The Story of a Shovelhead Stroker Named: Bitch!
A 1970's Style Stroker Shovelhead F Something...

Chapter 2 - Time to Fuck This Thing Up Properly!

Friday, December 9, 2022
Guess What Doesn't Fit?!?

Murphy once said, "To the greatest of plans there is always the perfect flaw". And this one - in retrospect - was a bit more than a tad obvious. I'd hoped that with a bit of cutting the tranny would fit, but it will not. So now I'm at the kind of impasse, which requires permission to circumvent.

And that's permission from two different camps.

1. As stated in the beginning, this is/was... to be a curation of an existing bike; a bike that existed - as delivered - as an FX model. But as a practical matter - storage - it (I...) needed saddlebags, hence it got morphed into an FL model. And now due to a second - which is actually the first - practical matter (she don't start), she needs to become a Softail. And that - to my way of thinking - requires Brother Wolf's okay..

2. I also... Now... Have to go explain to the wife that project big shiny paperweight is going to require another $2,000 or so...

In the parlance of the day FML - I called Wolf first...

Here is the why I'm headed in this direction:

So now the quest is on for a Softail frame, that I can then rebuild the entire bike around, in the hopes the subsequently acquired mechanical advantage will allow me to (reliably) start the damn thing.

So in a nutshell, we're basically right back to hope on a stick.

 

 

Friday, December 17, 2022
Bitch! v3.0: Step One - Complete

It's funny how some things just fall together on their own - Like the Seemingly self propagating stigmatic theme of this bike, that simply will not end - Shadowy machinations and random events align to put diabolical ends where they're needed; this was the only frame in the county I could put my hands on in the - need it now - time allotted. And according to the title I was handed with it, this bike was quite literally Rosemary's Baby...

Ya just can't make this kind of shit up folks.
You just have to sit back and marvel at how the fuck it happened..

Now in fairness, I'm sure the previous owner was a fine lady undeserving of such said or implied dispersions - I just couldn't resist playing with the irony a bit. And according to her last name she was also Hispanic - being Spanish myself - that must be a good sign. So perhaps - since we've already tried every-the-fuck-thing-else... - If I start calling the bike Rosie, she just might behave.

On the other hand...
Logic dictates that I've probably just completely lost my mind,
but desperate times, desperate measures etcetera...

Mexican Chop Shop mode enabled, Bitch now had to be stripped down to the frame.
That shit took me about 4 hours.

Bits & pieces of the old girl are scattered every, but the heart of the beast is now in its new home.

Welcome to 1996!

 

 

Friday, December 21, 2022
Bitch! v3.0: Progress Made

Well the garage still looks like a bomb went off, but progress has been made. It is very slow progress, because many of these parts do not belong together, but it is progress none-the-less...

 

 

Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Bitch? v3.0: We Have Achieved Potato!!!

Well it took seventeen metric forevers to get here, but she finally rolls over like properly. Even though she's using a bone stock 90's Softail starter, she rolls over zippy quick and without hesitation. So she's as good for the road as she's ever been in a very, very... long time!

Okay so here's the weird part... Her name has changed. It was a last minute - Look Bitch... - kind of question. She was given the option when I ran the first test, do you want to be Bitch! ...Or you want to be Rosie? At which point she made the most jaw dropping run for the roses I've ever seen her do. So... With Brother Wolf's approval, She's now to be known as, and called, Rosie.

 

 

Friday, December 30, 2022
Presenting Black Rosie

Christmas vacation is all but over and work looms on Monday's horizon. The garage is closing for now and much clean up ensues for the huge mess that has been made. So since the name (plain) is a bit too cheery for the motif... I now present to you Black Rosie, in her current form.

 

 

Saturday, January 21, 2023
She Lives Again!

Do Ya remember the old joke about the sailor's (girl friend's name) tattoo?
Bitch!
Satan's Mistress (This one kinda whistle stopped through)
Bitch! (back again by - lack of creativity - popular demand...)
Rosmary's Baby (Yet another whistle stop)
Rosie (good but needs something)
Black Rosie (Close - But just doesn't feel right)
The Black Rose (As an official sounding, formal title...I likes it!)
Rosie (Surperstitious Puck [It's a word...] that I am - Since she picked this one..).

So 80 laps around the mulberry bush later, we're left with official/formal name of The Black Rose, and the shorter in-the-interest-of-time nickname of Rosie. Which she picked herself, so it has to stay in the hopes of keeping her from going back to her previous (Bitch!) demeanor...

Yeah yeah yeah - I know - Pics or it didn't happen...


Looks like somebody peed on the floor a bit, but god damnit...We Rolling Under Power! There...


...And Back Again! Granted a bit of misbehavior, but no walking was required.

