By Steve Bohn Photography: Steve Bohn
Back at the tender age of 17, Jamie Guertin picked-up a Yamaha Virago in order to go on rides with her boyfriend Eric Esslemont. Gone were the days when Jamie would hop on the back of Eric's bike, wrap her arms around him, and check out the scenery as a passenger. From that point on she was in control of the bike, and she liked it that way.
After riding the import for a couple of years, Jamie was ready to move up to a Harley. Her choice: an 883 Sportster. The crowd Jamie and Eric ran with rode some pretty nice bikes, so in no time, Jamie decided it was time to customize the Sportster. During the four years that Jamie owned the Sportster, both she and Eric went through the entire bike, customizing it one piece at a time. As cool as the bike was, Jamie yearned for more. The customized Sportster was no slouch, yet at the same time it just wasn't a Big Twin.
After riding her first two bikes for about five years (picking up her share of trophies along the way), Jamie was ready for the next step - as she put it, her dream bike. She sold the Sporty and starting looking for builders to help her reach her goal. Surrounded by so many custom bikes at the many shows she had entered, Jamie knew just what she wanted in her next bike, all she needed now was someone to help her carry out those plans. Living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she thought finding a good builder close to home would be a feat in itself. How wrong she was.
Some friends told her about Dan Roach, a Winnipeg local, long-time drag bike racer, and now custom bike builder, practically living in her backyard. It wasn't until Sturgis 2002 that the two actually crossed paths. After the ride home, the two (and Eric) got together at Dan's shop, N.C. Machine and Tool, and hammered-out the details for Jamie's new bike. Just like that, the project was underway.
The platform from which the bike would emanate was a Rolling Thunder Softail-style frame designed to cradle a Twin Cam B motor. In order to give the frame the lines Jamie was looking for, without giving her too much to handle, the frame was ordered with 2 inches of backbone stretch and 38 degrees of rake. Pivoting from the rear of the 1.125-inch tubing is a clean-looking Rolling Thunder swing arm coupled to the frame with a pair of Progressive Suspension shocks.Dan and his right-hand man, Tim Brenan, built the frontend by sliding 2-inch-over 41mm tubes from Drag Specialties into a beautiful set of Perse lower legs. Hanging all this hardware from the steering neck is a set of chrome Joker Machine triple-trees. In order to roll the bike around the shop, Dan mounted Avon tires on RevTech Scorpion wheels complete with matching rotors and pulley. Making sure the 200-series rear tire could grab a hold of plenty of asphalt is the job of a four-piston JayBrake caliper, which matches the components up front.
At the beginning of the job, Jamie expressed to Dan her desire to enter the bike into some shows. To accommodate that desire, Dan knew the sheetmetal and attention to detail would have to be flawless. He was ready to go with the fenders and tanks, but decided to hold off and get the driveline into position first. This would give Dan a better idea how all the components would look together on the finished bike. Taking into consideration Jamie's size and riding style, there was no reason to go with a big-inch motor. Instead, Dan ordered an 88-inch Twin Cam B from Harley. As soon as it arrived at the shop, it was torn-down and the cases, cylinders, and heads were sent out to Rod Orchard for polishing. Upon their return, Dan masked and prepped the shiny parts before he delivered them to Pat McBride for an application of House of Kolor Green. With all the parts back at the shop, Dan balanced and reassembled the Milwaukee-born motor, then added a Screamin' Eagle ignition, a Fred Kodlin air cleaner, and a set of Vance & Hines Short Shots. Keeping the remainder of the drivetrain an all-Harley affair are an enclosed chain primary and a polished five-speed transmission.
A pair of fender blanks was ordered from Paul Yaffe Originals, along with a 4-gallon gas tank from Daytec. The gas tank had just the right shape straight out of the box, so all Dan needed to do was come up with a clean mounting system to attach it to the bike. From there, he took the Rolling Thunder oil bag and proceeded to modify it with the addition of filler panels to give the area around the top of the trans a clean, flowing look. Next, Dan mounted the front fender before he radisued it to match the circumference of the front Scorpion wheel. Once happy with the fit of the front fender, Dan moved to the back of the bike where he took the fat fender blank, trimmed it to size, added internal struts and cross bracing to make it super strong before he situated it close to the tire, and mounted it to the swing arm.
With the project moving along smoothly at this point, Dan called Jamie and had her stop by the shop. He wanted her to sit on the not-yet-completed bike in order for him to get a better idea on what components were needed to finish off the project. Based on where Jamie sat, Dan would come up with a pattern for a seat to be built by Danny Gray. The seat was designed to position Jamie 3 inches farther forward than a standard seat. With the seating position figured out, it was on to the bars and foot controls. A set of Accutronix 1-1/2-inch setback foot controls were bolted on with a pair of slotted Accutronix pegs to complete the lower controls. Sitting atop the upper triple-tree is a set of Yaffe handlebars that Dan modified to put the Joker Machine controls and grips in the proper position for Jamie to reach and allow her to easily read the Dakota Digital speedo. All the lighting on the bike came from the Joker Machine catalog, including the rear turn signals, which Dan modified and mounted stealth-like to the top rail of the swing arm. Now came the toughest decision Jamie had to make: what type of design would sit between the Emerald Green paint and the multiple layers of clearcoat? After agonizing for what seemed like an eternity, she and John Prest, along with his wife and Trudy Dingwall, came up with the design seen here. John handled all the spray work, and Trudy handpainted the Joker skulls.
 |  | |
As Jamie was walking out of the Harley-Davidson ride-in show this year at Sturgis, we asked her how she liked the bike Dan built for her. She just lifted a trophy inscribed: "First Place Big Twin Radical Custom Class," and flashed us a big old smile. We think she likes it a lot.