Bitter End – Old School Choppers’ “Midnight Marauder” Chapter III By Big Daddy Al Wilkerson This time we finish up the poor man’s tubing bending and cut out an iron-cross-gusset- from-hell so that we can (hopefully) pull off this wacky single-sided rear fork scam… OK, so what’s this crap? This is filler/gusset material that will go in the gaps that we cut with the “Poor Man’s Tubing Bender.” This will serve at least 2 purposes: 1) Fit-up filler to close the gaps for weld-up 2) Addition of cellular strength between each cut (due to the width of the material) to help deal with the extreme torsional problem of a single-sided rigid at the rear fork bend. This is how it looks in place prior to final weld. These are slid in and tacked in place. During final weld of this area the tubing is jigged up to a 90 degree bend (see previous chapter for picture) plus a few degrees more for weld draw so that (hopefully) once unclamped it will snap back to the exact 90-degree angle we are looking for. Of course, with my luck it didn’t, so I got out the Oxy-Ace torch and beat it into submission with my 2-lb. ball-peen hammer. MORE>

There's no stoppin' Big Daddy once he gets on a roll - and rollin' he is! Watch. listen and learn some of the most innovative frame building tips and tricks ever as BD makes hard-tail history with the Midnight Marauder. Hey - you can visit Big Daddy and his crew online at: http://www.bitterend choppers.com ...tell 'em Warren sent ya.