Top Dead Center

Today. It's big daddy's chopper shop in Porter, Texas. And phase two of our old style chopper build up

and we'll drop 50 degrees for some short track ice racing in Wisconsin.

Hey, guys, welcome to T DC and more on our retro chopper. I'm Alan neighbors. Now, modern bikes are loaded with high tech. But if you want an old school chopper,

you gotta have one built.

Yeah.

Here

we don't build cookie cutter bikes.

Bring that thing in here. Our bikes are built from the ground up

who start with a piece of iron

band,

it

weld it,

go for it

and they're going for it in old school fashion. Start pulling it apart, get it ready for paint.

There's a lot of people that would buy a bike like this because it's gonna be different.

Uh

Yes, I ordered a part

creel and it's

missing some of the necessities to make it function

already.

The first major problem,

Joe discovered the new hydraulic clutch kit was missing the actuator rod.

We went ahead and ordered a second one.

It came,

it didn't show in the box. So now we're

trying to last minute, get this taken care of.

So we have it running in a week

because if, without that, that little of what dollar part,

the bike's not gonna run.

All right. Thank you, ma'am. Bye

bye

there.

What?

No,

no luck at all.

5 to 10 days.

Yeah,

that's our bikes that are, those are not customer bikes. We don't do that to our customer bikes.

Those are ours.

Yeah.

Go

to work.

Ok.

Take it off

mine.

5 to 10 million,

5 to 10 days to get that piece.

That's wrong.

Let's take it off the brakes.

Thanks Joe.

Oh, did you hear that

problem solved?

Hello,

bro.

What's going on?

I let you work on this last night by three

damn dude. That's

bad.

Oh dude, that is insane. Thanks here are gonna show the guys.

Oh,

that looks nice like that. Oh I like that.

That looks good.

All

right.

Who's that nice

old school?

Look at that bling in that. How, how he ghosted that old school in the middle there?

What's up guys?

Nothing.

Alright man.

That's awesome.

That is awesome. Look at that.

Ready to go.

How many coats? Clear? 10 this time, man.

It's like it's just like glass. I mean it's just so smooth.

Check this

out.

Look

at the flake on that thing.

Wow,

you can charge extra for the flake too.

It's gold.

Wow,

that is awesome, ain't it guys?

That's all you kevin it is.

That's all you jockey shift.

That is awesome guys.

Dave, you did a fantastic job.

No problem,

Dave design.

Let's go to work guys

that is looking good. That's what I'm saying.

Might come together pretty quick.

Good deal.

What we're doing now is, uh chasing the threads with some taps because if there's paint or some kind of debris in there,

the bolts are subject to back out and then parts start falling off the back and we don't want that.

The training mount that goes across this has to have a good surface where the paint won't pooch out around it and it'll get loose later on, lose its alignment.

It pretty much has to be bare metal against bare metal. So it will tighten down

when we come back.

Where are you at? Problems arise as the guys pick up the pace on the retro chopper while Big Daddy tries to ease the tension,

we'll check back later today for more on the paint. But next, it's short track action on ice at night.

All right. Now, for most guys, cold, winter nights are for relaxing in front of the fire. Uh But that ain't the case in Wisconsin.

Thanks to the Sunset tavern on Lake

Kashan

on Wisconsinites. Don't have to spend Saturday nights at home during the winter

really fast solo track race. Yeah, the short track event we got tonight,

it's gonna be awesome. We got a huge turnout of riders in the area of 100 100 riders.

I love short tracking you know, it's kind of,

that's kind of my bread and butter, that style track right there and, and hustle that thing around there and that's what I do. You know,

I like hustling around those short trucks

under 8000 watts of light. They're going fast and running it tight.

Oh, yeah, this track is a pretty small track. Uh, racing will be tight tonight. Probably see a few riders go down. Hopefully everybody will stay safe. It's not unusual to be bumping and banging into each other. It's, it's,

it's fun.

It's fun.

That's the fun. You know, everybody's going

real fast right on top of each other.

He was all the way over the one in the middle there. He was like, they

land but he was like, right on,

right on the foot. But

the whole way

too

hot.

This is awesome because at,

at night time it is a little weird when you're on the track, it's all lit up and you're like, in your own little phone, you can't see nothing outside of the track. That perception is kind of a little bit different because the lights aren't perfect. But,

uh, it just gives a whole new thrill to it.

