Article And Photos By: Pat Jansen
I
’m a Harley-Davidson® guy. Why? Because I’m ‘Merican, I suppose. I mean, it’s what I know, its familiar, it’s been associated with cool and its suited my lifestyle. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate other brands of motorcycle both vintage and modern. Hell, my first ride was on a 1974 Norton 850 Commando. My Uncle, Pat Kinser, had to babysit me when I was like 7. He didn’t have kids and still doesn’t, so it goes without saying his childcare skills are low. He asked me if I’d ever been on a motorcycle. No. Then, “Ever been 100 mph?” “No.” “Wanna.” “Yes, sir.” He took off across a mall parking lot on a Sunday afternoon with me looking over his shoulder, so I could see that magic number and as we reached it the siren and blue lights showed up behind us. The officer came over and asked if he knew how fast he was going. My Uncle told him he wasn’t sure. I piped up and said, “I do! We were going 100 mph. It’s called the ton.” The cop smiled and asked why I wasn’t wearing a helmet. I responded, “Uncle Pepe (his nickname) said helmets are for pussies.” With that my uncle reached in his wallet, pulled out a $50 bill and inquired if the officer could handle the fine for him. The officer thanked me, and my Uncle Pepe didn’t speak to me the rest of the day. As a custom motorcycle
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February ‘18 - CYCLE SOURCE MAGAZINE
enthusiast, there are a lot of platforms out there that, to me, are just begging for a little massaging and tweaking and others, like the bike we’ll discuss here, was having a full-blown tizzy fit for a complete and radical re-imagining. A couple of years ago while working as the spokesperson for Progressive Motorcycle Insurance around the country, I ran into Breanne Poland with
Royal Enfield and commented how sexy the engines were in their bikes. They reminded me of all the great old art deco British bike motors of my childhood. As I thought more about it, I couldn’t remember seeing a vintage Royal Enfield chopper much less one built out of their new motor. If any of you can find one, please post it up on Instagram and tag
me @sincentralgarage. I’d love to see them. Fast forward, and Breanne hooks me up with a Royal Enfield Continental GT to customize. I tried to let them know I just needed a motor but…I got the whole shebang. A lot of cool shops have been asked to express themselves on these new Royal Enfields. Motorelics, Analog Motorcycles, See See Motorcycles and Chop Docs Choppers just too name a few so Sin Central Garage was all about it. Given that these other guys had built cool racers and what not, I decided to be true to my heritage and keep it ‘Merican. I embarked on the challenge of bringing “Skinny Minny” to life. True to my word, I only kept the motor, built a custom, narrow, chassis to hold it, built a narrow 10” over girder to point it down the road and shoed it with a 21” spool hub 40 spoke on the front and repurposed an old 19” sporty 40 spoke on the rear. The prism tank was a must for the vibe, and the old shovelhead fender in the corner was chopped, cut and loved on to hold the glass prism taillight. The most significant modification was to the operation of the motor. The 535cc engine is fuel injected. Carb conversions are on the market for these, so I acquired
