It can happen that, if someone’s been building bikes for a long time, the thrill of creation can lose its spark, especially if you’re building for other people, not for yourself, and what they want isn’t necessarily what you’d want.
This happened to Dale from Hellstown Choppers way, way down there in Cornwall back in about 2017 – he’d sold his most recent chop (and started to regret it almost immediately), and’d just closed down his ten workshop, semi-retiring from bike building. Then, one day, a guy he’d built a frame for some ten years before contacted him to see if he wanted to buy it back as it’d sat gathering dust in his garage for years. Dale went over to see it, and worked out he could do something with it, so a deal was done, and went home with the rolling chassis. “It felt great to have one of my Hellstown Chopper frames back home”, he says.
Around this time too, quite by chance he managed to reconnected with legendary clever-clogs Graham Duffy, who he’d not spoken to in years and who used to supply him with some very choice parts, and after catching up, Dale asked if he had anything he could use? Graham, of course, had one or two delectable items so a trip up to Plymouth (shows how far south Dale is, doesn’t it, if a trip to Plymouth involves going up the country?) was arranged and, some hours later, he left with a set of Weld Racing Wheels (a 21-inch Redneck front, and a pair of discs too, and a solid Eclipse 18-incher that takes a 250 tyre), an 80-inch (1340cc) Ultima Evo’ engine n’ five-speed ‘box, a set of American Suspension 14-inch over forks (and yokes), and a host of other goodies too (as well as an empty bank balance).
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With these in hand, he stripped the old frame of its constituent parts, and sold them to Miles to use on the red Twin Cam that was featured in BSH 490 earlier this year. That done, he set about reworking the frame to suit – the original frame, you see, was made for a 200-section rear tyre, and wouldn’t take the new rear 250-section ‘oop. This, and all the other modifications, paint, polishing, wiring, and all the million-and-one (perhaps a slight exaggeration) other things, plus setting up a new workshop as putting the bike together reignited his passion for building, took about a year, but we’re getting a little head of ourselves, aren’t we?
The motor in the bike really is very special… okay, perhaps not as special as the Patrick Racing one in his unbelievably trick red Pro Stock-styler (cover bike, issue 486), but pretty damn special nonetheless. It is, as I said, an 80-inch Ultima ‘Evo, with all the fins diamond-cut to give that knurled appearance, and it’s fitted with Ness (Arlen, not Loch) rocker and gearbox covers (as well as a HT logo – for HellsTown), an Andrew’s high-lift cam for a bit more pep, a Mikuni HSR42 carb (likewise) with a very nice one-off vertical air-intake (by Mr Duffy), a BDL hydraulic clutch and two-inch open belt primary linking it to the five-speed gearbox (with a lengthened main-shaft to suit), a very clever Baker shift-barrel neutral that converts the gearbox so that neutral is at the bottom and all the gears’re up (takes the hassle out of finding neutral on older gearboxes), a Twin Tech ignition, and hand-made Cerakoted stainless stepped exhausts that just look so right.
The frame is, as stated above, one Dale made years before, modified to take the winder wheel, and fitted with the long front end he got from Graham, and the tank’s a Zodiac item stretched to suit the lines and fitted with an inset Dakota Digital speedo unit, the seat was made using an alloy base, and race seat foam, and was hand-shaped and covered by the somewhat confusingly-named The Tuning Shop. The rear muddie’ also from the Zodiac big book o’ dreams, internally braced and reworked to sit close to the tyre, and fitted with a very slim rear light on its furthestmost edge, while the battery/electrics box was purpose-made, and the talented Mr Duffy made the billet side-mount.
That mazing green paint (not a colour you usually see, green, is it?) was done by Dale’s painter of choice, Myke Taylor, and is actually a green-fading-to black scheme that’s very subtle and suits the bike perfectly. Myke also did the logos on the battery box both sides (the one on the right made me think my camera was playing up when I was going through these pics), and Dale did all the polishing inhouse. He also, it almost goes without saying, made from scratch (well, stainless steel and aluminium alloy actually) far too many exquisite small parts to list here too.
The bike, despite being long (well, it is an NCC Kernow bike, isn’t it?) is more than capable of dealing with the tight twisty Cornish lanes, and also takes longer Club runs around the country effortlessly in its stride too, Mind you, that hasn’t stopped Dale building himself a new one, as you’ll see if you look at the Hellstown Choppers Facebook Page – this one looks like its going to be pretty damn good too!
Spec: Ultima 80-cubic inch (1340cc) Evo’ engine (ported heads, diamond-cut fins, Arlen Ness rocker covers, Andrew’s cam, Mikuni HSR42 carb, one-off vertical air-intake, BDL hydraulic clutch/two-inch open belt primary, five-speed gearbox, lengthened main-shaft, Baker shift-barrel neutral, Arlen Ness outer covers, Twin Tech ignition, one-off Cerakoted stainless stepped exhausts, black nylon braided oil lines, black AN aircraft fittings), one-off hardtail frame (45-degree rake), Accutronix black/alloy-cut forwards, Avon Cobra tyres (120/70/21 front/250/18 rear), Weld Racing Wheels wheels (Redneck front/Eclipse rear)/Redneck discs (front/rear)/rear pulley, Harrison Billet calipers (Four front, Six rear), American Suspension 14-inch over forks/yokes, braided internal line front brake line, one-off 1.5-inch stainless ‘bars, Arless Ness master-cylinders, Dakota Digital speedo (in fuel tank), one-off grips, Zodiac fuel tank (modified)/rear mudguard (modified), one-off seat, one-off oil tank, one-off battery/electrics box, one-off black anodised billet side-mount, one-off torque arm, one-off aircraft wire loom, Joker Machine billet headlight, Radiantz USA rear light (set in rear ‘guard)
Finish: Black fade into green candy over silver fine-flake by Myke Taylor Designs (07775 828729), polishing by Hellstown Choppers
Engineering: Bike built by owner at Hellstown Choppers (07973 864995 or Facebook), machining (one-off vertical air-intake/grips/billet side-mount) by Graham Duffy, seat upholstery/cover by The Tuning Shop (01209 822344 or www.the-tuning-shop.com)
Thanks To: “Graham Duffy for parts and machining; Myke Taylor for paint; & the National Chopper Club for keeping the dream alive…”
