Keith Tjornhom's 2005 Custom Chopper - Picking The Right Pieces

Both Donnie Smith and owner Keith Tjornhom describe the construction of this custom chopper as "the art of combining all the right parts." Considering that the bike ended up being on display at the 2005 Donnie Smith Invitational Bike Show, it's safe to say both men are more than satisfied with the outcome of this creative puzzle project.

It is the third bike Donnie has worked on with Keith. Beginning with a modified '91 FXR, they took things a step further with a ground-up custom, and then finally Keith decided he was ready to take on a whole new project. By this point, he had built a solid relationship with Donnie and his staff, trusting their skills completely. Having that kind of faith in a shop makes the process pretty painless - except maybe the waiting for the bike, which as many of us know can be rough on a guy. Keith knew he wanted, as he puts it, a bike with "current" amenities. To him this meant a big-inch motor, six-speed transmission, a wide rear tire, reliability, and of course, style.

Donnie had a Daytec Softail frame at the shop that he figured Keith would probably turn down. Sure enough, Keith initially thought the frame would wield a lengthy front end that wasn't going to be that great on handling. Donnie reassured him that with corrected geometry and the shop's skills, the front end would be just fine. Relying on Donnie's proven track record, Keith agreed to the Daytec frame despite his reservations.

A 124-inch TP Engineering motor was stuffed in the Daytec frame which sports hidden Essex Motorsports (EMS) shocks along with a 38-degree rake and 5-inch stretch. In fact, TP Engineering pretty much gives Keith most of the power and reliability he needs when it comes to engine internals. That six-speed tranny Keith wanted? Roadmax provided it in the form of an '05 RSD six-speed mated to a BDL primary and clutch. Like we said, Donnie Smith has been in this business long enough to know which parts work together; he doesn't mess around.

As for the finer points of this bike, again Donnie says it's really all about the proper fitment of the parts - a true characteristic of his shop. There's not a lot of fab work in this custom, but there is a lot of attention to detail, make no mistake. For one, Donnie likes to use very small speedometers. He also says to take notice of how the fender-to-wheel ratio is "right on the money." The shop creates its own strutless fender, although the handlebars are custom-fit to Keith's riding preference.

As we said, Keith knows Donnie is very particular, and knows which parts go together and which do not. So allowing him to make those decisions wasn't hard for Keith. A decision that was difficult for Keith though, was choosing the paint scheme. Months of scanning magazines, looking at other bikes, and abusing his imagination finally led to mocking up the bare metal bike to get an idea of what color combination would suit the ride perfectly. Once that was decided, Brian Mahler of PaintWorks gave the bike its House of Kolor Orion Silver and Candy Apple Red paintjob. The paint, like the parts, was a perfect fit.

Even with as much faith as Keith had in Donnie's skills, when the bike was finally done he still figured he only had a great looking bar hopper on his hands - it was just too stretched out in the front. Believing this bike was not meant for long trips, he about fell off of it in amazement when he realized just how smoothly it performed. Donnie's assurances were undeniable. The corrected geometry of the bike made the handling and overall feel of the bike so agreeable to Keith that he tells us he took it to Sturgis this year along with his other ride and that it got ridden just as much as the bagger did.