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The Quiet Master
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Goldammer Cycle Works
Michael Schulte
02/01/2007
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Photography by Cordero Studios/corderostudios.com
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Goldammer Cycle
Works produces a small selection of top-shelf components, including the sleek,
aggressive G-Force front end, widely considered the best custom front end in
the business. “I set as a personal goal, years ago, to only build products that
I truly believe in,” Goldammer says. “I didn’t want to build cheap grips and
mirrors. ‘Never sell out’ is an ideal that I’ve always had.”
 His assiduously
crafted custom machines rarely bear reproducible fruit. “Most of the bikes that
I build have no marketable parts on them,” he states. “[The components] are
so labor intensive, I wouldn’t dream of mass-producing them.” There are notable
exceptions, such as the sweeping teardrop-in-the-wind Airtime air filter that
was originally designed for his BTR#3 bike (which graced the Spring 2005 RRMC
cover). (Click image to enlarge)
Goldammer’s commitment to integrity results in the fully formed,
anatomical presence of his machines. While some builders are content to bolt on
a cluster of catalog parts to create a custom “look” and boost parts sales,
Goldammer hand-builds each part, on principle, even if he is the only one who
knows it. “I’m not going to put my front end on a bike just to promote my
product,” he says of his organic approach. “It seems counter-productive, but, in
some strange way, it seems to have worked for me.”
An astute engineer, welder
and machinist, Goldammer’s design process relies more on inspiration during the
build, than to meticulous preparation beforehand. “I intentionally don’t
blueprint everything on a bike because it loses something if you plan every
little detail,” he says of his flexible approach. “I’m trying to create an
overall impression, a stance. As long as I get there in the end, I don’t sweat
the details.” His intricate creations often emerge from an elementary nucleus.
“I’ll usually build a bike from a simple little sketch I made in the middle of
the night when I was working,” Goldammer reveals. “After the bike is finished, a
lot of times I’ll find that scrap of paper in a drawer and it will be that
bike.”
 Of all the bikes he has produced, Goldammer is probably best known for
his two low-slung, retro-tributes: BTR#3 and Trouble. Spirit summoning phantoms
from the perilous 1920s board track era, before minimalism was a “style”, both
bikes pay low, lean homage to the racing machines that daring young men
rocketed around banked wooden velodromes nearly 100 years ago. (Click image to enlarge)
“I really
wanted to capture and exaggerate the features of the era,” Goldammer says of
BTR#3. The bike’s big wheels, exposed frame, turn-down bars and fenderless front
end conjure the period’s lust for speed and danger. A melding of modern and
antique, Goldammer was determined that the bike be a rideable street machine as
well. “I was willing to sacrifice a few things, but not much,” he says of the
era-blending racer’s authenticity. “You’re always weighing form and function.”
Unlike its board track antecedents, which lacked frivolous accessories, such as
brakes, the BTR#3 features big, rim mounted discs that are as much about style
as stopping power.
His follow-up, the machinery green, supercharged Trouble
recalls the single-jug Harley “Peashooter” of the era. Goldammer says, “Back
around 1919 to 1922, before Harley produced its single engine, the race teams
would actually plate off the rear cylinders on the V-twin cases to compete at
the shorter race tracks that had displacement restrictions around 350cc.”
Goldammer’s flash-forward take on the Jazz Age design uses the plate covering
the lone pot’s spigot hole as the bracket for the Rotrex supercharger, which is
belt-driven 2-to-1 off the crankshaft. In an amiable melding of past and
present, the Swedish made blower looks perfectly organic when incorporated into
the bike’s austere design. Further welding the eras, the kick-started 956cc big
single combines a contemporary V-Twin bottom end with an Engenuity single head
and barrel. An Evo-style crankcase and flywheel assembly come from Merch Motor
Works.
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