| Batwings Sporty Build A U.S. Army Airborne Ranger is home from battle and we are banding together as brothers to build him a Hardtail Rockin Sporty!!! This page will be updated weekly |
| There are Men of courage, fortitude, honor, integrity,commitment, and bravery who VOLUNTEER to selflessly serve in U.S. Military Special Operations. They serve as elite warriors who love their country and are willing to die for her! They are truly the 1% of society and more so the 1% that exist within the military. They fight and give all for the Freedoms we enjoy and sometimes take for granted. They don't do this for fame and ask for little in return. It should be every citizens committed mission to give back to these warriors and their families, so they may live safely in peace and separate themselves from the Hell they have suffered. We owe them a debt of gratitude before anything else! Batwings Sportster Chopper Build serves a higher purpose on so many different levels. This is not simply a bike build. This is a Mission. This is a project of purpose for two Special Operations Soldiers who are fighting towards Peace in their own hearts after being wounded from war! U.S. Army Ranger 'Dirty D' and Army Ranger 'Batwing' are home from years of engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq and we are banding together as Brothers to build BatWing a Rockin Hardtail Sporty! |
| Our new found Brother Scott (AKA: BatWing) is a U.S. Army Special Operations Soldier who has served eight (8) rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has approximately 12 years in military service. Scott has served our country with bravery and distinction. The missions he has served are mostly of confidential nature, but I can tell you he has been deep in the Hell hole of battle and has suffered the traumas associated with war. BatWing suffered from serious brain injuries incurred in the Middle East and survived the war. Our Brother Anthony (AKA: Dirty D) is a recently former U.S. Army Special Operations Cat. Dirty was 18 years in the service, with the majority of his time in Special Ops. He served numerous tours of duty in Afghanistan over the years. He suffered a traumatic brain injury during an engagement with the enemy. Scott and Dirty have been (and are currently) undergoing treatment and rehabilitation for their war related brain injuries. They are at an on site medical facility four days a week, then they come to my place (Lillian Rose Choppers) and stay 3 days a week. This is where the real re-hab takes place! Working in the shop and choppin up some steel! My home and shop is open to my Brothers without restriction. Gabe from After Hours Choppers and I are dedicating ourselves as a resource to Dirty and BatWing for a Sporty Chop Build that is off the HEEEEZEEE Scale!! There is no better therapy than building and creating your own machine with trusted compadres!! Time to get crackin on the project cuz time is a slippin!! |
| An Introduction to BatWing and Dirty |
| I want to thank the following folks for their contributions and commitments to this project: |
| "A Phoenix goes through the blazes dies as did his heart when he was rejected by his own brothers and now is coming back to life with the resurrection of his new brothers, and the expression of it in the heart and soul put into a few pounds of steel" ---BatWing |
| Green Donations go directly into Soldiers account. |
| The Journey Begins! Dirty and Batwing roll to Rancho Cucamunga to pick up the Guts of the project. Once back at the Batcave (Lillian Rose Choppers) Batwing gets his first riding lesson from Crazy Gabe of After Hours Choppers. |
| WEEK #1 |
| As week 1 rolls to the end we look back into the shop. This is what we have accomplished. #1 a great opportunity to relax and spend quality time with true brothers. Everything after that is just icing on the cake. Now back to the shop, We got a great set of bars from Gabe, not to mention some outstanding machine work, taillight, mount and metal remnants. Dirty welded in the gas cap. Steve cut the spacers and axle keepers. We put together the brake stay, built the seat pan, mounted the springs, sanded the rust off the frame, and spent a lot of time getting parts. A big thanks to Pat for the hookup on the rear fender. AND THEN we cleaned up Steve's filthy ass shop! Fuckin Bloodworms!!!!! |
| WEEK #2 |
