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When Roy Chamberlin heard Harley was going to discontinue its Roadster model, he decided he had better get one. He really didn't know why at the time, but grabbed one anyway. The 1985 became a "kick-around bike" and when it wasn't being kicked around by an acquaintance of Roy's, it collected dust and dings in the corner of his shop, C&C Cycle, in Crofton, Maryland. "Everybody and their brother borrowed it and screwed it up," Roy said. "I wanted to sell it and decided I'd throw in a paint job as part of the deal." Then he met a young lady named Margaret Nicastri. Turned out they really hit it off and after a number of rides on Roy's bike Margaret decided she wanted to learn how to ride. Roy set her up with a little 50cc machine and she took a motorcycle safety course at the local community college. Margaret moved on to the Sporty and liked it so much she bought it from Roy. Even after turning the bike and title over to Margaret, Roy still kept pretty close tabs on the bike, occasionally using it to work out some modification ideas. Access to the Ironhead was made easier when Roy and Margaret decided to share the rent. Margaret left the paint choices up to Roy since he had considerable experience with designing and building bikes, and it started out as a simple job. Roy had a few ideas, but once he had the bike apart, well, those simple ideas expanded. Eventually everything got pulled and Roy decided the frame should get new paint to match the rest of the job. He designed a graphics scheme and handed the parts over to Steve Salins in Beltsville, Maryland, for the two-stage paint involving candy magenta, candy regal blue, and arctic silver. It's lacquer with a urethane clearcoat and took all of three days. "Isn't it great?" asked Margaret, actually making more of a statement than asking a question. "I knew I could leave it up to him. "We had an office contest to name the bike," she said. "The winner was 'Silver Seduction'."
The untrained eye often believes this Sporty is a Superglide (it's got that look with the large tank and dash), but the tranny is integral and the drive is on the wrong side. "What kind of a Shovelhead is that"" someone else asks. "I don't know why Harley ever discontinued the Roadster, we get so many comments on it from folks," Roy said. "The basic look of the bike is the way it came from the factory." Because of response to Margaret's bike at shows and rallies, Roy has been doing a pretty good business replacing standard Sportster peanuts with the Fat Bob-style tanks. While questions about the tank are perhaps the most obvious, There's another part of the bike that gets even more serious inquiries. "What about the belt drive?" many ask. Roy loves that question. At first, he explained, the bike was kept basically stock and got some chroming done at The Chrome Pit. Then, two years ago, Roy decided he could convert an Evo belt drive to work on an Ironhead Sportster and he wanted to prove it. Margaret had expressed her annoyance with the greasy mess that develops on the chain drive on more than one occasion, so it didn't take much to convince Roy that Silver Seduction should be his guinea pig. Since the bike often got careful attention from Roy anyway, Margaret never knew what was going on. Roy worked the bike over, converted the chain for a lower maintenance and cleaner belt drive, proving to himself that the conversion would work. He then put the chain drive back on. He sent the sprocket and guard out to be chromed, then converted it back to the belt drive. Margaret loves the difference.
It's much smoother, quieter, and now it's clean back there, too," she said. Roy said his shop can make the belt drive conversion work on Sportsters with model years between 1982 and 1990 in "a couple of hours." He explained it takes some modifying of the sprocket cover and some shimming of the rear pulley out away from the wheel for good clearances. "For some model years it takes a little more work, but it's not that big of a deal on late '84s and '85s." Roy kept the engine stock. He figured 1000cc of Ironhead was plenty for his sweetheart, but his exterior changes make it look special. Roy painted the cases wrinkle black and shaved the fins. The carburetor, wheels, rear master cylinder, handlebar clamp fins, caliper fins, and rotors were polished by Ed's Polishing, in Landover, Maryland. To add even more detail, the kind that has people asking where they can buy identical parts, Roy painted in "Harley-Davidson" on the belt guard to draw your attention to the drive system. He also painted parts of the dash, the handlebar switch housing, master cylinder, calipers, handlebar clamp, and wheels. The whole job took about three months and is probably worth "a big bag of coin," as Roy says. Who's gonna put a dollar value on a labor of love? So that the bike would be comfortable, and rideable for Margaret's five--foot two-inch frame, Roy chopped the bottom of the stock solo seat and lowered the suspension one inch front and rear. He accomplished that by installing stiffer but shorter springs from an '80 Superglide in the forks and replacing the stock rear shocks with shocks from a 1982 FXR. The rest of the package includes a Dragton II air cleaner from Drag Specialties, 40-inch-long drag pipes from Cycle Shack, FMI Marker turn signals from Arlen Ness on the rear, and Drag Specialties signals up front. Finishing it all up are hand levers from Custom Chrome and a license plate frame by C&C Cycle. It rolls on Conti tires. So far, it's added up to an award- winning Roadster. The recent honors came in Toronto at this past winter's international Bike Show where Silver Seduction took second place in the Sportster Class. It's taken a couple of other seconds, including one at Daytona last year, and some firsts locally. Though Margaret admits winning awards is nice, she's more interested in riding the Sportster and showing off Silver Seduction where it is most effective: in the wind.
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Margaret. Nicastri
More Than Another Woman Rider
If you'll excuse the expression, when Margaret Nicastri got into motorcycling, she: went "whole hog." After learning how to ride in a safety class and then taking possession of her Sportster, instead of being satisfied at having a license and a bike, she became a woman on a quest. Margaret decided there weren't enough women riding their own bikes and that they needed better organization in central Maryland, so she started a Women On Wheels chapter for the Laurel-Bowie area. It's a pretty expansive region that makes up an irregular triangle between Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington, D.C. If that weren't enough, Margaret, who is operations manager for the K.C. company which distributes Pella windows, is currently taking business classes at night so she can open a motorcycle apparel shop specifically aimed at women. "It's very hectic, but a lot of fun," she said, explaining there is a solid market for matching everything motorcycles with women where she lives. "In the state of Maryland there was a 40 percent increase in women motorcyclists, in. the last two years." On top of everything else, Margaret is also involved in kicking off the Mid-Atlantic Women's Motorcycle Rally scheduled for June 26 in Baltimore to benefit breast cancer research through the American Cancer Society. For more info on the rally. call (410) 665-4928. A lot on the plate for this XLS rider, but then its all part and parcel of her latest passion.
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