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The ‘Gonzo Guzzi’ began when my buddy Matt Beranek tossed me the keys to his stock ‘72 Loopframe Eldorado. I took it for a spin and immediately liked the feel of it (though I thought it sat too high in the saddle). Months later I found a cheap one in Boston on the internet. “Will need restoration,” it said; it should have said “needs to be crushed.” After getting it to Denver and tearing it down, I discovered that almost every part was broken, bent, or rusted. I was so angry at myself for being duped into buying this piece of junk that I decided to part it out and try to get at least some of the money back out of it. But after selling most of the non-essential parts, I found myself left with the frame, front wheel and forks, the engine and transmission, and the rear wheel assembly. Another good friend and amazing custom car builder, Bob Harnsberger of Atomic Age Kustoms, recommended we build a custom out of the remains and offered his skill and shop. I was nervous; I had never built a motorcycle before, only hot rods. So with a vague idea in my head of what I wanted it to look like, we blundered forward. I raked the forks out about 3 inches and built a new triple tree out of the old dashboard plate. The Moto Guzzi gauges were moved into a Harley lowrider dash and were a drop-in fit. I made a custom 4-spring mount for the seat (I’m not a little guy), lowered it about a foot, and stretched the frame about the same amount. (Most folks who saw it at this stage thought we were building a drag-racer.) The signature ‘loop frame’ which supported the rear shocks and the buddy seat on the stock bike was removed, cut in half, flipped over, and now makes up the rear wishbone; the former rear shock mounts now attach and support the rear fender. In making the bike into a hard-tail, we didn’t quite know what to do with the original torque-tube drive line. Bob recommended converting it to an open-drive. With an extra u-joint knuckle and a few hours on the lathe, he built a drive shaft that looked like it had always been there. We added seals to the differential and the transmission so the oil stays where it ought to. A Harley tank was mounted, and the fenders were reworked to fit the wider tires. I always thought suicide shifters were cool, so I built a rod-and-lever system to move the shifter up to the right side of the fuel tank. After the wheels returned from being straightened and trued, we mounted the wide-white fatty Beck tires on it and I took it home. While at Bob’s shop, various people would wander in and wonder what the hell we were up to. One of those folks was Sven of Svenmeister Hardcore Kustoms. We spent nights drinking lots of beer while sanding, filling, and painting the frame at his shop. Then it was back to my garage for the final assembly and touch-up. Since then I’ve been working out the bugs in the bike and my teeth. I can’t seem to quit smilin’... A huge thanks to Bob and Sven for the hours of working, laughing, and swearing. And to all the others who helped get this thing on the road from its scrap-pile beginning.