| Week 2 has come to a close and we sit in the shop discussing next weeks plan. Look at Batwings build and realize the accomplishments we made this weekend. We were able to build an oil tank, fabricate all the mounts, design and engineer a suicide shifter linkage system, weld up the gas tank, start on the Air intake design, and make it all from scratch just like grandma use to do. The only difference between us and grandma is we smoke cigars, which we didn't do, but we need to next week. Batwings Parents made the trip over and cooked up mounds of great grub to keep us fueled for the weekend. BW's Dad got to spend a couple hours in the shop helping out. Our friends George, Stephen, and Phil also came around and payed us a visit. If someone were able to look down into the shop as we worked it would look like a symphony at Carnegie Hall. One on the grinder, One on the TIG rig, and One on the lathe, like one gigantic Chopper Opera. Or a bunch of Heads runnin around with their Chickens cut off! In spite of ourselves, the work continues to get done and it is a great time. We work hard, put in long hours, and work smoothly together like a family should. We want to thank Russell Mitchell (Exile Cycles) for hooking us up with the finest internal throttle assembly made and Chris Hill (SPD Exhaust Components) for the great tour of his fine facility and his high quality stainless steel exhaust products. Much love to the other brothers who have contributed this week. So until next week, Keep your powder dry, your hatchet scoured, and 60 rounds of ball ready to go at a moments notice! |
| Thank you to these fine folks for their kind contributions: Andrew Ashcraft Stephen Jakubiak Bruce Hunt Fredo Barajas Randy Gragg Our Families |
| Bike Spec Info: 2001 HD Sporty Powerplant. OEM HD frame with Led Sled weld on Hardtail. Wilwood/LRC rear brake system. Nearly everything else is being hand fabricated by the Three Amigo Stooges!! Full spec sheet at completion of build! |
| So we have Lillian Rose Choppers, Dirty D's Chop Shop, and After Hours Choppers all getting their Dick Skinners in on this project! |
| I must extend my appreciation to my sweet lady Sharon for keeping the homestead in order and taking care of us guys! And of course, our Pit Bull Saki for staying at Dirty D's side and recognizing when he was not feeling well. Saki had seperation anxiety when the Dirty and Batwing had to leave. |
| W E E K # 3 |
| In order to reduce the amount of spit bottles scattered all over the shop, we agreed that one spitoon should suffice! |
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| As week #3 rolls to a close, we thank the good Lord for not allowing the shop to explode into a fiery of flames!! Batwing was on fire this weekend and we all survived to tell the story! The spuds were welded in the frame backbone for tank mounting, the oil tank was finished and lines cleanly routed, the foot control plates and linkage plates were cut from1/4 steel plate (hence the background smoke), the master cylinder mount fabricated, the motor mount was fabricated (what a bitch!!!), and the '0.05 AGGRO' brass shifter handle turned out!!! Gabe rolled up and set up a tailgate kitchen and kicked out some good BBQ'd dogs! Then we had a swarm of visitors throughout the day. Brianne, Hubby Nick, and Little son Van (Cycle Cosmetics family) came over from Reno to pay a visit and talk to Batwing about the seat pan cover. Thanks for the visit folks! We also had a visit from the Mosquito's!!! One of the most bloodsucking Rock bands around! We are still waiting on parts to show up so we can get our neckid gal completely mocked up! Once the rear tire comes in, we will roll with the rear end build up! Ok, so we are progressing well at a steady pace! The project ain't NO Pink Prune Taco Chicken Choke Fag Fest! Fuck all that! This is just straight Down and Dirty '5' '0' AGGRO situation!!!!! Don't let the bottom fall out of your BEAVERHOUSEN and hold it together for next week my friends!!!! |
| W E E K # 4 |
| Batwing and Dirty are pounding out the handmade kickstand on the poor mans anvil! Every part of the kickstand was made from solid round bar and plate steel, the old fashioned way! Dirty has taught us that the basic tools needed to build a bike are a Hotsaw, a Rosebud, a ruler, and a welder! |
| Fender and sissy bar mounting. |
| Miss Sharon helped with the placement of the passenger pegs! She is also to be commended for keeping the house in order, checking in on us, and cooking our grub. A great supporter of the cause! |
