Choppers galerie

Littlejohn's Panhead.

Back in 1971 there was a guy (Pops) riding around the island of Hawaii on a 1950 panhead: a custom chopper with a long frontend, thin tires, and way ahead of the times, just ripping up the back roads of the pineapple fields. Jump ahead a few years and into the start of some bad times; Pops' work started to slow down along with the flow of money. Add a newborn son into the mix by the name of Shannon "Coconut" Aikau, and this meant the cash was really going to get thin. Well, Pops did what any good father would do: he sold the bike to get by, but said that one day he would have that bike back and ride it all over.

Thirty years later, Shannon was working at a shop called Count's Kustoms in Las Vegas, Nevada, chipping away at a custom bike when his dad called to tell him that it was time for Pops to get back on a bike. However, not just any bike would do-he wanted the one he had back in Hawaii. It was like music to Shannon's ears; he was now on a mission to find that bike.

He had no luck in tracking it down, despite calling every and any connection he had. So at that point the two just started to plan a build around the same style of bike.

Getting the motor and trans was easy, Shannon was working in a full custom shop, so all he need to do was order the parts. This time around Pops would have a 80ci shovelhead. Shannon ordered up an S&S; short block then found a set of H-D shovelhead barrows and head, then slapped in a set of 10:01 Wiseco pistons. Then the transmission was a sore, Shannon fortunately had a customer who wanted to swap out his old H-D five-speed for a new Baker six-speed. When done with the job he asked his customer, "What are you going to do with the old one?"

His customer asked if he knew anyone who would want it, and Shannon told him about his dad's build. The customer was glad to kick down the ol' trans. With the powerplant ready for a frame, both Pops and Shannon were looking for the right one, but the only thing was that neither could agree on which. Pops wanted the same one he had, but Shannon wanted to go even longer; at the time, all the bikes that left the shop he worked at were very long, and he wanted to ride the bike, too.

So he got a Santee rigid and cut the neck off, added 4-inches out goosenecking it to 48-degrees. Now they needed a frontend. Both knew what they wanted: An old John Harmon Girder-style, but were having no luck, until one day Shannon was on E-bay looking for something else when he came across a guy with some old parts and asked if he knew anyone who might have the frontend he was after. A few emails later, a 20-over was getting shipped out to Vegas. Now a 20-over was too long but with the help of a Sawzall and a good welder, it was just the right size.

When it came to wheels, Pops had Chica's 5-spoke rounds made: a 21x2.15 for the front and a 16x4.0 for the rear. Road Master rubber covered both. The sheetmetal was simple, and the rear fender came from the same guy who made the wheels and an old H-D Mustang tank. The color was green with gold leaf inlay and graphics. The bike was almost done when Pops got very sick, slowing the building time down. Shannon kept things moving but wanted Pops to build his own bike, so he held off on a few things till Pops could get back on his feet. The only thing was he never did. Pops passed away before the bike was finished.

Shannon was now building this bike by himself but still with his dad in sprit standing next to him every step of the way. In the end the bike was just like the one Pops rode back in Hawaii with a bigass smile from ear to ear. Shannon has the same thing on his face every time he rides this bike, with only one thing missing: Pops riding right next to him, though he's still with him every mile.

http://www.streetchopperweb.com/bikes/maui-wowie-chopper-ones-pops