People's Champ Contestant - Jack Weidmayer

What have you done?
So far 80% of my fabrication work is done! Initially I started with a $2,000 ‘81 shovelhead that I initially bought just to keep around. Eventually I totally parted it out and disassembled the bike. I took the frame to my ex-boss’s, Gary Ginsely, and together he helped me make a hardtail rear section from scratch with his homemade jig.

From there I took a long hiatus and then about a year later began to knock out each one of my fins with their plexiglass windows. This took an incredible amount of time for me, and it took an even longer amount of time to mold it all with filler. Going along with that my tin set is complete, and painted. I did a little molding on the tank to give it a really unique shape and am quite fond of the design. Additionally I sank a ton of hours into trying to get that fender decently straight before I even put any filler to it which was a major task considering that fender already doesn’t come even/straight from the factory.

My paint is done too as you can see from my photos and it was done by @mikeymachinepaints. Super stoked on the pebble base as I’ve always wanted a bike with that. He also used the perfect color on the inside of the fins that compliment the purple plexiglass in the most beautiful way. I’ve never personally had a whole bike painted for me professionally before so that in itself is pretty amazing and nerve racking as I’m terrified to scratch it.

A lot of small fab stuff was knocked out too like the countless brackets, the foot pegs, and that sort of stuff. One of the bigger pieces fabbed was my fender strap which I’m in love with. It follows the line off the fins on the dog legs in a really class way, and will look even better in chrome.

I would say I am very much happy with where I am at with this bike. I’m writing this before I go on my 14 hour round trip to pick up my frame so I can’t explain how excited I am to see it start to come together.

What do you have left to do?
All the mechanical work! I picked up the motor from a friend, Kenny. It’s got OEM Pan Heads but it has an STD bottom end, and to be honest I don’t really care that it’s a fake Panhead. The bottom end was done but the top end required a lot of massaging and assembly. I need to adjust the valves again as I torqued the heads but never checked to make sure my pushrod adjustment was cherry. I also need to get it running and make sure we did everything correctly. It’s supposed to be a fresh motor so, a heat cycle and break in miles will all be required. Additionally, I need to get my primary all squared away. I’m running a belt which I’ve never done so I hope the kit I bought off the marketplace has all the right pieces in it.

I have a big idea for my brake pedal that I need to start fabbing, and also need to make something to mount my license plate. I’m debating making bars, but the ones I have most likely will not stay. That is more or less all that is left fabrication wise.

Other than that, I need to wire the bike, and run oil + fuel lines. So I definitely have a lot of work ahead of me still. Not to mention I am definitely forgetting 10 other things that need to be done. Although I would say I’m over the big hump. I am looking forward to seeing it complete instead of a pile of miscellaneous parts.

Any problems so far?
Of course! I would say the biggest issue was this damn K-Model reproduction fender. That piece of shit they sell is so crooked from the factory. The flange they have that goes all the way around measures ½” in one spot, ¼” in another spot and ⅜” in another. Not to mention it’s made of the thinnest material possible. So if you breathe wrong while working on it you dent or warp it. Add in cutting it all up and then trying to reform the flange after the fact and it took me longer to do than the entire gas tank which I was not expecting at all.

Aside from that I fought a full-scale WAR with filler. Since I was planning on getting someone to paint it, I wanted to at least say I was able to do the body work. I usually get a week or so off from work during the holidays so I planned to start my journey then. However what I did not anticipate was that it would be 15-30 degrees everyday, it would rain, it would snow, and it would blow some of the strongest winds. Since I was doing all this work outside it caused my filler to take about 1.5 hours to completely dry. Otherwise I would sand it, and it would ball up like it was still wet and clog my sandpaper. I spent about 50 or so hours on it, and honestly when I ran out of time and the deadline for me to drop it off at the painters was approaching I was extremely disappointed. We had agreed he would fine tune my work but I truly wish I could’ve spent more time with it. Mikey ended up putting another 50 or so hours into making everything straight and even. So thank you Mikey! However, it was a little bit of a personal failure for me.

At the end of the day though both of these issues were overcome and I am ecstatic with the results.

Favorite part of the bike so far?
The fins. I had the idea for the windowed fins in my head for a full two years before I actually was able to start constructing them. The rear section looks incredible the way the fender strap seamlessly blends into the fender and fins. The merlot paint makes them pop against the dark purple pleixglass, and when the sun shines through the glass it leaves purple triangles on the ground. It really was the biggest dopamine hit to see this for the first time as I saw it in my head for the longest time. It’s a really simple idea but I am stoked on how it came out in reality.

Favorite part of the competition?
The pressure. I started on this frame a while ago, and did another bike with my dad in the time before I officially started this build. This is my third or fourth time applying to People’s Champ, so this year I did not expect to get it at all. When I did it really got me to throw my ass in gear, and work on it every day since my name got picked. This has led to me progressing with the build far faster than I normally would. It has gotten super stressful at times, and I’ve definitely had my lows but at the end of the day it’s forced me to do so much in such a short timespan.

Want to give any shout outs?
My dad! He was a mechanic at Harley-Davidson West in the 80's. Through that experience combined with his 50+ years of continued interest in motorcycles; He has been an invaluable resource in any build I have done, especially this one. His guidance and the ability to reference his wealth of knowledge has saved me countless hours and dollars. I often joke that while I don't have "Daddy's Money" I do have "Daddy's Knowledge"

My best-friend and current boss Pat has also been such a huge support. He’s helped me with a lot of machining, specifically mill work on all the parts I’ve made. Pat’s got welds on this bike, and most importantly has been super reassuring when I expressed concerns with style and my timeline. He kept me grounded in a lot of this, and on the day before paint came over and did about 8 hours of unpaid labor in freezing outside conditions.

Big thanks to Gary Ginsely for the help with my frame, and Mikey for giving me a wicked high quality paint job on a super short deadline. Thank you to my girlfriend Kelly, she has been super supportive in making sure I was fed and helping me take care of day to day tasks so I could spend the majority of my time in the shop. Lastly shout out to the PA/NJ/NY ACMA and the tightnight community that is the east coast chopper scene!