I built this bike for me!" said Jeff Burns of Rossmoor, California. After 20-plus years of riding other people's ideas of a great bike, he set out to build a one-of-a-kind chopper in late 2003.
A late-night visit to the garage from his wife claiming she would be on the back of it come hell or high water, set into motion a chain of events that would give birth to the "Widow Maker."
Jeff shelved the project he was building and sold his bagger for the funds to build a rat bike that was supposed to be three things: radical, cheap and ugly. One out of three ain't bad.
Looking for a frame or a roller from which to get started, Jeff settled on a Last Century Chopper from Jesse Rooke Customs. Jesse insisted he would want the configuration 1-inch up, 3 inches out over the 4 inches up, 3 inches out version. With Jeff's 6-foot, 3-inch stature, weighing in at 275 pounds, there was some doubt with the configuration. But they agreed that Jesse would bring one of each to the Laughlin River Run in April 2004 and let Jeff decide.
Jesse's inclination as to which one Jeff would choose turned out to be right. Jeff did like the smaller one better. But there was a major problem. The roller with the one-off custom rims came intact with another badass one-off custom option: the Airea 5150 paint job. After deciding that he could avoid death from his bike shop and machine shop for starting with a painted chassis, he decided to make a go of it. Plus, he was confident he could tone down the candy paint with the right vision without damaging it.
With no doubt or question, Ralph Aguirre of Mesa Cycle in Costa Mesa, California, was the man for the job. Little did he know he would have to build around the paint! Between Ralph and the boys over at Banzai Machine in Huntington Beach, California, the vision took shape.
Ralph would go on to do the brake line lock, internalize all the wires and lines, and make the charging system disappear. He also built the custom brackets as well as the show polished 113ci S&S powerhouse from scratch. He then fully assembled the bike. Meanwhile, it was up to Banzai Machine to work on the custom pegs and grips, matching forward controls, and relocate the oil filter to the center of a beltdrive with a two-piece back plate.
After adding a Baker six-speed transmission, the bike was finished off with a seat from Bitchin' Seat Co. It was then time to hit the road on this adrenaline-pumping thrill ride.
"My wife better hope I come home!" he said.