Lock Baker's "Icarus" for sale @ Black Swan Trust.
We are especially proud to present this motorcycle that is the epitome of design and engineering.
From Lock:
The inspiration for Icarus was primarily to push my limits as an
engine builder. You see, for years I only did the metal fabrication on
my motorcycles, leaving the motor rebuilds to professionals.The
problem was that the local professionals, in many instances, turned
out to be unreliable, costly, and difficult to work with. I knew that
in order to become a true bike builder I needed to master every aspect
of bike construction. I had assembled a few engines in a conventional
manner but nothing that proved I knew the true dynamics and
intricacies of internal combustion. When you simply assemble a motor
from a parts catalog you do not need to know much, other than how it
all fits together. Look at a shop manual for the given engine type,
follow the instructions, and presto—you have a running engine. This
engine may not be a competitive race winner, but it will go down the
road. I wanted to prove to myself, and mypeers, that I truly
understood the mechanics and theories of internal combustion. The only
way to do this was to design and build— not simply assemble—a custom
engine.
I remember several years ago watching a TV program with Indian Larry.
He was explaining one of his engines, one with two different Harley
heads on a common crankcase. He said that he liked engines to be as
mechanical looking as possible, hence the two different heads. I
couldn’t agree more! I thought that I could push that concept further
still—by not using Harley parts at all, but sticking to American made
engineering. This engine is a hybrid of different designs. The
crankcase is Harley style. In other words it is a V-twin, single cam,
45-degree cylinder angle, with a gear driven breather system. The
cylinders, pistons, and heads started life as Continental 0 200 parts.
Continental is an aircraft engine company that primarily builds boxer
style prop plane piston engines, that are high end and tough as nails.
The work involved in making this whole thing come together is too long
a story to tell here, but I will cover some of the major challenges.
The task of mating the cylinders to the case was a big one.
Continental cylinders are “oversquare,” meaning that they have a
larger bore than stroke. In this case, the bore is 41⁄8” while the
stroke is only 31⁄2”. In order to make this fit the case, I needed a
much larger “deck” area than a typical Harley. The cases I used were
primarily manufactured by Delkron, who were kind enough to sell them
to me with a blank deck, meaning there were no stud holes. I also
specified a case set up for a 1⁄4” extended pinion shaft, essentially
moving the entire cam compartment over in order to make room for the
increased cylinder base area. There are more differences between
typical Harley cylinders and Continental cylinders. Continental
cylinders have six base studs instead of the usual four, as well as an
O-ring base gasket instead of a flat paper one. The base studs were a
problem because two of the six studs per cylinder were located exactly
where my tappet blocks were! To fix this I built up weld material
outward from the deck area towards the tappet blocks then shaped them
by hand, blending them into the case. This provided the extra meat I
needed to accommodate these new base studs. The tappet blocks
themselves then needed to be machined in order to have them fit this
new deck modification. They barely fit! The connecting rods had to be
custom made for a few reasons. The wrist pin was Continental and the
crank pin was Harley style. Also, the distance between the two pins
was much longer than a Harley. Carrillo was chosen to manufacture
these custom rods, and after four months of waiting they showed up.
They are the most beautiful rods I have ever seen: H-beam,
shot-peened, perfect.
The crank assembly was another challenge. Because of the short stroke
the Continental cylinders called for, I needed to have custom
flywheels made. You see, the only Harley flywheels to have a
31⁄2”stroke were 61” Knuckleheads. My crankcase calls for Evolution
style pinion and sprocket shafts, meaning a corresponding set of
flywheels. I called Truett & Osborn, a trusted flywheel manufacturer,
and asked them if they could build these custom wheels around my
custom connecting rods. Once they started, I received a phone call
saying that because the stroke is so short, the nuts that hold the
crank pin in place are too close to the sprocket and pinion shaft
bases. Makes sense when you think about it. Luckily for me, they are
cool people over there at T&O, and they came up with a neat solution:
make a custom crank pin with smaller threaded ends, meaning they could
use smaller nuts. Problem solved.
