Denver Mullins and company produced a lot of glorious iron in their day. Paul from Spitfire Motorcycles tried to get his hands on this one for years, and his patience finally paid off. Now he's got a real keeper that hauls ass and has a healthy dose of authentic history to back it up.
The Denver is a funny story. One of the guys that used to work for me picked it up from a relative in 1997. It was just a rolling chassis, but the front end, frame, tins, wheels, and rear brake were all original. He had photos of it together, and had planned to find a drivetrain for it and resurrect it some day. I tried for years to pry it out of his hands, but was unsuccessful. About a year after he moved on to another job, he sold it to a friend of mine who swore he would finish it. It sat for three years before he started trying to sell it. Thankfully he wanted too much for it, and no one picked it off. I managed to work out a mutually beneficial swap for some parts, and she was finally mine. I pinched the 93" stroker and 4-speed out of an FX that I picked up from the Wizard. I have to say the most difficult part of the build was tracking down all of the parts for the juice drum brake. It had to work right since there was no front brake. It took about six months to get it together, but it's going to be a lifelong member of my stable. I had considered repainting it, but the '70s cracked lacquer paint is far too OG to cover up. It's kind of nice to have a scoot that I don't mind riding down a dirt road.
1978 Denver's Chopper
Frame: Denver's 4" stretch with removable molded saddle tank
Engine: 93 cubic inch H-D Shovelhead
Trans: H-D 4-speed with Andrews gears
Primary: Primo Rivera 3" belt
Front end: 16" over girder
Bars: 6 bend
Headlight: Truck stop 4" reverse spotlight
Front wheel: 17" Akront spool hub
Front tire: 17" Avon Speedmaster
Rear wheel: 15" American Wire
Rear Tire: Volkswagen radial
Rear brake: Juice drum
Rear fender: 5" trailer
Controls: V-Twin with 5/8" master cylinder
Subscribe
h8ter
travasesino
mjasen10
revmike
But as far as the paint goes, I can accept the desire to keep the 'original' paint or at least the vintage paint that is on it for a lot of reasons. And, keeping in mind that it isn't my ride, regardless of how much I may phantisize.... I have an issue with vintage paint, in general....
The paint on this bike doesn't appear, in the blurry overchromatic photos provided, to be anything spectacular.... Dark blue flames on light blue. I don't know what exactly is being preserved.
I think a repaint would pay more homage, especially a tricked out three tone paint job copying or reminiscent of a late 60's early 70s custom paint job.
Now that's just me personally. And of course, the question Paul would ask me after hearing my opinion would be "Really, and what color did you paint your's?" To which I would have to wander off to a different part of the room and bug someone else...
Regardless of any paint decisions, that is a bike worth waiting for. Nice job.
-Rev
ZGerman
KWashburn
elmiguel13
Mofo
FABIAN
*scratching my head*