The first thing Chris did was pull out his old stash of early 70’s Street Chopper Magazines. His attention was immediately drawn to the cover of a 1975 issue featuring a build by Bob Clark, who later became the editor of Street Chopper Magazine. Chris did his homework and contacted Keith “Bandit” Ball, editor of Easy Riders Magazine. Keith gave Chris Bob’s number and after spending some time on the phone with Bob, he told Chris to contact Bill Holland, at Executive Choppers. Bill was one of the founders of H&H Cycles, the creators of the infamous Harmon front end. After reminiscing, Bill agreed to build Chris an original 30 over, internally sprung, Harmon Front End. A few days later Chris received a call from Bill telling him that he had spoke to his friend, Ron Paugh, owner of Paughco and another legend in the motorcycle industry. Chris contacted Ron, who agreed to build Chris Paughco’s Sweedish Chopper Frame straight out of the seventies. If that wasn’t blowing Chris’s mind, he also agreed to manufacture a lot of the parts that Chris would need in order to replicate a perfect time period correct piece. Through Ron Paugh, Chris go hooked up with Ron Lepera and his daughter Christina and they sent him the King/Queen seat that they cut their teeth on through the late sixties and early seventies.

When thinking about which magazine should cover the story on this bike, only one guy fit the bill. Dain Gingerelli, aka Dangerous Dain, was the editor of Street Chopper Magazine through the early 70’s and today is the editor of Iron Works Magazine. Chris told Dain, “You lived, breathed and created choppers during that time period you are the perfect guy to cover this build”. Thankfully, Dain agreed to cover the story and committed to a pre-build story in the April Issue, followed up by a Cover Story to be released in the July Iron Works issue, slated to be in the stores at the end of May 2008, just before the S&S Event in June. Chris then made a call to Arlen Ness, hoping that he could hook him up with just the right painter to bring the final touches to the build. Arlen told Chris to contact Dick at Cycle Art located in Fresno, California. After spending hours on the phone with Dick, Chris knew he was the man for the job and gave him free reigns with the paint. Three weeks later, Chris received the sheet metal and was in awe when he laid eyes on the paint job that would totally represent the 1974 chopper era.

Through the process of this build, Chris has established some awesome friendships with each one of these amazing men. “But the coolest part of this whole thing,” says Chris, “I felt like I got invited into Chapter One of the History Book of Choppers!”