Here’s another: Harleys have two different cylinder heads, a front and
a rear. They are almost mirror images, allowing for both intake ports
to be located across the street from one another. This allows them to
use a common intake manifold and a single carb to feed both cylinders.
Continental engines are boxer style, so every head and cylinder is
exactly the same. When you take two of them and put them upright in a
45-degree configuration, they look like two rear Harley heads. This
means a few things. I needed two custom-made intake manifolds and two
carbs. I also needed a custom camshaft with the front two lobes
reversed. In addition, the rocker arm ratio of the Continental is
1.2/1 while modern Harleys are 1.6/1. This would mean that in order
for the valves to lift as much as Harley valves do, I would need a
much higher lift cam. The cam design and construction was given to
Redline Racing Cams out of California. It took over six months but
they eventually nailed it. Thank you Redline!
I could go on forever, but here is a basic synopsis of the other
challenges: custom collapsible pushrods, custom intake manifolds,
custom Lectron carbs, custom load bearing rocker boxes, cus-tom
pushrod boots, custom top end oil drains, magneto re-degreed, custom
exhaust, cylinder fins extensively clearanced, custom base studs and
nuts, and I even had to make a custom valve spring compressor due to
the fact that the cylinders and heads are permanently attached to each
other! (No head gaskets, Continental builds parts and motors that are
bulletproof!)
The rest of the bike is every bit as wild as the engine. With the help
of Acme Choppers, we made an entirely stainless steel frame in order
to fit the taller engine, and enable the motor to be the primary
visual point of the bike. I made the wheel hubs from scratch and had
them laced to imported Morad rims from Spain. Bandit Machine Works
provided the primary drive, which I modified to accommodate a
10-degree transmission plate tilt. This allowed me to get a fair lead
on the final belt drive (an old Indian Larry trick). I also made the
fuel tank from scratch out of aluminum (see past Iron- Works article
for that one!). The fork is a shaved 35mm narrow glide. Everything
else, including the bars, foot controls, fender struts, taillight,
plumbing, seat, oil tank, and 4-bar pneumatic seat suspension were all
made by me at Eastern Fabrications.I feel very satisfied with the
final result. The engine runs like a top and the bike rides exactly
the way I wanted it to —light, quick, agile and fun.
It goes without saying that this bike was a feat of engineering, and I
had the help of a lot of talented and generous people. Mark Simiola,
from Sterling Performance was instrumental in helping me calculate the
length of the rods to get my desired compression ratio. He also
answered countless questions and helped me time the engine. Acme
Choppers came through as usual with the bottom half of the frame.
Clifford Frizzel from Esquire Machinehelped make the beautiful rocker
boxes and decked the cases. Cooney Engraving did the custom badges
that adorn the bike. Truett & Osborn, Carrillo, Delkron, and Redline
all treated me with professionalism and kindness. I would like to
thank all of you for your willingness to think outside the box with
me.
Oh yeah, the name. The story of Icarus comes from Greek myth. Icarus
was the son of Daedalus, a craftsman who built a set of wings that
allowed man to fly. Icarus was allowed to use the wings on one
condition; that he not fly too close to the hot sun, as the wings were
held together with wax. As Icarus flew he did not heed his father’s
warning; the wax melted and he fell to his death. I chose the name
because, by using aircraft parts, I was taking a risk. I knew that if
I was not careful and diligent it would not work. Luckily, patience
pays off and so, this Icarus Flies.
engine builder. You see, for years I only did the metal fabrication on
my motorcycles, leaving the motor rebuilds to professionals.The
problem was that the local professionals, in many instances, turned
out to be unreliable, costly, and difficult to work with. I knew that
in order to become a true bike builder I needed to master every aspect
of bike construction. I had assembled a few engines in a conventional
manner but nothing that proved I knew the true dynamics and
intricacies of internal combustion. When you simply assemble a motor
from a parts catalog you do not need to know much, other than how it
all fits together. Look at a shop manual for the given engine type,
follow the instructions, and presto—you have a running engine. This
engine may not be a competitive race winner, but it will go down the
road. I wanted to prove to myself, and mypeers, that I truly
understood the mechanics and theories of internal combustion. The only
way to do this was to design and build— not simply assemble—a custom
engine.
