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.

Very excited to be asked to build a new bike for the Born Free motorcycle show this year. As always i will be keeping in line with my style of work making every piece by hand, fully body work and and custom paint all done in house and full polish/chrome. This build will also have a couple piece that are going to be designed on a CAD program and machined for a few one off pieces including triple trees, rear backing plate and coming up with some other pieces to add.

Details on the build:

When asked to build this bike i didnt have a motor to use. Simultaneously was talking with my good friend Paul about giving his panhead a refresh and making some new parts for him. Paul offered up his panhead for me to use for the show and in turn i will build him out a full show bike. It really helps me out and im so excited to build one of my best friends a bike.

This bike will be focusing a little more on sheet metal then past builds, Something im not very familiar with. The tank will be cut up and modified, Making a custom oil bag and modifying the rear fender to match. Playing around with ideas to give the appearance of a one piece body look where each part flows into the next. As mentioned ill also be making the clutch/ brake pedal from scratch, hand shifter, bars, sissybar, seat all mounts and anything else you can think of.

Because my style is building is really only noticeable from being up close to see the detail im thinking i will be doing a little more catchy paint to draw you in close to take a look.

Really looking forward to getting started!

Finished paint minus pin striping basking in the sunset outside my shop. a lot of firsts with this paint job with the panel technique and learning how to surface guild 23K gold. Next up in learning how to pinstripe to outline the gold.

Base coat and panel designs laid out on the tins and the frame. Based, gilded with gold leaf and clear coated.

My 69 fully body worked ready for primer. Ready to mix up a custom color.

Swapped over most of the parts that are being reused on my shovel rebuild.

Happy with the new look. Mounts for the rear half up next

Today begins the rebuild on my 69 shovelhead to fully complete the build with paint, chrome and some new parts.

First big step was completing this new frame. Oem 69 swingarm frame that i cut up and fabricated a hardtail for using ‘Hardtail choppers’ axle plates from John.

Windowed the neck leaving the undrilled neck lock in place and added some details for molding around the axle plates and legs.

The front peaks i formed from two pieces of sheet metal each and trimmed to fit the space and flow with the frame.

The man himself and his wicked 93” pan shovel all finished up and ripping!

Skylers bike features a set of my custom ribbed floorboards only seen on my full juniors builds.

In the mad rush to finish the bike before the show i did not take any photos during final assembly. Lucky i have some very talented friends in different mediums of photography who took some great photos. The last two photos feature invited builder Jake Hindes- Prism Motorcycles insane panhead build and Jake himself.

Photos by Michael Van Parys shot on 120 medium format film.

Finished paint for my Peoples Champ 5 build. The color is a custom color that i mixed from an old Triumph color originally tweaking it to have more of a peachy pink color palette.

Current progress  on my shovelhead build for peoples champ 5.

Got my frame, gas tank, and oil tank all body worked ready to spray primer in preparation to paint.

my best friend Skyler has been collecting parts for a little while and finally got enough together to start putting it together. Spent the past couple weeks after work getting all the fab work taken care of. A few more things to make then ready to be broken down for paint and chrome.

I wanted the exhaust to flow with the lines of the frame and keep the frame rails uninterrupted in view so that nothing is hidden. routed the front exhaust pipe in between the floorboard stanchion and brake arm to keep it as tight as possible so that its not wasted space with the single downtube. 

I have been dreading adding the fifth trans mount which normally mounts from the frame to the transmission and ruin the nice look of the transmission almost floating in the frame rails. So i came up with this way of adding the fifth mount to the transmission mounting plate so it has the mount it needs but keeps the flow of the frame.

Took a stock kicker arm and welding 1/4" rod around and blended out the welds. Forgot to take a picture before the blending. Loving the way this looks.

Very happy with how all the parts are coming together on this build so far. The list of parts to make is getting shorter.

Been excited to get to this part of the build to make this idea happen for my headlight. I love the look of bullet lights tucked in between the springs so i took two of them and welded them together to give them a new look.

Really happy with the outcome.