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Roger Goldammer Cycles Boardtracker by Jim Gianatsis
Well, Roger returned home to his shop hidden away in the remote north woods of Canada and set about building a board track replica that would reflect his own high standards for design and originality. Six months later , when all the other builders in the group had let the board tracker concept fall by the wayside for one reason or another, Roger's boardtracker dubed "BTR3" emerged for the Canadian woods just in time to compete in the 1st annual American Dealer World magazine sponsored World Championship of Custom Bike Buildinh held at Custom Chrome in the fall of 2004. Top bike builders showed up from around the world, the judging panel included some of the top custom builders and motorcycle magazine editors in America, and when the vote were tallied it was Roger's boardtracker which won the $25,000 first place prize. "I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to make this bike. With the exception of the engine, nearly everything in the rolling chassis had to be built from scratch. Like the 23-inch wheels didn't exhist. I had to find a wire wheel manufacturer in Great Britain who would roll and weld the rims for me, and make the spokes. Then I had to weld on the mounting tabs for the perimeter rim brakes, and machine the rim brakr rotor discs myself from scratch. They just didn't exhist. You can't image the difficulty it is to true both the wire wheels, and then the rim mounted rotors. Adjusting for one would throw the other one out of alignment, and vice versa."
And of course, the 23-inch tires were new as well. The Monster VEF 120/70R 23 tire was designed by a former Avon tire engineer and is manufacturers in Tailand by the V Rubber Tire Company. The actually complexity of the BTR3 prototype and Roger's design skill isn't obvious to the viewer's eye on first look. It is all so subtle, but highly complex. Like the rigid frame which isn't really rigid at all. The rear wheel is supported by a swingarm which pivots from hidden mounts under the engine. The top of the swingarm fork tubes converge into a larger single tube which almost invisibly slides into the frame's backbone where there is a hidden coil-over shock absorber assembly. The rear wheel has about 3 inches of travel and the rear fender almost kisses the art deco solo saddle apon full suspension compression. With the swingarm pivot being position so far away from the from the transmission output pulley, requiring a lot of drive belt free play, Roger had to design a special drive belt tensioner to take up the belt slack. You can see the machined aluminum tensior behinf the clutch in one of the close-up photos. The rear fender was also challenge for Roger as he had to fabricate it from scratch to fit the curve of a non exhistant 23-inch tire and wheel assembly which had been built yet, and were the last components to arrive to complete the bike. Roger's attention to detail includes the custom fabricated board track racer handlebars with original era style bar-end pivot hand control levers and recessed electrical push button switches. The hand grips themselves are wrapped with black cloth tape for a non-slip grip, just like on original 1920s racers. Other design inovations which aren't obvious include the engine's dry sump oil tank which is fully carried inside the entire frame, with a hidden color matching filler screw cap located for easy access on the top of the frame tube just behind the steering head. While half of the fuel tank is hollow to contain the bike's electrical components. And speaking of electrical, this modern boardtracker is fully street legal (Well, almost!) with tiny hidden projector beam headlights hidden between the front fork springs, and LED tail lights faired into the backside of the solo seat. Since the bike has no battery for the engine, the lights are powered by a rechargeable phone battery in the electrical pod of the gas tank. BTR3 is powered by a 100ci V-twin employing a Merch Big Twin bottom end with a Twin Cam style top end from Mountain Machine Works. The battery-less ignition is powered by a classic Morris Magneto and Roger claims the bike kick starts easy with just '...four to six kicks." We'll take his word for it. The 2-in. primary belt drive comes from Rivera, and Roger machined from billet aluminum his own beautiful color matched primary belt guard and custom foot pegs. Roger is planning to offer the 23-inch wheel kits for sale, using a more conventional hub mounted brake disc rotor set up. And he plans to offer a more simple and cost effective Boardtracker Frame Kit for enthusiasts wanting to roll their own. Jim Gianatsis photographed the Goldammer Boardtracker for the FastDates.com Iron & Lace Calendar and Website in October 2004, just a day after its world premier and win at the 1st annual World Championship of Custom Bike Building. The beautiful brunette vamping herself over the bike is FastDates.com Calendar Angel Taylor McKegney who has been featured in many of our Calendars since 2000. Return to Iron & Lace Garage Index
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