I remember several years ago watching a TV program with Indian Larry.
He was explaining one of his engines, one with two different Harley
heads on a common crankcase. He said that he liked engines to be as
mechanical looking as possible, hence the two different heads. I
couldn’t agree more! I thought that I could push that concept further
still—by not using Harley parts at all, but sticking to American made
engineering. This engine is a hybrid of different designs. The
crankcase is Harley style. In other words it is a V-twin, single cam,
45-degree cylinder angle, with a gear driven breather system. The
cylinders, pistons, and heads started life as Continental 0 200 parts.
Continental is an aircraft engine company that primarily builds boxer
style prop plane piston engines, that are high end and tough as nails.
The work involved in making this whole thing come together is too long
a story to tell here, but I will cover some of the major challenges.
The task of mating the cylinders to the case was a big one.
Continental cylinders are “oversquare,” meaning that they have a
larger bore than stroke. In this case, the bore is 41⁄8” while the
stroke is only 31⁄2”. In order to make this fit the case, I needed a
much larger “deck” area than a typical Harley. The cases I used were
primarily manufactured by Delkron, who were kind enough to sell them
to me with a blank deck, meaning there were no stud holes. I also
specified a case set up for a 1⁄4” extended pinion shaft, essentially
moving the entire cam compartment over in order to make room for the
increased cylinder base area. There are more differences between
typical Harley cylinders and Continental cylinders. Continental
cylinders have six base studs instead of the usual four, as well as an
O-ring base gasket instead of a flat paper one. The base studs were a
problem because two of the six studs per cylinder were located exactly
where my tappet blocks were! To fix this I built up weld material
outward from the deck area towards the tappet blocks then shaped them
by hand, blending them into the case. This provided the extra meat I
needed to accommodate these new base studs. The tappet blocks
themselves then needed to be machined in order to have them fit this
new deck modification. They barely fit! The connecting rods had to be
custom made for a few reasons. The wrist pin was Continental and the
crank pin was Harley style. Also, the distance between the two pins
was much longer than a Harley. Carrillo was chosen to manufacture
these custom rods, and after four months of waiting they showed up.
They are the most beautiful rods I have ever seen: H-beam,
shot-peened, perfect.
The crank assembly was another challenge. Because of the short stroke
the Continental cylinders called for, I needed to have custom
flywheels made. You see, the only Harley flywheels to have a
31⁄2”stroke were 61” Knuckleheads. My crankcase calls for Evolution
style pinion and sprocket shafts, meaning a corresponding set of
flywheels. I called Truett & Osborn, a trusted flywheel manufacturer,
and asked them if they could build these custom wheels around my
custom connecting rods. Once they started, I received a phone call
saying that because the stroke is so short, the nuts that hold the
crank pin in place are too close to the sprocket and pinion shaft
bases. Makes sense when you think about it. Luckily for me, they are
cool people over there at T&O, and they came up with a neat solution:
make a custom crank pin with smaller threaded ends, meaning they could
use smaller nuts. Problem solved.
Here’s another: Harleys have two different cylinder heads, a front and
a rear. They are almost mirror images, allowing for both intake ports
to be located across the street from one another. This allows them to
use a common intake manifold and a single carb to feed both cylinders.
