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CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER -
The Name Says It All
Meet our “Easyriders” Bike of the Year. It is very hard to appreciate this mind-boggling scoot in mere photographs because much of it is see through! Check out the rocker boxes, pushrod tubes, tranny cover and oil tank. You can see right through ‘em all because they’re made of poly carbonate bulletproof glass. Clear, get it? That’s Part One of this bike’s moniker, “Clear And Present Danger.” Now take a look at the primary drive. It’s doubtful you’ve ever seen anything like this before. No belt, no chain, instead there’s an intricately crafted lineup of whirring gears there, all right out in the open for the world to see. Those gears are ready to chew up anything that gets in their way, like, say a pant leg. That’s the Danger part of the name and we’ll bet that drive also makes perfect julienne potatoes.
This is all the work of Jerry Burrow and company at Roadhawgs in Ford Heights, Illinois. Roadhawgs shares a 10,000 square-foot building with Pick Up’s Bar & Grill: a biker bar, motorcycle shop and hang-out all in one. Jerry's been in the business for about eight years now, building all sorts of bikes including one-off, way-out rides like this one. Clear And Present Danger earned Jerry the Bike of the Year and Builder of the Year honors at this year’s V-Twin Biker’s Ball in Daytona Beach during Bike Week. It is also the bike that provided Jerry with the honor of being one of six Pro Class master builders to appear on our Bike Show Tour for 2008. On top of all that, Jud Holmberg of Hering Custom Paint was named Painter of the Year for his very talented effort on this bike.
It is amazing how this whole project came together. Take that gear-drive primary. It began with Jerry drawing a series of circles on the floor and then making it happen in metal. There’s no belt or chain, obviously, just that series of five gears, all 4 inches wide and all exposed. It’s the only one in the world, and if you think this thing is noisy, you’re right. This is the result of four month’s R&D and a $7,000 investment. Most of the manufacturing was done right at Roadhawgs, though the gears were cut at an outside company. They’re a combination of 4041 steel for the two out board ones and alumabronze, a self-lubricating metal, for all the others.
The rear wheel was custom machines from a 300-pound block of the same poly carbonate bulletproof glass as the rocker boxes, transmission cover, pushrod tubes and oil tank. All that was done by Roadhawgs as well. If you’re thinking that you’d like a little of that bulletproof technology for your own scoot, hold on, some of that clear stuff will soon be available for sale, so stay tuned. It’s all kinda fun, Jerry says, because you can actually watch the oil as it makes its rounds coming in to the clear rocker boxes and then down the clear pushrod tubes and you can see it dumping back into the oil tank. Everything stays fog-free so you can see it all. That clear transmission cover gives an unobstructed view of the spinning gears inside.
Clear and Present Danger uses a dual-chain drive and a total of 10 sprockets to get the business end of that Patrick Racing 113 motor and its Baker 6-speed to the rear wheel. And right in the middle of all that there’s a rotor and caliper from a racing go-cart. That’s the rear brake. Roadhawgs did all that and everything else on this bike including the gas tank, all the sheet metal work, even that wicked looking rear fender. “It’s a team effort,” Jerry says, “with Brian Nelson, Kenny Hanisko, Derek Dembowski, Jamie Solich, Chips, Moondick andMongo all pitching in.” An, believe it or not, it’s not a bad motorcycle out on the road, either, although Jerry says he wouldn't’ want to do much drinking if he had this bike out for the evening-or knew he’d had to make a bunch of U-turns. The bike is 11 1/2 feet long tip to tip. And of course there’s the little matter of all those spinning gears on the left side. But then, motorcycles are supposed to be kinda dangerous, right?
Joe Kress--Easyriders.com
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Owner(s): Jerry Burrow
City: Ford Heights, Illinois
Designer: Jerry Burrow
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GENERAL
Fabrication: RoadHawgs
Year & Make: 2005 Custom
Model: RoadHawgs
Assembly: which time?
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TRANSMISSION
Year: 2005 Baker
Shifting: 6 speed
Modifications: N/A
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ENGINE FRAME
Year: 2005 RoadHawgs
Model: Patrick Racing
Builder: RoadHawgs
Ignition: Dyna
Type: Rigid
Displacement: 113 Cu inches
Rake: 55 degrees
Lower End: N/A
Stretch: compared to what?
Balancing: N/A
Shocks: None
Pistons: N/A
Heads: N/A
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FORKS
Type: N/A
Extension: Massive 18 over
Builder: Exile
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| WHEELS
Size: 21” front 18” rear
Hub: N/A
Tire: Avon 360 Rear
Brake: Performance Machine/custom
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PAINTING
Time: 5 Months
Painter: Hering Customs
Chroming: Meclec
Color: Brandywine
Type: House of Kolor
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ACCESSORIES
Bars: Jerry Burrow & Jamie
Carb(s): DaVinci
Fenders: RoadHawgs
Air Cleaner: Jerry Burrow
Headlight: Arlen Ness
Pipes: Jerry Burrow & Derek
Taillight: Jerry Burrow
Speedo: None
Pegs: RoadHawgs
Gas Tank: RoadHawgs/Burrow/Derek
Oil Tank: Jerry Burrow/ Heco Machine
Seat: Jerry Burrow /High End
Mirrors: Paul Yaffe Originals
Grips: RoadHawgs |
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