Purple Haze

by Jan M. Sallings
(Farmington, Ar. USA)

This bike started with an antique military spotlight. I was looking on Ebay, and found the light, and thought it would make a really cool headlight.

About 2 years later, I was wandering around at Bikes, Blues, and BBQ in Fayetteville, Arkansas looking at the custom bikes, and decided I should try to build one. I started a week later,got some tubing and started bending and forming the frame. I wanted a leaf spring front end, but buying one was way beyond my budget, so I got more tubing and built one myself!

I fabricated the fuel tank, electrical and battery boxes, footpegs and pedals, laced the wheels, and rebuilt the engine. I had originally decided to powdercoat the bike a metallic orange, but there were continuous problems, bubbling, discoloring, and just looking crappy in general.

I was in the shop one day to check on the progress, and they were powdercoating some parts purple. I immediately changed to the purple color, and there were absolutely no more problems. The bike simply wanted to be purple! This is my first attempt at building a bike. I think it turned out pretty good.