Continental engines are boxer style, so every head and cylinder is
exactly the same. When you take two of them and put them upright in a
45-degree configuration, they look like two rear Harley heads. This
means a few things. I needed two custom-made intake manifolds and two
carbs. I also needed a custom camshaft with the front two lobes
reversed. In addition, the rocker arm ratio of the Continental is
1.2/1 while modern Harleys are 1.6/1. This would mean that in order
for the valves to lift as much as Harley valves do, I would need a
much higher lift cam. The cam design and construction was given to
Redline Racing Cams out of California. It took over six months but
they eventually nailed it. Thank you Redline!
I could go on forever, but here is a basic synopsis of the other
challenges: custom collapsible pushrods, custom intake manifolds,
custom Lectron carbs, custom load bearing rocker boxes, cus-tom
pushrod boots, custom top end oil drains, magneto re-degreed, custom
exhaust, cylinder fins extensively clearanced, custom base studs and
nuts, and I even had to make a custom valve spring compressor due to
the fact that the cylinders and heads are permanently attached to each
other! (No head gaskets, Continental builds parts and motors that are
bulletproof!)
The rest of the bike is every bit as wild as the engine. With the help
of Acme Choppers, we made an entirely stainless steel frame in order
to fit the taller engine, and enable the motor to be the primary
visual point of the bike. I made the wheel hubs from scratch and had
them laced to imported Morad rims from Spain. Bandit Machine Works
provided the primary drive, which I modified to accommodate a
10-degree transmission plate tilt. This allowed me to get a fair lead
on the final belt drive (an old Indian Larry trick). I also made the
fuel tank from scratch out of aluminum (see past Iron- Works article
for that one!). The fork is a shaved 35mm narrow glide. Everything
else, including the bars, foot controls, fender struts, taillight,
plumbing, seat, oil tank, and 4-bar pneumatic seat suspension were all
made by me at Eastern Fabrications.I feel very satisfied with the
final result. The engine runs like a top and the bike rides exactly
the way I wanted it to —light, quick, agile and fun.
It goes without saying that this bike was a feat of engineering, and I
had the help of a lot of talented and generous people. Mark Simiola,
from Sterling Performance was instrumental in helping me calculate the
length of the rods to get my desired compression ratio. He also
answered countless questions and helped me time the engine. Acme
Choppers came through as usual with the bottom half of the frame.
Clifford Frizzel from Esquire Machinehelped make the beautiful rocker
boxes and decked the cases. Cooney Engraving did the custom badges
that adorn the bike. Truett & Osborn, Carrillo, Delkron, and Redline
all treated me with professionalism and kindness. I would like to
thank all of you for your willingness to think outside the box with
me.
Oh yeah, the name. The story of Icarus comes from Greek myth. Icarus
was the son of Daedalus, a craftsman who built a set of wings that
allowed man to fly. Icarus was allowed to use the wings on one
condition; that he not fly too close to the hot sun, as the wings were
held together with wax. As Icarus flew he did not heed his father’s
warning; the wax melted and he fell to his death. I chose the name
because, by using aircraft parts, I was taking a risk. I knew that if
I was not careful and diligent it would not work. Luckily, patience
pays off and so, this Icarus Flies.
If you want a "one of a kind" this is where your search ends. Lock's bikes are all one off creations, built to last, and are intended to be ridden and ridden hard, and this particular bike is no exception, built bullet-proof, and literally rolling art, a very rare combination.
This bike is a true work of art that has to be seen to be appreciated, true quality craftsmanship, built and backed by a 10 year veteran of the Custom Fabricated Motorcycle world, and a true artisan and craftsman.
Inquire for price and sale options, finance available to those who qualify, through major carriers.
Feel Free to Ask Questions and Inquire about this Incredible Work by Lock.
Price: $70,000
Available in Connecticut for local pickup, or Delivery options also available.
Contact at IIIofSwords (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks for Looking and Best of Luck Finding the Best Bike for You!
amazing fab...beautiful build..great work.
ReplyDeleteon behalf of Lock, thanks brotha!
ReplyDeleteThe man puts heart and soul into these machines...
-T