She did stall about 5 time on the way due to an electrical issue. But she spun up and started just fine every single time - without even once using the compression releases.

 

 

Saturday, March 18, 2023
Daytona Bike Week Swap Meet Stuff!

So a couple of things - and by things I mean problems - I noticed on the previous test ride. The Maltese cross mirrors look really cool, but are optically irrelevant (so must go..). The forwards are quite nice, but are just not me ... So I gotta get floorboards back. And the seat I swiped from my brother can't be bolted down, so I'm going to have to get a proper one of my own.

Then Bike Week happened!

I managed to score a Corbin solo seat, but it has a very flat seat pan that will not sit properly on the - already modified (e.g. cut off) once to fit the Softail frame - original FLH project fender. It now had to be "gently" caved in in the front to allow the seat to seat properly, so it could be (properly...) bolted in place. But a plastic hammer and a towel made the task an easy one ... After I got done cringing at the thought of doing it.

New seat mounted, and we're also back to having floorboards.

 

 

Saturday, April 1, 2023
The paperwork is finally done.

After a quick - $170.85 - trip to the DMV, The Black Rose on now (because of the frame swap) officially mine...again. And since the around the block shakedowns have been going well, I'm planning to ride her to work in the morning. Now that folks is a milestone that has taken three and a half years to reach.

However there was the issue of where to put anything I may need to carry, so...

...And the Saddlebags, go There.

 

Now I just need to find a set of Heritage Softail rear crash bars
(Because Fresh Paint and Shit Happens)
PN: 49261-00A - Before I need them.

 

 

Monday, April 3, 2023
We did get there in one piece, however...

Maiden voyage for The Black Rose, She made it to the office just fine.

She also made it to an onsite service call.

And then there was the trip home, whereupon it was discovered - in traffic - that apparently Vapor Locking is an actual thing ... Because she ran out of gas with a full tank about 5 times in 4 miles.

In retrospect I was a bit concerned with how the gas line was run, but thought I'd give it a shot to see what happened. This was apparently a bad plan.

 

 

Sunday, April 16, 2023
One More Time With Feeling..!

Vapor locking: When the fuel inside the delivery system boils before it makes it to the where it goes.
Yepper, Guilty ... But now...is/was that the only problem??     Think Happy Thoughts...

So... Tomorrow will be TBR's second "Maiden Voyage". And...we're all hoping that she manages to - successfully - complete an as stated "Maiden Voyage" sometime (preferably...) before she has been "Maidened" enough time to qualify as a complete and utter Total Fucking Slut...

In the interim, she did get a handlebar swap (to Fat Boy style bars), and is now sporting a front crashbar.

 

 

Sunday, April 23, 2023
Gold Star Much - We Have a Winner!

Okay, first things first - Pics or it Didn't Happen!

Maiden voyage (v2.0...) for The Black Rose, with just a touch of rain.

The new handlebars are a lot more comfortable.

Traffic being what traffic is, we quickly found occasion to get her hot enough to find out if the gas line's new routing was happier ... And it was. So I rode her all week with only a few minor issues - One of which I later found out was preexisting. As it seems she likes to melt her ignition switches...the current one being her fourth I've been told.

Well Shit.

The other was the upper engine mount coming loose on Thursday.

On the upside, while dragging the floorboards a few times I did discover that the ground clearance is better than expected. I'm still nowhere near pushing her at this point and typically only use about 5-10% throttle on a ride to work. Mainly because anything over that will rocket past 60mph in any gear higher than first.

Have I mentioned she's insanely fast?

 

 

Sunday, April 30, 2023
A few minor adjustments have been made.

So shooting for the two-birds-one-stone-effect, I made a spacer mount to move the ignition switch out an inch and replaced the upper engine mount hardware with self-locking flange nuts.

Hopefully this will keep it cooler enough to not melt in traffic.

 

 

Saturday 1, 2023
We are now all done guessing.

Ah! ...The age old question ... Will she, or won't she? The stage was final set to pit The Black Rose against my brother's 2012 103'. We pulled off a light and I went easy in first, gouged in a bit in second, and then short shifted to third. Now my brother already new the game was afoot, he just didn't know when it was going to happen - which is why I used second to let him know now was the time.

He was WFO when I hit third.

I had hit third short intentionally to see if he would get any lead while I was under the cam, and he did get a little ... But not enough. I was just sitting there - elevator music style - with a shit eating grin on my face waiting for the inevitable, as his quite temporary lead waned almost comically. He was about half a bike ahead of me when Rosie hit the cam, and she shot past him like he was dragging an anchor.

So that's Granddad's Shovelhead 1, 103" Twin Cam Zero.