Period Bobbers and Customs
Club Members Strut Their Stuff
By C.T. Riley

Bobbers, all the rage on the cable channels and the internet. There is no shortage of bandwidth devoted to this subject. From all the hype you would think it's a new phenomenon. Not so. Some current builders like to hang the title, "Old School," on their recent creations in a veiled attempt to link with builders from the past. In most cases this is lame at best. They buy an off-the-shelf frame, S&S motor, tank, seat and front end. Sounds like an endless rerun to us. Besides, in the "Old School"days it was most likely one man, in one garage, building one bike. Back then you relied on your wits not a parts catalog. Builders in the late '40s and '50s made do with what they could scrounge up. Often pulling items from the hot rod car community, which in turn, often used a junkyard as their supply source. Oh, how times have changed.

But, many AMCA members never left "school" and remember vividly what they, and their fathers rode, in the old days. "No night classes needed thank you. We wrote the book on Bobbers and Customs."

Over the next few issues we plan on presenting some of our club member's custom rides. If you're into titles, feel free to hang anything you like on these machines, Cutdowns, Bobbers, Cafe Racers, or from the club judging category, Period Modified. Perhaps it will inspire some of you to get out the cutting torch and go-to-town. Give it some serious consideration first. These projects can be hard to "undo." True, period builders though often made few modifications to the frame. Preferring to cut or "bob" fenders. It's your call. Tread lightly.

Blue Collar Bobber
Like father, like son, is the quote that applies to this project. Steve Doeden's dad, Maynard, built what he and his buddies called "Stripped Downs" following World War II. Harley 45s were plentiful in those postwar days. These were the bread and butter bikes of that period. Maynard recalled many were just "stripped" for parts to keep a buddy's bike running with no thought of building a custom. Such was their fate.

The two-tone paint and vintage SW speedo look right.

Despite this glut of Harley 45s it didn't stop Maynard from building a 1948 Panhead Strip Down... almost. Unfortunately Maynard's Panhead project was sold with some assembly still required. It never made it on the road under his care. Earning a living and raising a family took priority.

Then, in the early '50s along came son, Steve, who at an early age showed he had inherited his father's motorcycle genes.

Steve's introduction to two-wheeled fun was supplied by the Cushman Company when his dad presented him with a used Eagle. He recalled riding the wheels off that bike, both on and off the family farm. No doubt the chickens were terrorized and didn't lay eggs for a month! Following in his father's footsteps, when Steve came of age, family commitments put the brakes on his two-wheeled fun for a number of years. Rediscovering motorcycles in the late '80s he was soon diagnosed with an acute case of "antique fever."

The good doctor prescribed an Indian Bobber, which Steve realized wasn't covered under his HMO plan. Buy it or build it. Steve, being a working man, and competent do-it-yourselfer, opted for the later. When a coworker passed on a tip about a clean, complete Indian basketcase for sale, Steve was all over it. Truth in advertising be damned, this 1948 Chief had had an encounter with an immovable object and came out second best. The front end was done, stick a fork in it. Fortunately, the frame, motor and gas tanks had survived the accident. Sure, it was missing fenders, lights and a host of other parts but Steve had his Bobber starter kit.


It looks like it's time for another run to Sturgis. Sharp eyes will notice the "unusual" headlight bracket. "My original bracket said goodbye on my first ride back from Sturgis. I found a small piece of angle iron and adopted that. It's part of the bikes history now. I can't change it," Steve said fondly.

Starting with the frame Steve discovered a previous owner had gone a little nuts with a cutting torch. A few critical brackets were missing. Not much of a setback for Steve, though. For a professional welder/fabricator this repair was all in a day's work. The nice thing about building a vintage custom is that you don't have to follow a rule book. No AMCA judge will be looking over your shoulder. The bad news is that there is no rule book. What fenders, tail lights and seat will fit? Many times it's the old game of trial and error. With some careful calculations, Steve discovered a set of mid '60s Triumph fenders were a nice fit and looked good too. They came "pre-bobbed," saving him some time. He fabricated the license plate bracket, fender brackets and left side shift rod, which started life as an old truck shift lever. Though the entire project Steve's dad was there offering a few parts and plenty of advice.


Custom drag pipes look right at home. Don't forget your ear protection, they're loud!

The seat is an interesting touchstone to Steve's past, coming from a Cushman. For practical reasons he's running 12-volt electrics powered by a Denso generator. An old Stewart Warner speedometer from a long-neglected truck project dropped right into the stock Indian dash. Some fabricated brackets hold things in place. Triple brake lights are another nice touch. The large one is an old Sparta while the two small lights were, selected from a Drag Specialties catalog. One of the few modern concessions on the Indian.

Steve is rightly proud of the paint work. Once again, do-it-yourself was the key, "It's the best I could do with my equipment and skill level," he said with a smile. At least he didn't use a spray can, which would have been our skill level. Other custom-made items include the drag pipes, battery box and chain guard.

See and be seen. Triple brake lights do the trick.

