Sometimes, a little part can hold up the entire train.
This week was a race to reconvene and rethink our build process. One of the major components of the bike is the custom swing arm, fabricated by Brad Ruel's right hand man, Craig. Brad had taken the lead on creating the swingarm and was having all the little shafts and bearings machined specially for this project. Unfortunately we lost Brad smack dab in the middle of the fab, so, the swing arm had to be rethought. With that done, only two things stood in the way of getting it done; axleblocks.
Doubly unfortunate, the axle-blocks in Brad's inventory for his own frames, didn't fit the design of the PitBoss and the flow of the shape of the swing-arm design chosen for it. Hark, 8 Ball Manufacturing comes to the rescue. Though axle-blocks are often overlooked pieces of a custom build, 8 Ball Mfg sports a cool design the flows with curvy frames and has characteristics that create exceptional welding benefits. The arrowhead shape of the front of the blocks requires that the swing-arm's tubes, or if machined billet is used, the point of contact with the axle-blocks must be cut to a female version of the axle-block's shape. This shape creates a larger surface area for welding and hence, a stronger join at a critical point.
Doubly unfortunate, the axle-blocks in Brad's inventory for his own frames, didn't fit the design of the PitBoss and the flow of the shape of the swing-arm design chosen for it. Hark, 8 Ball Manufacturing comes to the rescue. Though axle-blocks are often overlooked pieces of a custom build, 8 Ball Mfg sports a cool design the flows with curvy frames and has characteristics that create exceptional welding benefits. The arrowhead shape of the front of the blocks requires that the swing-arm's tubes, or if machined billet is used, the point of contact with the axle-blocks must be cut to a female version of the axle-block's shape. This shape creates a larger surface area for welding and hence, a stronger join at a critical point.
ProCorp Customs partner and owner of Custom Eyes Concepts, Bo Asciu, has been doing business with and long since become friends with John J., owner of 8 Ball Mfg and chief frame guru. Bo also created the 8BallMfg.com website and continues to produce much of 8 Ball's print and web work. John has been such a sport to go as far as to help Bo with some of his prototyping in his alternative fuels venture, by giving up hours and bucks worth of machining, all in the name of the cause.
James Callahan stated "it means alot to us that 8 Ball Mfg came through so quickly and willingly. There nice axle-blocks and even though they are only axle-blocks, the whole build is being held up without them. 8 Ball Mfg came through at a critical time with a critical part. Thanks John!". The project has one last frontier to cross now and that's getting those classy, sassy wheels sponsored.... hmmmm. Any takers?
Stay tuned as the PitBoss comes to life!
The ProCorp Customs Team
