Mike's Bikes

Page under construction, as well as the bike!

My name is Mike; I am the webmaster for www.jimbronson.com. The bike above I purchased off EBay the week of 7 May, 2008 is a 1970 XLH, I have painted it red, added a Bronson seat from Sporty Specialties, and will re-live the long lonesome highway.
The pixs on the right are my newly purchased 1968 Magneto, which I plan to paint Black and will be my wife's Dale Earnhardt Tribute bike, a tribute to "Ole Iron Head".


Hot from the chrome shop, Billy, the master metalsmith has finished my sissy bar, it is beautiful and I will be installing it on 11 October, many thanks Billy.


I made a front seat mount from SS sheetmetal, I made this from a template I made in August.


Billy is the master metalsmith, he made this TCB sissy bar from raw stock. Thank You Billy.


The seat needed a special mounting plate in the front, this will keep the ignition switch under the seat and bolted to the frame. The key switch is sitting on a temporary plate.


I have since found a way to lift the seat up to clear the switch, I will move the ignition back to the original location.


After finding the ignition switch problem when mounting my seat, I pulled the battery out and looked to see if a left side mount was possble in anyway, and it was not. I like a black oil tank, otherwise, to much chrome.


You can see the rear part of the seat is not yet bolted in, that 1/4 20 SS bolt is a tuff one to place under the fender. The aft gas tank mounting ears are certainly different here. You can see the electrical tape covering the hole through the frame were the mounting bolt would go with angled ears. My ears slip over the frame and pinch to hold the tank. Any ideas why this tank is like this?


I have since removed those square corners on the stainless steel carriage bolts, and cut them shorter. A friend will chrome my fender here in Japan. The struts will bolts back on, then bolt the fender to the front fork.


I have decided to remove the rivits, so the mounts can be detached prior to the fender being chromed. I will reconnect the mounts with SS carriage bolts 1/4 20 SS, the square stock on the shank will need to be rounded so it will flush up and the bolt will be cut shorter.

Almost forty years ago, I watched TCB on TV when I could, I worked at a gas station after school and had started working at and early age, because I realized that if I worked I could buy the things I wanted. Hence I had a savings, and bought a brand new XLCH Sportster in 1970. The bike I purchased from a Kansas City Harley Davidson dealer was green, I had a friend painted it red.

I left Kansas City that summer and went to Houston, I had lived there in junior high and wanted to see my old girlfriend, I remember when I rolled through Conroe, Texas a cop stopped me and wanted to see my license, he did not say much, and I went on down the road. I pulled into Houston after dark and pulled into her driveway she was waiting for me, sitting on the hood of her black GTO, this could have been a scene from TCB, in fact it was a scene, because I WAS Bronson.

More to come..........

Hot from the chrome shop, Billy, the master metalsmith has finished my sissy bar, it is beautiful and I will be installing it on 11 October, many thanks Billy.

I made a front seat mount from SS sheetmetal, I made this from a template I made in August.

Billy is the master metalsmith, he made this TCB sissy bar from raw stock. Thank You Billy.

The seat needed a special mounting plate in the front, this will keep the ignition switch under the seat and bolted to the frame. The key switch is sitting on a temporary plate.

I have since found a way to lift the seat up to clear the switch, I will move the ignition back to the original location.

After finding the ignition switch problem when mounting my seat, I pulled the battery out and looked to see if a left side mount was possble in anyway, and it was not. I like a black oil tank, otherwise, to much chrome.

I have since removed those square corners on the stainless steel carriage bolts, and cut them shorter. A friend will chrome my fender here in Japan. The struts will bolts back on, then bolt the fender to the front fork.

I have decided to remove the rivits, so the mounts can be detached prior to the fender being chromed. I will reconnect the mounts with SS carriage bolts 1/4 20 SS, the square stock on the shank will need to be rounded so it will flush up and the bolt will be cut shorter.