I also need to finish the oil lines and run the electrics (I hate electrical stuff!!!!). The weather is supposed to be good for the next week so if I can get the small parts I may get to hear her roar very soon.

IT LIVES!!!
Mar 12, 2006 I started her up and even rode her down the street and back! Got a few odds and ends to finish, still need the taillight put on and I need to finish making the wiring look better. Other than that it's just adding some cool stuff for looks. She ran great and started on the first kick. It kinda made me nervous waiting for the oil to get to the rocker boxes, but it didn't really take too long, it just seemed that way ;-) I need to play with the throttle, it will twist backwards as well as forward and that was messing me up when I was running it. Now to get the lights done and get a few miles on it so I can trust it to go down the road far enough to have some fun. The pics show both my bikes (the other is an '03 Honda Shadow ACE with over 47,000 miles on it), some close ups from today, my garage and even a shot of my shop helper "Merlin".

Shakin' It Down
Well, it's together and I've done some test riding. The riser cap bolts were stripped and have now been helicoiled, the brake light switch is sticky, but I'll have to get to that later. The chain hits the fender sometimes, not sure how I'll take care of that. Probably make one of those skateboard wheel tensioners. The carb nuts loosened up on the longest test ride, but I caught them before the carb fell off and the left pipe came loose and fell off, but the p clamps kept it with the bike till I could pull over and fix it. The two biggest issues so far are the throttle that turns both ways and drives me crazy and the oil leaks. I'm working with the rebuilder and I'm sure he'll help me get it squared away, but it's being a pain. I did a retorque of the head and rocker boxes today and changed the way I had the crankcase breather to a long hose with no filter on the end like the stock set up and it still leaks. Oh well, it's a Triumph, I have to expect it to fight back sometimes ;-)

Ch, Ch, Ch, CHANGES!!!
Well, it was determined that the springer is TOO short. the front of the frame was a quarter inch lower than the rear and the bike handled like crap. I now have a set of forks from an '87 Sportster on there. I know the cast wheel is ugly, but it's what I can afford right now. I plan to put a spoked wheel on pretty soon. For now it rolls so I'm happy. I've done some more tweaks while I was waiting for the front end. I have the throttle sorted out and now she's a one kick bike again AND the throttle only turns one way (thanks GP!). I have most of the leaks cured and should have the rest found and fixed soon. Most of them seem to be from parts needing retorqued. The good thing about this new set of forks is that I'll have a front brake since the stock rear one is only OK, not great. Pretty much all that's left is rebuilding the CB750 master cylinder and fabbing a brake line to connect the Honda MC with the HD caliper. I'll post more when as I go.

I want to thank Johnny Cash, Social Distortion, Brian Setzer and all the other old time Rockabilly folks for making the music that has been my companion during this whole building process...Rockabilly Rules!!

Stay Tuned!!!

1970 Honda CB450 Chop
 Then & Now

This is my friend Olivia's Chop. It was a great bike years ago, till she let her then boyfriend screw it up and sell it. Now it is sitting behind my buddy Stratcat's house waiting for its resurrection.