Sideroist Iron Society
Photos by | Jun Song |
Bike Owned & Words by | Mike Zehner |
The bike originally came as an idea because my dad and his brothers raced flat track in the 60’s-70’s. I always loved the look of the bikes and the riding style. I have a pre-unit Triumph chopper, which is not really street legal. I wanted to have a bike that could take me anywhere reliably, and I didn’t want to get hassled for street legality issues.
My buddy had a 2007 Bonneville and made a pretty sick little bike out of it. I found one on craigslist and my build started with a 2007 Bonneville that I wanted to make into a tracker. I originally found a tank online that was the tracker, particularly the Ascot style I wanted.
The tank had a mule sticker so with some Google work, I found Richard Pollack of Mule Motorcycles. He was super helpful, even gave me a Triumph frame piece that he machined for me to send to the tank builder so he could build my tank around a Bonneville frame, and know it will fit right on my bike. He is a super cool guy and will build what you want, but he definitely doesn’t hesitate to let you know on what he thinks is better appearance and performance.
Richard is an engineer and his attention to detail is unparalleled. His welds, wiring work, design, fab, and all other details are flawless. Nothing goes out of his shop without his minds approval.
After talking to him for a few weeks and seeing more of his work, I knew he was the guy to build my bike, and ended up sending him my whole Bonneville for his work. It was well worth the wait.
I chose the white and gold paint because I like white and gold, especially the gold leaf. Its awfully goddy, and I love that about those colors together. I would not have them on anything other than a motorcycle.
The orange logo on the side was kind of a mistake, it was supposed to be gold, but the painter forgot. I’m glad he did. We threw an orange sticker on and clear coated it. The orange gave it much of the pop it needed. From the side view, there is a lot of white and black, so the orange was necessary.
Richard machines a lot of his own parts, and some parts he gets from other companies, but he machines those too to improve their performance. The bike rides better than it looks. I didn’t really find that out until Motos in Moab when I actually got it on the dirt. It handles like a dream on dirt, pretty nimble like my dirt bike. I was surprised, because I thought it would feel much heavier. We lost about 80+ pounds on the build.
Parts include:
- •Front end- MV Agusta F4 forks
- Triple clamps, stem by Mule
- Race Tech rear suspension
- Front and rear 19” sun rim
- mule hubs
- Mule made seat and fender
- Joker headlight mount with sportster light
- Small Shorai Battery
- 7/8” tracker bars
- K&N Air filters, plus airbox eliminating kit
- 6 piston Front brake
- 2 to one upswept exhaust done by Mule
- Acewell Guage
- Mule made oil cooler kit
- Small LED light hidden under the fender
- Gas tank made by Fred Muelenhort, modified by Mule
- New controls from an ’07 scrambler
- Mule built mud plates under the seat
- All fab work by Mule
