Rebuilding the All American Way...
Our friend Buddy has been rebuilding his health and his bike the All American Way! We are glad to hear the great news of Buddy`s recovery. Please do not take it from us. Check out what Buddy had to say below!
Rebuilding The All American Way
“I got the bike put back together, finally put the front brake mount and caliper on yesterday. I had to custom make a bracket for the caliper since they don't make one for my bike.
It turns out the hospital I initially went to missed two fractures in my ankle and after working a couple of weeks and them not getting better I went to an orthopedist. I had severely bruised my Tallis (the bone that goes across the top if your foot) it was bad enough they were concerned about it becoming necrotic and it having to be replaced with a donor bone (Thank God that didn't happen). It ended up healing well and I had surgery to repair most of the ligaments and some cartilage/fracture of my ankle.
I was off work for 6 months with surgery and rehab. I now have a pin in my ankle that should dissolve over the next 18 months. That's allowing the cartilage and bone that had pulled away to reattach and heal fully.
I have the bike back together with the exception of the front fender. I have to figure out a way to mount a full fender on a springer front end. Springers usually don't have mounting brackets. I wanted to go for a updated old school look. I replaced the hydraulic front end with a springer front end, the original headlight was remounted with an adaptor that lifted it up and out. I manufactured a plate that allowed me to place the bars I wanted on the springer (springers have 5" centers for risers and my bars required 3"centers). The bars are 16" pointed ape hangers on 4" risers. The wheels are 16" spoked wheels with 3/8" spokes and sealed rims to run without tubes. The air cleaner cover is off of a mid to late 50's Panhead. The Pipes are the old Vance and Hines Longshots with the dented heat covers removed and the pipes sealed and wrapped with header wrap. Placed new floorboards and highway bars. Jack Daniels derby and cam covers. The tombstone tail light is off of a late 40's Panhead. The Tank is the original tank that the dent was removed and repaired. Both fenders required replacement. The front is yet to be mounted but the back is a 4" stretched fender.
My cousin has a paint booth and he painted it to my specs with Satin black over gloss black. All parts except the derby and cam covers are made in the USA. The Derby and Cam covers were gifts from family that were bought at the local, family owned motorcycle shop. I also rewired the front and rear ends with spools of wire, a solder gun and wire sleeves, no harnesses were purchased from overseas. I've left off some smaller parts because the list is quite long on what I had to replace/rebuild.
Luckily the frame was straight and the only thing I had to straighten was the fender struts which I did with a big hammer, a thick metal bar and a lot of elbow grease."
Buddy
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