Finished body working the tins for my Born Free ready to primer.

As of right now this is how the bike site 90% fabricated. Only have a few small things left like oil lines and making sure i dont need any additional mounts anywhere and pressure testing the tanks.

I have been working on this bike after my regular job everyday for 6 months to get to this point and will be rolling it off the bench for the first time to see it out in the sun soon.

Very Excited to move into to paint work.

Fully metal finished pipes for my panhead build. All the bends were provided by Bill @ Biltwell as a donation to the build and added a few of my own bends for what i need. Hand made the squish pipe from scratch so be able to suck in the exhaust as tight to the frame as possible to sneak past the brake. Next post will have some mounted photos.

Here is how the Panhead currently sits.

I still have a few big things to make like the exhaust and handlebars to finish off the profile and some small details but spent a good amount of time welding on the frame and finishing off parts i have already started to bring me closer to finishing up fab work. Everything is coming together exactly as planned.

Next ill make a high upswept exhaust system and the handlebars. For the bars i have tapered risers as pictured and need to machine top caps so when all together the bars will appear to have welded on riser looks.

One off manually machined headlight for the build. I liked the style of the old VW reverse light but wanted to use this cool glass lens and make the housing slimmer. I machined the body for the headlight and bezel from two pieces all based around this glass lens and a H8 car fog light bulb. all manually machined and hand finished to soften it up. All up the total thickness on the body is 1.25” and really compact.

Finished taillight that i machined from my new to me Diamond kneemill.

The taillight is machined in three pieces, the base plate out of steel which is welded to the fender, the middle plate that holds the LED and bezel that keeps the lens secured. All 3 pieces manually machined and hand finished together for a tight fit.

Full sheet metal seat molding to continue the flow from the the tank all the way down to the fender. This is pre planning for the paint scheme i have in mind which will continue the design continuously jumping piece to piece.

Moving forward with some extra details on my oil bag for the panhead.

Made two recessed pockets for the battery and coil to sit side by side underneath the seat.

The more ignition components i can fit in the oil tank the less wiring that is visible. To me removing the coil from view also really cleans up the lines of the bike.

Big milestone in the build to have all the parts done for the controls, mounts and shifter.

Many many hours into all these pieces to cut, bend, shape and weld up all by hand one by one. Really happy with this collection and definitely some of my favorite pieces i have made to date.

Wrap over fender strut made from scratch.

Start of the Mechanical style brake pedal for the Born Free Panhead.

This will be adapted to actuate a master cylinder that will be hung behind the trans with a rod underneath the transmission.

Scratch made oil bag for the Panhead. Similar profile to a stock horseshoe bag but with alot more flow and fit up to make it look at home. Alot more work putting all the fittings bungs and fillers in place but needed the shape to continue making some pieces around it and ill come back to those details later once all the parts around it are finished so they can be located correctly.

Here is the custom front end for my build for Born Free 12 next year.

Really excited about the sleek look of the Barneys smooth lower legs and the set of one off trees that were machined by my friend Adam Cole.

The trees were altered by the original model that Adam made for him own bike and has been running for a good amount of time to test. His set are super narrow and made for 39mm tubes. I wanted to modify they slightly and go for a mid width of 7”OC and also accept 41mm tubes.

Really excited about how this front end looks and will be a key part to the overall look of this build.

Here is where i begin for my Born Free 12 build. Simple beginnings with a kit or parts that is fairly familiar to most. Looking forward to putting my personal touch on each part to make them unique to my style.