It doesn't scare me one bit. I love it.

It's a little bit different. You get a little bit of glare, you know, everybody gets a little amped up because a little bit short of race, you know, everything kind of clicks off a lot faster and stuff at night and that. So, you know, a little bit different, more of a little like circus atmosphere. I

think

these guys are suicide. Jack,

man.

I mean, come on

six

miles. One thing is this,

I don't know about it. It's a bunch of crazy guys with studded tires having a good time.

It's those studs that allow the bikes to stay upright at over 50 miles an hour on the shore track,

you have

excellent traction. I mean, it's just unbelievable traction.

More traction you ever have in a dirt bike in the dirt, that's for sure.

I'm glad

ice these things stick better than pavement. You can jack it into the corner and you just

go

the angle of the screw and the placement of how you put them in the knob is actually what gives you the bite. Uh, you know, as the screws start to turn, you have to go back and tune them so that they stay sharp and they'll actually sharpen themselves as you ride on them,

you hook up real consistent. So I guess you can trust, it's easy to trust your bike, you know, to, to just lace it on in there and

go to somebody.

It's the best.

It's cold out.

Buds of fun

sliding into the corner, whipping it out, it sticks like pavement. It's awesome, man. It's the best you gotta try it. That's what everybody should come. See at least once

back in the 19 seventies, they came to see the flying Irishman pull off his two wheel stunts.

Well, I'm an old has bound.

The world's full of, has bounds

in all sports,

whether it was jumping cars or through a ring of fire. Jim lived on the edge now at age 58 he's not one to wax about the past living is risky.

What the hell you're doing

after numerous heart surgeries. He's now taking it easy. Join the thrill of ice racing.

Or you listen to us say a good band that knows how to play their instruments. This is the same thing. These are just instruments these guys are playing out there

and the guys that can really ride them.

Yeah, it's just a pleasure of watching the race.

All the excitement on the track, got gym things.

I got a bike, I'm getting it set up.

Then I need to take some riding lessons

and then maybe a race a little, maybe next year

again. Once a showman, always a showman.

Yeah. Life is to live.

You know, you wanna be a spectator. It's, I know, I don't like being Spectators.

You know, you're gonna enjoy something. Sure you didn't enjoy it. Even if it's at a minimal level.

It's a pretty neat things that they do out here,

whether young or old spectator or racer. It's all about grooving on bikes, laying it sideways on the ice.

It's just all action, all heat. That's all you can feel your adrenaline's rushing.

It's something that I've always enjoyed doing and now they enjoy doing it. So it's something we can do together.

I rode 11 time as I was talking to.

But now I go everywhere I go, I go everywhere I can ride.

It's fun. It gets us out in the winter. You just take your Motocross bike or whatever. You get yourself some tires built and you go ride. That's pretty much it. This ice racing just doesn't seem like it's all underneath it. You know,

more ice racing action coming up and more of our chopper build up.

We're going back to Texas for more on our chopper. But not until the dash for cash

don't get no better than this with a shot to move on to the winner. Take all dash for cash over 100 racers in eight classes, threw it down on the ice

a lot of pressure. But tonight especially we have a big

turn on a lot

of competition here.

Brock's not even old enough for a driver's permit, but on the ice he didn't crack under the pressure.

The 14 year old was ready to take on the big boys after winning the 250 amateur class,

I think I can definitely hold my own.

So what's like

a small track and

so

many people, there's gonna be some bumping and rub it

going for that big

Jeff Free

is a legend in off road and builds ice tires in the winter.

However, his golden pedigree wasn't enough to help him in the 500 class. I just took the 500 out yesterday. A little pond right behind my house. You can't even shift. It's so small, you know,

and it's like it fired up. It ran like, well, it must work. It worked good the last time I was out. So I got to do some playing with the tire pressure or something in that

thing.

It ain't working the way it's at.

No worries because his third place in the 250 Pro race earned him a spot in the cold cash. Round.

One rider who wasn't advancing was Brad Highland and his ancient husky. Actually, I'm going really fast

how to make those guys look faster. That's all it's a fossil about like me.

Uh, I believe it's about the early, early seventies vintage Husqvarna

and, uh, I had to put a new gas tank on it.

