BURIED TREASURES from Uncle Ollie’s Basement
Mike and Brian Yensch didn’t have to look too far in a search for the guts to build this little 45-incher. The Flathead engine, the heart and soul of things, came out of their uncle’s basement. Here’s a pretty interesting assortment of stuff down there, but that’s a whole other story. Suffice to say the brothers lifted this 45-inch Flathead out of a complete 1961 Servicar trike. They left the frame, Michael says, because they couldn’t bring themselves to cut up something that hadn’t been touched since new, and Brian the driving force at the start of all this, wanted a Flathead two-wheeler. That little 45 and its 3-speed with reverse trans was plenty good enough for a start. A little eBay searching coughed up a butchered Service frame, one that had the tail end lopped off sometime in the past. From there, it was asses and elbows for the next couple of months.
The Yensch brothers run Devilution Cycles in Newport, Michigan. They do everything from oil changes to custom builds, and Brian’s 45 became a sort of after-hours “shop therapy” project. Michael set the remains of that eBay frame up in the jig and fabricated everything that was missing while converting the three-wheeler into two. Along the way he did some pretty severe modifications to what he had. The Servicar’s downtube was shortened, the neck was repositioned and the backbone was massaged. The front end affixed to all that underwent some pretty serious surgery, as well. It’s an original Harley piece but it’s been shortened a full 6 ½ inches. That vintage front end, incidentally, also came out of Uncle Ollie’s basement. According to Michael, the idea was to keep the bike as small and skinny as possible, to build it in proportion to the tiny Flathead engine. And the bike is pretty small, even with its 21-inch wheels front and rear. The gas tank was sized and hand fabricated to the application; the oil tank is a Twisted Choppers piece set on end with the bungs relocated to sit the new orientation.
The completed bike is kind of a kick to ride, literally. There’s no suspension to speak of, so it’s a bouncy little devil, to say the least. And that 3-speed trans with reverse is still there, it’s hand-shift detents converted to foot shift. You have to be pretty careful going through the gears; a club-footed gear change can have you grinding into reverse-not a good thing when you’re going forward. “Basically,” Michael says, “this bike is just harder than hell to ride!”
Originally rolling on Avons, Michael and Brian mounted up some Metzelers, for a laugh, to enter that company’s big show in Sturgis last. Year. And guess what? They came away with the Best in Class trophy! Not too bad for a little after-hours fun, thanks to Uncle Ollie and his basement full of treasurers.
Joe Kress
www.easyriders.com |
