TANGERINE SCREAM - HOW A SHOP HEADACHE TURNED INTO A SHOWSTOPPER
BY: Wayne Scraba - Photos by Mark Langello


Custom bikes come in all flavors. Some are simple. Some are exotic. Some are barely ridable. Other prove to be long-distance cruisers. Some are inexpensive to build. Others are over-the-top expensive. That's no secret. And to get there, some are constructed in a matter of weks, while many others take considerable time to bake. The tantalizing, tangerine-colored custom spread out in the pages in front of you is an example of a slow baker that was worth the wait. The bike build started a few years ago at Roy Chamberlin's C&C Cycle in Severn, Maryland, but it turned into a string of hiccups and false starts.

The original game plan was to build the best of the best of custom motorcycles. Not only was it to be a drop-dead gorgeous custom, it had to be perfectly usable, roadworthy, and road legal. That meant there would be no shortcuts in the construction process. Roy and crew obliged, but the project was definitely becoming a shop headache when the original patron fell upon tough economic times. Roy realized he'd have to assume the build to complete the project. Once he did, it was full steam ahead.

But we're getting quite a bit ahead of ourselves. In order to get to the finish line, Roy started with a Daytec softail-style frame. The frame had 2" of stretch in the backbone coupled with a 38-degree rake. Up front Roy added a set of top-of-the-line Perse Performance smoothie forks. Out back, the long, low custom rides on one of Daytec's Stealth swingarm setups. The custom rolls on Matt Hotch-designed Weld wheels, 2.15-21" on the nose and 8.50-18" out back, wrapped with Metzeler rubber. Bringing the bike to a grinding halt is a set of drilled Hawg Halters rotors complete with a four-piston caliper up front along with another four-piston setup on the rear.

Daytec supplied the gas tank as well as the oil tank. Each spent quite a bit of time under C&C's scrutiny. For example, Roy wanted the gaps to be perfect between the frame and oil bag. To accomplish this, he had to TIG-weld and grind the various edges, effectively adding and subtracting material in the process. A similar procedure was incorporated to fit the gas tank as well as the Russ Wernicmont Design (RWD) fenders. If you take a close look at the profile, you'll appreciate how cleanly everything fits. But as Roy points out, it took a considerable amount of time (much of it unbillable) to get there.

For grunt, the C&C custom makes use of a thumping 124" S&S Evo-style engine. Roy added a set of Stainless Creations Weed Burner pipes along with a D&M Custom Cycle air cleaner. It features a Dyna ignition system, Taylor wires, and a Spyke charging system. Much of the engine has been torn apart and either polished or chrome-plated. Even with the S&S carburetor has been disassembled and carefully hand-polished.

Backing the high horse Big Twin is a BAKER six-speed gearbox coupled to an enclosed chain drive primary. A Rivera clutch setup is incorporated along with a belt drive final. The rear pulley is a matching 70-tooth job from Weld.

Handlebars are custom fabrications done in house, and if you look closely at the photos, you'll see a Dakota Digital tach/speedo setup has been cleanly frenched-in. You'll also note that the motorcycle has frenched-in turn signals too. If you're thinking this was the result of some quick and dirty bondo slinging, think again. Roy points out that in a typical V-Twin motorcycle application, you're probably kidding yourself by using a bunch of filler when doing extensive, close-tolerance custom work, such as frenching. The reason is V-Twins are subject to plenty of vibration. And it should be no secret that the bigger the bullet between the frame rails, the more vibration you'll encounter. The vibes will eventually rattle out the filler. As a result, Roy spent much of his time carefully TIG-welding the works, followed up with plenty of hand-finishing (grinding, more welding, grinding again and sanding). Minimal amounts of filler were used in the process.

Following the custom metal fabrication, Roy hammered out a seat pan, then pretty much blew the whole bike apart for paint and detail work. Since it was now his bike, he decided to have it painted a couple of varying shades of tangelo, which, in the produce world, is more or less a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit. The color is a slightly subdued tangerine, but with this bike, subdued is a relative term. Local paint shop Artistic Creations sprayed the colors and added the tribal graphics. Longo Upholstery trimmed the seat in black and plenty of detailed tangerine artwork stitched squarely in the center. Lots of pieces were shipped off to Fresno, California, where the folks at Meclec applied their craft of show plating. A local firm, Ed's Polishing, looked after much of the aluminum finishing. 

Once the custom was reassembled and briefly tested, the C&C Cycle bunch loaded it up and headed south to Bike Week in Daytona. First time out, the tangelo custom racked up a placing at a major show. It also attracted plenty of attention from onlookers, including us! Once home, Roy had to figure out what to do with the bike. Sure it was a showstopper, but it was also a healthy investment. Roy eventually hung a for sale sign on the bike. That's when the present owner, Michael Darrow entered the equation. Darrow took one look at the bike sitting in C&C Cycle's Severn showroom and, like so many others was immediately drawn to the style, the hardware, and the craftsmanship. As you can well imagine, it wasn't much later that the motorcycle had a new home.

Tangerine scream? Maybe. Roy figures he pulled plenty of hair out during the build, but now the Big Twin has come full circle. It went from a shop headache to a showstopper. This definitely works for us. AIM