Sybil......America's Sweetheart

It became obvious that it was time to get back to doing a few customs…..

Part One:

At about that time David Travis came in with a mini that he was working on and one thing led to another and I decided to do a mini. In trying to get an idea what I could do that would be a fun project and also show what we can do in the shop for one off custom folks, I noticed I had a Hummer frame that had a bit of damage, a complete extra engine, some Topper wheels, Topper bars, a part of a 48 rubber bouncer front end. I also had a pretty good pile of CP 1038 bolts (OEM Harley) At that point I thought I had enough stuff to build a rather nice Harley Mini.

Little did I realize that this would evolve into the most difficult project I'd ever done. The thing that made it so difficult was the fact that I already had too many Harley parts to use for the project and decided to make this bike a 100% OEM Harley and determined to use ONLY parts that I could verify that were 100% American made.

The guidelines were as follows: Parts must be OEM Harley, Must be American made (no Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese or Un-Americaneese). American labor modified parts is allowable so, now, it's going to be "The worlds smallest 100% American made OEM Harley Davidson". At first it appeared that it would be simple when we partly mocked up a general idea. We cut down the frame as small as possible and still be able to insert a 1964 175 Harley engine, and let it have a bit of rake in the process. It shrank about two inches in height and about six in length. Then the rubber girder goes on and it is obvious that we must move the brake drum deeper into the wheel to make it fit between the girder legs OR just use the smooth side of TWO Topper front wheels to make one.

One more Topper front wheel later and a bit of machine and handwork - we have a fit. Topper front wheels make a GREAT rear for a Hummer custom as they are already marked for drilling to mount a Hummer sprocket. Now the bike needs forward controls so the foot peg bar is relocated to the front between the motor mount holes. Then somewhere along the process Dave decides that the kickstand part of that bar should be relocated to the underside of the frame, a bit forward of the original location. NOW the problems begin.

[Story & photos by Mac Chandler 2004]

Sybil
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Tontitown Machine & Cycle
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