California Cowboy's First Chopper

if you’ve been hanging around any of the major rallies and shows, you probably have seen Stacy McCleary, his wife Danell, and his beautifully built old school bikes.

Many of us affectionately call

Stacy “The California Cowboy.”

Stacy fell in love with Choppers as a kid when they were a big thing in his hometown. He would frequently ride his Stingray

Bicycle down to hang out with those “Cool Chopper Guys” who didn’t seem to mind him hanging around. His mom would cover his schoolbooks with paper sacks, and he was constantly drawing Choppers and Big Engine Hot rods all over them. As it turns out, though, most of his motorcycle builds have been bobbers. Thanks to the persistence of Mondo from Denver’s Choppers, this beautiful Chopper came to exist.

Stacy started building bikes, way back in 1965, at the age of 11, when he took over the garage in his parents’ brand-new house with his booming business of building and selling mini-bikes and customized Stingray bicycles to his friends and neighborhood kids. His parents actually parked their brand-new vehicles outside so he could run his business. At 15, his first street-legal motorbike was a 1962 Cushman Eagle Scooter that his dad had purchased new. McCleary admits he was embarrassed to

ride it but rode it to High School most days anyway. Like most teenage boys of his era, he was into building Hot Rods and spent a lot of his time doing that.

In 1975, Stacy married the gal of his dreams and, in 1977, had his sights set on a new Harley-Davidson Low Rider. He went to his local dealer and put money down on one. Danell told him she was pregnant with their first child just as he had saved up enough to buy it. So, he did what most responsible guys would do. He passed on purchasing the bike. 1978 came around, and his buddy was selling his ‘76 Super Glide. Stacy told Danell he was buying it. The next day, she went to the doctor and came home with news that she was again pregnant, so again, he put his dreams of owning a HarleyDavidson on hold. Stacy did the next best thing, talked his brother-in-law into buying the bike. Stacy got to ride it whenever he wanted to. A couple years later, Danell was pregnant again, and Stacy realized that with 3 kids under the age of 5, he wasn’t getting a bike any time soon. He spent his time working full time, coaching kid’s sports, and building Hot Rods, mostly 57 Chevy’s. With the Hot Rods, they could go on family trips and to car shows together. Finally, in 1997, Stacy got his first Harley.

In 2000, all the kids finally graduated high school, and Stacy built his first custom chopper and hasn’t stopped building bikes. Stacy mainly builds clean bobbers that are fun to ride and uses stock HarleyDavidson parts he collects from swap meets. Over the years, Stacy has developed a friendship with Mondo, who has been after him to build a chopper using one of his front ends. Stacy had politely been putting Mondo off. He really didn’t want to build a chopper. One day Mondo called and told Stacy to stop by the

next time he was in Reno visiting his son because Mondo had something for him. Mondo gave him a narrow springer front end and told him to build a chopper.

Stacy took that front end home, where it sat in his office for about two months. He just wasn’t “into” building a chopper. One day he went out and dug out an old rigid frame from his shed and went to work building the Chopper. The frame needed a lot of work, especially on the neck area, so he cut it and made it fit the front end. Stacy just sat it up there, and when it looked good, he started welding. He then dug out a 1967 Shovel that he was going to use on a different build and put it into the frame along with a 4-speed trans, and now he had a roller. Now he was getting excited.

The King/Queen seat came next. Stacy knew that if he was going to ride this bike, he would have to be comfortable. So he made the seat to fit him. He handmade a killer upsweep exhaust and called Danell out to check it out. She took one look at it and said, that’s awful close to where my thigh will be… that’s gonna burn. So, that killer exhaust now hangs on the wall and was replaced by something simple to ensure she didn’t get burnt. Just like all his bikes, Stacy

Owner: Stacy McCleary City/State: Manteca, California Builder: Stacy’s Garage Year: 1967 Model: FLH Chopper Value: Time: 6 Months

ENGINE Year: 1967 Model: FLH Builder: Pat’s Machine Ignition: Morris Magneto Displacement: 74 cu in Pistons: Wiseco Heads: Harley-Davidson Carb: S&S Super E Cam: Andrews BH Air Cleaner: Velocity Stack Exhaust: Stacy’s Garage Primary: BDL Open Belt

TRANSMISSION Year: 1967 Make: Harley-Davidson Shifting: 4 Speed

FRAME Year: Early 1980’s Model: Straight Leg Rigids Rake: Some Stretch: A Little

Forks Builder: Denver’s Choppers Type: Narrow Springer Triple Trees: Extension: 6 Over

WHEELS Front Wheel: Excel Size: 18” Tire: Avon Speedmaster Front Brake: None Rear Wheel: Excel Size: 16” Tire: Firestone Rear Brake: H-D Juice Drum

PAINT Painter: Binfords Color: Black & Gray Type: Graphics: Chroming: West Coast Chrome

ACCESSORIES Bars: Stacy’s Garage Risers: Stacy’s Garage Hand Controls: Harley-Davidson Foot Controls: Stacy’s Garage Gas Tank(s): Swap Meet Oil Tank: 4 Qt Alum Moon Front fender: None Rear Fender: Swap Meet Seat: Stacy’s Garage/Juan Fortuny Headlight: 1940 Hudson Spot Light Tail light: Prism Speedo: None did the paintwork. His paint booth? Two ladders and a two-by-four set up in the backyard, with parts hanging off the board, and sometimes the clothesline. If it’s cold out? The carport becomes the paint booth.

Stacy said he really owes it all to Mondo for his persistence and pushing him to build a chopper. This is definitely one of his favorite bikes to ride. Thanks, Mondo! We all appreciate your hand in this one. It is a beauty!!