One of the upper midwest's finest Indian engine builders, Dean Hansen, of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, did the rebuild. He commented that there were few surprises. It all came together just 24 hours before Steve and his chapter members were leaving for their annual antique ride to Sturgis.

"Break in? No problem, it will be broken in before we hit the South Dakota border," Steve thought. Bright and early Saturday morning he was on the road to the motorcycle mecca. Before reaching the western Minnesota border his Chief's oil pump made a turn and went south. Fellow club member, Tom Jones, made the 80 mile trek back home, pulled an oil pump off his Indian, rode back, oil pump in hand, to where Steve's bike sat stranded and helped install it. That's friendship!

Badge of honor. Four stickers, four trips, 4,800 miles.

Back on the road, but not out of the woods, Steve mentioned he had his share of glitches. "I took a small tool bag and had some big problems. On the next year's ride I took a bigger tool bag and had very few problems." To date he has completed four trips to the South Dakota rally. Each trip was over 1,200 miles. "It's a pretty comfortable ride in the 50-to-55-mph range. Why push it?" Good advice.

What future projects are on Steve's plate? Remember that Cushman Eagle he had as a boy? He's restoring it as a gift for his father. It's payback time.

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Aircraft-Quality Cafe Racer
We featured Joe Anania on our Fall cover and he duly received his 15 minutes of fame. However, the accompanying article was cut and held by our copy editor. Now that his article is a go, Joe gets another 15 minutes. Some guys have all the luck.

The steering dampener received the JoesVCycle treatment. He machined out the center and installed a BSA cloisonné pin. Then applied a heavy treatment of clear lacquer for protection.

Joe's '53 BSA, B34A single had a rough life during its first 50 years. This 500cc single was billed as BSA's off road wonder, hold the lights please. When Joe discovered it, for sale, in an Ohio Valley BSA newsletter several years ago it was advertised as a straight, clean bike. Which to the seller translated to, "I took it straight to the car wash to clean it before the buyer got here." Joe, whose motorcycling experience spans over three decades could see that this machine had been run hard and put away wet. As Joe recalled, "It had the wrong seat, tank, damaged swing arm, etc., etc. Everything on it was junk." For the most part, this wasn't much of an issue though. Joe's intent from the beginning was to build a cafe racer and, as such, many of the stock parts would be sidelined anyway.

For all the abuse and humiliation of mismatched parts, the bike had received over the years, upon tear down the engine wasn't in bad shape. At least there was no major damage to the engine cases, head and barrel. For the most part is was an easy rebuild. Likewise, with the gear box. Strip and rebuild were the orders of the day.

BSA's Alloy Clipper never looked this good back in the '50s

The damaged swing arm was another story altogether. A cost-effective solution was to modify a BSA A10 swing arm Joe had lying around. This involved removing a few lugs and adding few new ones. A jig was constructed to straighten the bent frame. Did we mention it was also damaged? None of these repairs were insurmountable for a man of Joe's background. For the past 25 years Joe's day job has been commercial aircraft repair and maintenance. From Pratt & Whitney piston engines to the latest General Electric jets Joe has had his hands on all of them. This experience has paid big dividends in his new career as custom bike/vintage engine builder. Studying the accompanying photos says it all. This man is into the details.



This bike will provide job security for employees of Mother's Chrome and Aluminum Polish.


A few of the cool one-off items that went into this project include; cooling rotor and air scoop on the front brake, chain guard, gas tank strap, bar-end weights, speedometer brackets and offsets, foot pegs and rear sets. And of course, the oil lines which are aircraft stainless steel braided lines.

Very few mods were done to the engine except for slightly larger intake and exhaust valves. A new liner was fitted, retaining the stock bore; the crank was rebuilt and trued and some minor damage to the inner cases was repaired. A detailed polishing job topped off the engine work.


It looks like it means business. This single cylinder 500 can haul the mail.

Next item the magneto and generator. Joe rebuilt these items himself, another "line item" on his impressive resume. Unfortunately, aluminum gas-tank fabrication is not yet one of Joe's skills. This superb item was ordered from Unity Equipment in England but Joe did all the paint, decal and pin stripe work.

This vintage custom rides on Morad aluminum rims with stainless steel spokes and Avon tires which had their raised letters highlighted in white. Another nice touch. The muffler is a modern Royal Enfield piece while the front header pipe is another English-built item.

Custom pieces abound. We love the chain guard.

Keeping with a period cafe racer theme Joe used a BSA Victor 441 rear fender which he modified slightly. The front fender is a late-model fiberglass item, matted to a stock BSA front end.

So what, if any, items during this cafe project posed problems? Removing all the dents from the tool box and oil tank were a bit troublesome. And fitting the larger intake and exhaust valves required custom valve guides but these problems weren't all that difficult. Total time to create this stunning bike? Sit down for this one. While still employed in the aircraft industry he completed his cafe racer in less than a year... a year in which he also did a frame-up restoration on a customer's '68 Triumph TR6C!