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Hi Warren,
First of all forgive my English, the best I can do is so called 'TV
American English', some mistakes may also occur :-)))
but, gettin' to the point:
I live in Poland and I'm mad about choppers. I've been collectin' all
available info, pics and technical details of bikes appearing on the net
for very long time. 'Recently' (two years ago), basing on that I decided
to built my own bike. HD parts are too expensive and the best you can
get here for reasonable amount of money is HD WLA engine, therefore I
decided to built my chop on carcass of JUNAK 350 cc, the only (after
World War II) Polish bike with four cycle engine.
HISTORY
1.The dark past.
I bought it as a piece of junk, 'customized' by mounting higher steering
bar and cross motorcycles-like rear fender. I rode it for a few years
being happy that it rolled at all.
2.The vision
When I was totally fed up with the appearance of my bike I decided to
rebuilt it in the way I've always wanted it to be. I wanted a classic
chop, with light front and the heaviest possible lookin' rear, a
duck-tail fender was a must.
3. The struggle
I started lookin' for a guy that would be crazy enough to spend his time
on realizing my dreams. Six months, several disappointments, a lot of
money wasted - that's the balance of first period.
Afterwards, I've found a biker working as a tin-smith with all sorts of
crash cars (including new BMW's and Mercedes) who 'took the challenge'.
4. The bike
Changes were made to the following parts:
1. chassis - lowered, strengthened, some original grips and holders cut
off
2. gas tank - widened, equipped with chromed console (tachometer of '64
VW
Beetle), two fillers of '84-'91 opel kadett
3. front suspension/fork - lengthened and therefore higher (bigger?)
rake
4. rear brake/gear shift - steering pedals moved to highway bars
5. exhauster/'silencer' - hand made, fitting only this bike
Custom parts mounted (almost all of them are hand made, no aftermarket
stuff
of this kind exists)
1. Steering bar - made of spin square rod
2. Sissy bar - 1 meter high, made of spin square rod
3. Rear fender - custom part of yamaha virago 535
5. Rear fender holders - hand made, 'produced' by genuine black-smith
6. Rear wheel - original Junak breaking drum, mounted in 15" car rim
7. Front fender - customized standard fender of the other motorbike
8. Front/back seat - hand made, black leather covered
9. Dry air filter - instead of wet one
10. swing arm - chromed (there is no possibility of riding a hard tail
bike
in Poland unless you have iron butt)
+ a lot of other little changes & parts
Technical details:
Engine: 350 cc air cooled OHV single:
Cubic capacity: 349 cc
Max power output: 19 HP (14 kW)
Max Torque: 2,8 kg*m/3 at 3000 rpm
Max Speed: 125 km/h (75 mph)
Generally speaking, the bike is very similar to English classics of '50
and '60.
Finally, if you're still reading that :-), the attachment consist of
several pics of my bike.
I got no idea whether you are interested in my bike. If so, just email
me,and I will send you some photos taken in daylight :-))
take care,
golab
Junak chopper
golab@imedia.com.pl
P.S. keep the site on the web it's really the best
Don't worry, Golab - as long as
there's guys like you in the world, ChoppersRule will be on the net.
Great story.
-Warren
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