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J Ryan's 1970 Sportster custom bobber

This is a 1970 ironhead chopper and ratrod aptly named The Kwakster. pdf version
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The bike looks old, but make no mistake, it is a fresh build. Its rough tough, and dirty as J Ryan intended it. It is inspired by the raw awesomeness of the flat-track and board-track bikes. The motor is mostly rebuilt with a complete top end bored .040" over with forged pistons. J Ryan completely rebuilt the cam chest with all new bushings, and shims, and installed high performance P-cams. The bike is pretty darn quick. Ryan went through the transmission, and put all new clutches as well. bike is hardly broken in, he put under 200 miles on it since. completely rebuilt the kicker with all new gears and bushings. The kick works very good. The bike has working electric start as well (thou he never uses it), with brand new jack shaft gear. brand new solid state voltage regulator, new gel battery, new brushes in the generator, and a complete rewire.
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The bike uses no key, only a hidden very high quality, rubber sealed, made in the U.S.A. on-off switch. The carburetor on this bike is a retro-fitted, Italian made Dellorto.

Its a very premium expensive carb. similar to a round-slide Mikuni, but with an accelerator pump. The oil tank is a 60's Mercedes coolant over flow tank that Ryan converted with an old Triumph gas cap. It works perfectly.

Made out of brass, these things look really cool polished up as well, but keeping with the ratty theme Ryan decided to leave the original patina. The bike has all new oil lines, an oil cooler, and an oil filter mounted to the front motor mount.

The vintage brass fire extinguisher under the seat is one of Ryan's trade marks. Its now a tool box to house the necessary tools that any vintage bike should have on it (as demonstrated in video).
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The hardtail is a K-model style tig welded with the continuous loop around the axle plates which is way better, and cooler looking in. It is quite a bit more expensive than your standard hardtail as well. The exhaust Ryan custom made out of aluminized steel j-bend header tubing.

The gas tank might be from a 70's enduro. This feature really throws people for a loop. The tank has no rust inside. The seat is off of a 60's Sears brand bike, very cool. Its very springy, and for those long rides it has a nice thick gel seat cover.

The wheels are straight with a new set of Bridgestone t/w tires, and tubes. they are all-terrain tires, very well suited for road, and look killer. The handlebars are two-piece with wrapped hockey tape for grips.

There is no brake lever on the bars. That's because Ryan fabricated a dual-action brake pedal to operates both the front (hydraulic disc), and rear (drum) brakes. Ryan did this because he hates having a big ol' brake cylinder muckin up a cool set of handlebars.
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The mechanism is fully adjustable, in either direction. For normal braking you always want to lead with the rear brake. That's how Ryan has it set now. When braking normally its mostly rear with a little front, but if you push harder it will stop on a dime, utilizing the full capabilities of the front brake and rear brake.

The tail light is an early 70's old XS650 blinker that Ryan gutted, and refitted dual filament lighting. Both brake and running lights work well. The points cover is a blinker lens. Due to the heat, and its vintage nature it has cracked, so you might need a new one soon.

The battery box Ryan fabricated out of some angle iron, and covered it with a cool vintage (antique) TN license plate.This is one of Ryan's favorite bikes, and he's sure it would take home some trophies at your local bike show. It is mechanically sound, and ready for a new home.
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