Dennis and Son's 1967 Triumph

Dennis Fauerbach and his sons Jagger and Cole built this neat '67 Triumph TR6 over a two year period. Here's the story according to this proud pop.

It all started innocently in November of 2009 when I drove to Maryland to buy a dirt bike as a Christmas gift for my oldest son, Jagger. That’s when I met Paul Hlasney amazing guy that was recently told he could no longer ride motorcycles. While walking through his spotless garage he stopped to show me his 1967 TR6 on the lift, regrettably saying he would have to sell her. That was all I needed to hear and promptly told Paul I would love to buy this bike from him! Unfortunately while in the middle of a second divorce, money was an issue and I knew I would need to wait until March to close the deal. Paul, being the gentleman he is, said ‘no problem… it’s all yours!’ I’ll see you in March.’ He even refused to take a deposit. Thanks Paul!

As promised, March came and off to Maryland we went to pick her up. She was just as I remembered… all stock and untouched or molested. My first plan for the bike after seeing some of the bikes online and becoming a member on the Jockey Journal was really only to hard tail it. After much searching online between November and March when I went to pick her up, it was decided I was going to use Robert Elswick of Elswick cycles for the custom hard tail. Between the two of us we decided on a stretch of 4 inches and drop of roughly 3 inches and Robert was off to work. I promptly began the process of disassembling the rear section, and one day while on the JJ looking for tips on pulling this apart, I encountered a problem that was going to send this simple build into a tailspin. The problem was the awesome work done by Dan Patterson and Angry Monkey Garage. Any plans of just a rear section were gone forever. I immediately fell in love with the lines and style of the bikes Dan builds and that was now the direction I was headed.

First up was the frame. .Once stripped down to just a front loop as a bare canvas I started looking at tanks and came across Jason (“Jay”) Roche at Special 79 and decided I wanted him to build a tank for me. Back in the car and off to Spencer, MA we went with front loop in hand and intentions to discuss tank specs and “cleaning up the frame”. That said I left it up to Jason to remove all the stuff Triumph put on there that would not be needed; namely the side-car loop, swing-arm pivot, side-stand lug, fork-stops, fairing mounts, and any other brackets or lugs that would interrupt the overall flow of the bike. The tank mounts were then welded on and the tank was complete. Once the rear section was received from Robert I had another whole host of modification I wanted done - namely a Monster craftsman chain tensioner, external remoter oil filter, fender struts, plate mount, etc... So back in the car we were and on our way to Spencer once again…now with both front and rear sections. After the frame was smoothed over and all the fab work done, a month or so later I returned to pick her up for what was now, over a year into this build, the “final” mock up. I also contacted Dan once again and had him make me a set of his signature pipes for this build. Two weeks later they were on my doorstep. Pipes are Dan’s favorite thing to build on any bike, and this set is no exception. They are made from 1 5/8” tubing, are ceramic coated, and the turn-outs are set at just the right angle to blast drivers in cages!

A few months later a rolling bike was taken to Jay where the last bits of welding were done and finally I could start what would be the end result of this vision I had. An amazing welder and fabricator, Jay was kind enough to make me a set of custom bars for the bike – even throwing them in as his gift to the build. I purchased a 4 under springer front end rather than the original route I was going to go which included lowering the stock forks and using clip on bars. As with everything else in this build the brand new front end wasn’t going to be good enough left as is, so off to the Home Depot for clamps and spring compressors to get this thing apart to make some adjustments.

Once again the bike was stripped down to just a pile of parts and off we went to Howell, NJ where it was handed over to a close friend, Craig West, for all the powder coating which was (mostly) done in denim black. After the powder coating I began looking for the perfect color and painter for this project. Enter Rich Janusz “Ryzart”, a truly amazing artist. Candy pagan gold over a metallic silver base was used and much airbrushing with a violet pinstripe. As far as wiring, there isn’t very much other than a 200 watt stator and rotor feeding a Tympaniun rectifier with an electronic Tri-Spark ignition.

“Crazy Bitch” is a blast to ride! It handles great and tracks true, and with its new lease on life, has never failed to start, run, and bring a silly grin to my ugly mug – not to mention it stops people dead in their tracks just to get a glimpse of her rolling down the street.

As for the name of the bike, “Crazy Bitch”, at first I really didn’t have a name for her… although I knew this bike was a female just from some of the aggravation she gave me during the build process. Two photo shoots were done by my sons and me one at a local drive in Movie Theater in Warwick, NY and the other at a haunted, abandoned, mental institution, “Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital”, in Denville NJ. Some weird things were going on while taking those pictures. As you can see, in one of the pictures a light turned on in a third story room directly above the bike (which is in front of a boarded up building) and one of my lenses seemed to disappear only to be found close to 25 yards away from where I was with the bike. Some of the pictures have orbs in them which I am told are because the place is haunted. I don’t believe in that type of stuff but I can tell you this, there a weird feeling there and that’s when I looked at the bike and said this is crazy bitch and there the name…“Crazy Bitch” was born!

Special thanks on this labor of love go out to my sons Jagger and Cole Fauerbach, Paul Hlasney, Rich Janusz, Jason Roche, Dan Patterson and very good friend Veronica, who was a sounding board for some of my ideas and made a few trips back and forth to Spencer, MA with me. I also cannot forget the inspiration I was given and countless questions answered on the JJ from the working class guys and gals who continue to build great bikes in their garages, all for the love of the build!

Time for the next one…..stay tuned!