Uh, took the rear fender off. Didn't need much, didn't need that much. Took a few parts off and added a few. And that was about it. And with the help of everyday items, he was able to make some other modifications, the seat was getting pretty ratty. So I needed something new and you don't use the back part of the seat anyway. So I thought, well, a bicycle seat will work. So I, I found that in the garage and put that on there.

And, uh, the beer can was an attempt to deflect the, the noise

and, uh, they got a noise ordinance and I'm gonna try to comply. It's too, it's too loud for me.

Brad wasn't going to take home any medals or money on this night. But to him that's not what it's about.

Yeah, this is a hoot first time out on a pond on a friend of mine's pond. I just got hooked. That was it. I gotta do it. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. I'm

really worried about the dash

for cash race.

A lot of fast

gonna be in that race.

21 racers advanced to the final. The pros started in the back. It had 10 laps to catch the amateurs.

It makes it kind of fair for everybody. And we have had amateurs

and they're just tickled to death that they can beat the pros. So

it's a fun race. Craig Pickett rules, the Lakes of Michigan. So he was looking forward to taking on the Wisconsin competition. It's always fun to get come over to another state and

just

ride, ride against guys that I've never rode against before.

You know, that's,

that's

a lot of the fun right there. Pickett blew ahead of the pros, then picked off the amateurs, one, sometimes two at a time.

It then became a race between a season pro and the new kid on the ice experience paid off this time. As Pickett passed Brock on the outside and held on to win the jackpot. Yeah, that will help with the gas money. But, you know what? I

done it for free. You know, I just have fun riding. That's all. That was a lot of fun handicap race. Never done very many of them starting in the back row like that. That was fun. You know, coming through the traffic. That was, that was fun. Lots of fun. What could be more fun than racing under the lights? Well, the after party inside the warm and toasty sunset tavern,

it sure beats Saturday night at home during the winter.

More on our old school chopper coming up.

Ok. Big Daddy's ready. It's time to check out the paint.

We're back at Big Daddy's in Porter, Texas for phase four of our old school chopper

and already a small problem. Damn it

then.

Yeah. 238.

Yeah. Spacer is one for each side.

If you don't have them, make them,

anybody can put a kit bike together if you can put a puzzle together.

Whereas if you've got a custom bike where everything is just new

and nothing's been pre engineered and pre thought out, you've gotta make you, sometimes you gotta just make the parts as you go.

All right, pick it on up

and look like a rolling chassis. Guys.

Let it down. Nice and easy

just when the guys pick up the pace.

Oh, why? It's so tight

up there. More setbacks.

That ain't long enough though. Is it? That's

not long, it's not quite long enough.

Come on, guys

been doing back here for the last two hours

if

you guys want me to. I mean, I'll go get my work shirt on and come back here and start doing some work.

More delays when it's discovered the transmission mounting bracket was left in Painter Dave's truck. 30 minutes. You can't do it. Double your speed. Go about 100 miles an hour and get here. I got three mechanics sitting here just looking at the bike waiting for you to come here with this part. Ok. Ok.

Talk to you later, buddy. Bye bye.

It's coming guys.

Yeah, I know either way. Is it? It's sad.

It ain't my wife calling it.

I

know

I

didn't

answer

now. What is the deal with you guys? Do y'all ever hear my wife holler?

She was instructed years ago. If you call me on my job and need an emergency, you're in trouble

and she don't,

I've got a big heart, man.

Don't have nothing to do with heart.

How's you? Do you,

did you get that look on Joe's face now? That was priceless there.

That's

worth

it.

Turn.

Yeah. Installing the jockey shift.

That's her

killer.

That's weird.

I

say,

all right, Jay

one second Jackson.

So

I,

oh, he's gonna be pissed at you.

Well, I'm glad I didn't say what I wanted to say J

hey,

this is just for the record. Y'all are wrong.

That was my wife. He got the wrong message. I don't know what was going on there. It was for me.

I'm glad I realized it was her. I feel bad if I said what I wanted to say, man.

Hm.

Ready to go.

Let's call tonight. Let's be here bright and early at eight o'clock tomorrow morning.

Ok.

Good deal.

Setbacks are just part of creative bike building.

Next week. It's different problems as riders try the impossible at the World Trials Championship

and I'll head to Texas to join Big Daddy's team and finish our old school chopper until then. Ride safe.