Vanilla Cycles – The Copper Nickel

We got this 1947 Knucklehead from an estate sale last year. We worked this lead for several months and when the time came, our offer was accepted. We were going to pull the drive line out of this bike and part out the rest but after hearing the back story we decided to keep the good vibes flowing and just put our flavor on the original build. 

Long story short, the previous owner passed away tragically but in his last will he donated all he had including the estate proceeds to the Children’s Hospital in Minnesota. It was a substantial donation. His generosity has helped build an addition on the hospital that will literally help thousands of kids in the years to come. The addition would not have been possible without his surprise donation that no one knew about until quite some time after his passing.  We didn’t know this either until after we picked up the bikes. He built this back in the mid 2000’s and won the Donnie Smith Show back in 2008 I believe. So, to honor him and what his donation has done, we kept a lot of what he did but added our VC style.

We wanted a drag style; tough guy style looks so we decided to man up and go with a 4” over rigid front end from Micks. Our painter color matched the flames to the original frame paint with a beautiful high gloss black base.  With some little one-off parts and a slick leather seat from B&C Choppers, our vision came to life.  This knucklehead chopper will hold a special place in our hearts for years to come.

  • Ryan
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Knucklehead Chopper

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