Mike Spinelli (Philadelphia)- The bike was inspired by seeing an old skool trike in The Born Losers, the 1967 movie that introduced the world to the Billy Jack character.
The build started with a lowrider stretch cruiser frame in which I removed the back end.
I sketched out the rear end trike assembly and sent it to an engineer who put it on his CAD and welded up the assembly. I had the assembly welded locally and added the 2 reinforcing flat steel bars. The ½” thick hubs and 5/8” axles were also built by a guy who did similar work for a member of Atomic Zombie. Tires are 245/55/16 Bridgeton motorcycle with American Racing Torque Thrust 'D' 16X8s in a 5X4.75 Chevy bolt pattern. Front wheel is from Husky Bikes with a Sturmey drum brake. Seat is vintage Wrights from England. Apes are custom built by BR Bars out of 1.25” steel. I added the bolo cord leather-wrapped grips that are threaded thru the bar ends. Bars and fork were painted with Steel-It stainless steel spray coating. Shifter started out as the standard Sturmey OCC chopper stick shift, in which I cut off the top portion and welded the bottom slotted portion to a piece of aluminum stock which I bent and drilled out. Shift knob is Shrunken Head. Gearing is a Sturmey 3 speed trike gearbox. Paint is candy purple powdercoat.
