Psycho'78 Shovelhead build...

[saorsa]

Wow! Just read this start to finish...fucking awesome build...serious fabrication skills and excellent photos/explanations for the build process. Thanks.

[Davestune]

came out awesome!!

[boomboomthump]

Thanks guys. I have the 2" over tubes anyway so I'm going to swap them out and see how I like it. Not a big deal to swap them back if I'm not into it. I could use a tad more kickstand lean anyway.

[boomboomthump]

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[boomboomthump]

Posted this shot on Instagram but thought I'd throw the full-size one here. Taken by Jay Cagney.


Click for bigger version.

[Flatheadsoup]

I like it!!!

[ruckus2115]

wow......it just looks amazing. your attention to detail and quality of work is amazing. how is the bike running? you been able to get some miles on it? just curious is all....with the engine rebuild I just wanted to see if you were happy with everything you did to it. i have always been a fan of this build and love the detail you have gone into with how you built things. great work man.

[boomboomthump]

It has been running great ever since I finished the build in August. Took it on the Gypsy Run and did a ton of riding over the fall a few times per week and 100-200 mile runs every weekend. We had a mild winter so I kept riding it up until February when it finally got cold and I didn't ride it for about 5 weeks until end of March or early April. Had around 3500 trouble-free miles other than my Antigravity battery that took a shit at around 2000 miles.

Aside from that, I had my first real problem a few weeks back. Rode the bike down to The Race of Gentlemen for the weekend (3hr ride for me). Had no issues blasting down there and riding around Wildwood during the Night of the Troglodytes. When I was leaving to come home though, hopped on the highway and something just didn't feel right. It felt a little off, like it was struggling to hit around 80mph. About 10mi on the highway, I was coming up a slight incline and it stumbled a bit followed by two large backfires (one out each pipe?) and then quit. Pulled over to the side of the road and everything seemed OK but she wouldn't fire off and just seemed like she wasn't even trying. My wife was following me in our Suburban as we brought the kids down to enjoy the TROG weekend. Anyway, after some struggle, we finally found a U-haul open on a Sunday at 3pm. She drove to fetch a trailer and I shamed it home in tow.

My hunch was the ignition quit and I was right. I've got a dual coil, dual plug setup so I figured it couldn't have been both coils had quit. Wiring wasn't suspect and the fact that it wouldn't respond at all made me think the ignition had quit. Also, the dual backfire would imply a bunch of unburnt fuel made it into the pipes and lit off. So I figured it lost spark and again, very low odds both coils would quit at once. Got it home and confirmed the Dyna S was dead after following their troubleshooting steps. The Dyna S was actually on the donor bike that the frame, motor, trans came from. It was one of the only things I didn't swap out and I have no idea how old it was (new coil kit though).

In any case, not sure if it was the age but recently before that I rode to Ride to Skate in Philly (2hrs, all highway riding and I was blasting the whole way). When I got there my headlamp was blown. Didn't think anything of it at first as I was about 3k miles on the build and just figured the vibes killed it. When I swapped it out, I noticed the glass actually looked melted. Rode it a bunch locally and some mild highway miles and everything was fine. When I rode it down to TROG my headlight bulb was blown again when I got there. Went to buy a replacement as I needed to ride the bike at night to get to the Night of the Troglodytes show and same shit, melted glass. Hmm?? Overcharging at sustained high RPMs on the highway? Both times it blew, I was on the highway for hours doing 80mph+. Swapped it out, rode around Wildwood, no issues. As mentioned, on the ride home, the ignition quit and guess what, another melted headlight bulb.

I swapped in some points for now and I also got a new regulator from CE (one of those low output ones). We'll see how it goes...

[Flatheadsoup]

Good call on the regulator, I had a similar problem on another bike.

[Revelator]

NicE lookin Chop..... That king and king seat looks special, Nicely done!

and that exhaust is looking really righteous and of course the split boxes.
a fine looking shovel.

I dig that tail light.... I had one exactly like it, in perfect condition,
I had the light resting on the fender of a bike I am building, & while I was
moving the fender a touch, something slipped & the Light crash landed on
the shop floor, shattering the unobtainium vintage glass. Fuck I was so pissed!
I gave up looking for another, a rare piece for sure.

[DrFxr]

Sweet ride, dig the paint, and the pipes, and the seat, and.........

[Revelator]

I just noticed that I typed king and king seat by mistake lmao