| Lots of stuff happened during Weekend #4, including a haunting. We put the front end on and mounted the rear wheel in order to set up the handlebars, rear fender, sissy bar, battery box, and kick stand. Let me remind you that nearly everything on this build is being hand fabricated from steel round stock and plate! No Chinese catalog bolt on Crap on this bike! All 100% Mexican and White Boy made in the U.S.A.!!! Batwings Father, Bob, came up and installed an upgraded stereo system in the shop and BBQ'd some home made sausage. Uncle Bill also came over and did some hands on with us. Heck, one of our supporters, Stephen J. even came over with pizzas and got all Frosty with the angle grinder in order to get the battery box together. Dirty and Batwing made some good progress this weekend. Batwing worked his ass off as primary Grind Monkey. Dirty stayed on the TIG welder all weekend since he is the best TIG guy here! Dirty is a great shop teacher and has been instructing Batwing and Phil on how to TIG weld. The weekend went by way too fast. We were blowing metal dust out our noses and wiping black iron off our faces. We want to thank Bob and Bubba for all their kind support and Love. We have all pulled together as trusted friends and family!!!! Nothing else in this life is nearly as valuable as trusted family, friends, and a good day of solid Choppin! Now go out there and join up with a Tea Party and protect the United States Constitution!! |
| Turn off the Peace Frog and Get Jiggy With IT!!!!!!!! |
| FTA |
| WEEK #5 |
| One productive day for this weekend! Batwing and Bob (Dad) came over to LRC on Saturday and we decided we did not like how the sissy bar cross member came out from week #4. It just did not look right. So, we parted out the sissy bar assembly by cutting all the tack welds and starting over from scratch. We were short on material, so we welded together two sections of 1/2" stainless round bar for the first step of creating a new cross member. Scott smoothed out the new section of round stock on the lathe while Steve turned out some new stainless mounting spuds. We experimented with various ways to heat and bend the stainless into a nearly perfect arch without any kinks or flat spots. We made a bending jig, turned off the shop lights, and fired up the Rosebud! We slowly and carefully put the bend to the stainless for a nicely shaped cross member. Batwing got into the 'cut and grind' groove and made that stainless cross member fit nicely into the sissy bar. Ok, so Dirty took the weekend to fly back to Colorado and visit with his primary family. He will be back at LRC next Friday with the rest of us. A special thanks goes out to Jim and Evelyn for the heart felt letter in support of the Chopper Symphony! You are some Kind folks with powerful Spirit! All I (Steve) can say is this; I have no regrets having a low income low class chopper business because the people I have befriended as a result of this business are of the highest class and the highest caliber!!!! Stay tuned for week #6. Beware of Fortune Tellers and the One Eyed Cyclops, as both can peer into your soul! |
| I Have Retard Strength |
| W E E K # 6 |
| B A T T E R Y Box |
| Welcome to Week 6!! We have about eleven days into the build so far! Scott received his new Biltwell pinstriped helmet from Josh at Old School Helmets in Colorado Springs!!! Thanks Josh!! We dig it!!! This weekend the battery tray was mounted, forward controls engineered, and the foot clutch was fingered out! Batwings family came aboard for a visit and as usual, Bubba cooked up a truckload of food! Sakimoto put down the Hate on an intruding Cock and an unwelcomed Dog. Sakimoto suffered minor puncture wound injuries before the other dog got punched out by Batwing. Another haunting occurred with the visit of a deceased dog wandering the hallway and jumping on Batwings bed. The spirits seem to enjoy our company! We are getting close to break down and finish welding! We are only waiting on the carburetor to return from rebuild, then we will start designing the exhaust system. Dirty and Batwing were continually clowning around and singing. I suppose this means they are feeling pretty good and had a good weekend! Sakimoto, Dirty's wanna be TBI Dog, also had a good weekend hanging out with everyone and protecting her property interests. Well, Batwing (AKA: Grindmonkey) didn't catch anything on fire this week. We look forward to week #7. It may be a 'Don Q' weekend for Stevo!!! |