Jack Spitler’s "Double Trouble" 1967 Twin Westbend Bonanza Drag Bike
I tried to submit this bike as mini bike of the month, but was informed I couldn't because it wasn't my bike. :wink: One of the top bikes ever posted on this site, and an important bike with regard to the vintage mini bike era. Jack Spitler's contribution to vintage mini bikes and the early days of kart racing can not be overstated.
Thanks. It's a fun bike to own because I get to brag on it without sounding conceited. Jack Spitler is such a neat guy he is well deserving of all of the accolades he receives from his creation. Remember he built this thing long before there were any 1-800 or .com parts houses or Ebay or a forum to exchange information. It was built simply from an idea in his head and from whatever parts were on hand and they fabricated everything else. Old school!
The restoration was a collective effort and I got a lot of help from some really talented people on board here. My kid and I had a lot of fun working on it. Best of all it cemented our friendship with Jack.
Speaking of Jack I got a call from him a couple months ago. He just finished building another mini bike with a 5 horse Briggs and 2 speed Comet setup. ..at 81 yrs old and hooked up to an oxygen tank, !! :doah: He told me "it goes real good down the street but my wife said I was wobbling around too much." Then he laughed. He's also got some kind of old Rupp with a Yamaha twin cylinder in it that he's been working on for years.
Dude is trying to shame me into getting off the couch and doing something!
The restoration was a collective effort and I got a lot of help from some really talented people on board here. My kid and I had a lot of fun working on it. Best of all it cemented our friendship with Jack.
Speaking of Jack I got a call from him a couple months ago. He just finished building another mini bike with a 5 horse Briggs and 2 speed Comet setup. ..at 81 yrs old and hooked up to an oxygen tank, !! :doah: He told me "it goes real good down the street but my wife said I was wobbling around too much." Then he laughed. He's also got some kind of old Rupp with a Yamaha twin cylinder in it that he's been working on for years.
Dude is trying to shame me into getting off the couch and doing something!
We literally finished putting that bike together the night before Windber. I didn't have a keyed jackshaft ready so we just used a piece of solid shafting and cranked the set screws on the jack sprockets as tight as we could get them. Peekster tried launching the bike a few times but it just spun the sprockets on the shaft. We even tried drilling pockets in the shaft so the screws could grab hold but it still spun them. Destroyed the shaft and we quit for the day.
The motors were running a little muddy too. When we got back home a buddy of mine stopped by. He's a professional kart tuner who grew up on West Bends and I asked him to take a look at it. After 10 minutes of tweaking the carbs he had brought that thing to life. He had it wound up in the driveway I thought he was going to blow the windows out of the house. Since then we changed the clutch engagement springs to a much higher RPM range and machined a new keyed jackshaft for it. It's all back together just waiting for the right venue to have another go.
The motors were running a little muddy too. When we got back home a buddy of mine stopped by. He's a professional kart tuner who grew up on West Bends and I asked him to take a look at it. After 10 minutes of tweaking the carbs he had brought that thing to life. He had it wound up in the driveway I thought he was going to blow the windows out of the house. Since then we changed the clutch engagement springs to a much higher RPM range and machined a new keyed jackshaft for it. It's all back together just waiting for the right venue to have another go.
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Wow just read through all this. To not hear it at full song going down the track, would be like missing Secretariat at Belmont, or Dale taking the Daytona 500, or Carroll kicking Ferrari's butt with another home built hot rod. It's history in the making.
Needs a professional film crew to document it, then it should go to the Smithsonian for display forever.
Needs a professional film crew to document it, then it should go to the Smithsonian for display forever.
I was very lucky to be the one that was able to ride the bike. Gerry did a great job on the bike. All I could do on the bike was look down at those 2 mean 820 's barking and think if they let go I would loose my little buddies LOL Wish we had it running better but still a great time. This is 1 heck of a bike.Thanks to Gerry( KKK) for the sweet ride.:thumbsup: