That Damned Ironhead

Even if it’s just a hair away from completion, when you’re done, you’re done. You can be sitting in front of an amazingly custom scrambly aluminum Sportster that you’ve completed all the body work and insane details on, but sometimes you just have to call it where she lies and walk away. When brothers Lance and Daniel Busch set out on this build, they bought a 1978 Ironhead basket motor that they thought was good to go. As is often the case, there was more to the project than the seller let on.

The Busch Bros. are a creative bunch. On their website, you can see their motorcycles, custom leather work, all sorts of metal fab, and even custom paint work. Understanding that helps understand the frustrations that came after assembling their motor. Having been building bikes and hot rods professionally for over ten years now, they know damn well what they're doing, but it seems their fulfillment comes more from the fabrication and creative endeavors than the mechanical side of things.

The base is a 1975 stock Sportster swingarm frame that they picked up from a friend and quickly set out to rework the body and stance. Aside from the air cleaner (from Boyle Custom Moto), if it looks unique- they made it. The body work was handmade out of sheet aluminum with exposed welds and TONS of attention to detail. On the tail section, three small LEDs on the back serve as running light/ brake light/ blinkers. The work that went into this bike seems apparent, but classy, purpose-built, and not too loud or showy.

When putting the thing engine together, the Busch Bros made some solid performance upgrades to the old Sportster power plant. Adding a Mikuni TM40 carb, Andrews +P cams, and a Cycle Electric generator, this bike should have been ready to rip. Or so they thought. Upon initial startup, it was blowing smoke, so the guys got new oil rings and honed the cylinders to try again.

Another shop might have called it here, but the Busch’s scruples would not let them call this a finished build. While it looks amazing, runs and rides, it still blows a little bit of smoke on startup and warm up. He sent me a video, to which my response was “uhhh yeah, it’s an Ironhead,” but apparently that is not an excuse they’re satisfied with using. Instead, they’ve decided to let the mechanical demons lie, taking the loss and selling the bike as is.

What it needs:

According to Lance, it needs that final shakedown on the engine, which they can’t complete because it isn’t registered or insured. If you weigh more than 200lbs, it could use some longer shocks “because the tire hits the tail section on potholes with my fat ass!” And minor details like painting the engine mount.

For the amount of skilled work that has gone into this bike, the fact that he is asking $4000obo is crazy to me. Contact buschbros@buschandbusch.com, for more information.