Renegade Issue 30

Chopper Kulture’s Panhead Bobber:

“Back to life”, would be a fitting theme for the latest Chopper Kulture project bike. The

project was completely assembled in just 3 days during the Dubai Biker Build Off in Dubai/

UAE, it took several weeks of preparations to peform such an “Mission impossible” task. A

few weeks before, Mario had met his client Henning from Germany who was looking for a

1963 Panhead motor – and wanted a genuine Chopper Kulture bike. The decision to build

something extraordinary was agreed upon, but not without the typical “trademark style” of

the Emirates-based customizer, who is well known from his visits at European shows. In

New Orleans, Billy of BB Racing dug out a 1963 Pan, but in a rather desolate condition:

The engine block was cracked, which is never a good sign and the frame looked definitely

beyond salvation. For Billy no problem, since he restored the engine block to usable condi-

tion and ordered the stock-style replacement frame from Paugho, then shipped the bike to

Abu Dhabi. On arrival, nights became shorter, much shorter in fact, since there were only

4 weeks left to prepare all components for the BBO, where the final assembly would take

place.

The name “Dominatrix” was nailed down in the early stages of the build, because the proj-

ect dominated Mario’s thoughts and time like no other before – and he planned to manu-

facture parts which where nowhere to purchased, nor would it be possible to CNC-machine

them. The 1.200 cc Pan engine was completey taken apart and each part restored, bal-

anced and modified, both for technical and optical brilliance. The TechCycle primary drive

delivers the power to the gearbox, which is equipped with centrifugal clutch, a part that

highly simplyfies riding with handshift and footclutch. The frame was once more modified

and wheels to mount “Cocker” old school tires were ordered. As solid as the name stuck

to his mind, so did the idea of a “duck tail” rear fender and one extraordinary shape for the

tank – both to be hand-hammered out of blank sheets of metal and nowhere near anything

available on the aftermarket. Working day and night, his eyes were glued to the calendar

which counted down day after day, well aware the parts also needed to be painted. For

which the finished components would have to be shipped to Germany!

Danny of Schrammwerk was desperately waiting for the parts. Danny had a “carte blanche”

for the paintjob – but even in the short time available, he lived up to the expectations: From

matt paint and gold leaf he created a real piece of art. Only 2 weeks after arrival, the parts

were back in Abu Dhabi: A trick that only worked because the time-slot for the job was re-

served exactly for this date.

Meanwhile, the engine and drive train were completed, the exhaust pipes under construc-

tion and the handlebar bent. A handcrafted stainless steel oil tank arrived fromATAmerican

Cycles, taillight and exhaust end-caps from Runaway Choppers, the Cocker tires mounted

to the rims and indicators were integrated to the fender struts. The entire brake system

was developed by Mario, using double brake calipers biting discs with only 6,25“ diameter!

Add the stainless steel kickstarter lever and a set of modified footpegs plus the trademark

Chopper Kulture “winged nuts”. Fitting the style, the front end is a 1947 springer fork – and

a seat as orded in the USA. Only days before the BBO showdown, it became clear that the

US source for the seat would fail to deliver in time – and Ute of Bukaneer Design/Hamburg,