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Paying Tribute
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Schwartzkopf’s Customs
Brenda Fox
10/01/2005
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Cordero Studios
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It is not easy to impress a collector who has a hangar full
of
spectacular motorcycles. So the man who commissioned this brutish
chopper
turned to Eric Schwartzkopf, whose Los Angeles-based
Schwartzkopf’s
Exclusive
Customs has a reputation for the
outrageous scale of its
tires, motors, and
frames.
This build centered on a
mammoth 145 cu
in V-twin engine, produced
in a limited edition by
S&S
Cycle to celebrate its 45-year anniversary. “We
ordered the
motor nearly six months in advance,” says Schwartzkopf. “We were
never
sure we’d even get it.” Diamond Chassis built a frame
around the 200-pound
powerplant, and the Independent Gas Tank Co.
provided a newly designed
tank.
Schwartzkopf mounted fender
blanks from Fat Katz on the rolling
chassis, then
asked his
customer for input. “We handed him a marker and
had him draw out
different designs on the blank fender, allowing him to
really
personalize his
bike.”
After tearing the bike down for painting,
Schwartzkopf observes,
final assembly went smoothly because of
the
intensive mock-up phase. “Of course,
assembling a bike
with a painted
frame requires extreme caution,” he adds.
“Squeezing a 200-pound motor
into a freshly painted frame
caused a few tense
moments.”Schwartzkopf had drilled the frame and
swingarm to
run the brake
lines, clutch line, and wiring
internally. “We spent a
lot of time focusing on
clean, hidden,
trouble-free wiring,” he says.
The German-built Altmann Micro
Machines P3 ignition was selected
for its compatibility with
twin-cam motors
(when using the crank
position sensor only),
and the Stinger Starter for its
ability to
crank
over the
11:1 compression 145 without a problem.
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