It’s high time to write something new about the world of cars. I have accumulated several magazines and even more just good ideas on this topic, but I’ll start small. And I’m not so much talking about the size of the article, but about the fact that, having written in full about engines with twelve and sixteen cylinders, I decided to turn in the other direction and write an article or two about the V-twin, which is very iconic in our circles.
But, of course, it would be uninteresting to write just about any bike – many people do it without us. And I decided, as usual, to find an unusual and eye-catching project – and this appeared before me in the form of a supercharged chopper. No, soups for the V-twin are, in principle, quite commonplace nowadays – Thomson Superchargers has been producing classic Roots superchargers for Harley-Davidson for many years, but Thomson products are installed carefully, from the side, without violating the original design of the motorcycle. Obviously, this is too boring, and therefore the brothers Jason and Jeremy Cantwell from Derby City Customs decided to go the other way and install a classic supercharger on top.
Therefore, they sawed the frame and redesigned the mounting points to install a classic Holley four-chamber carburetor and the already mentioned supercharger on the two-cylinder engine. The soup belt, by the way, is put directly on the crankshaft. “It was all very far from the norm,” one of the brothers says honestly. “We also had to saw and redesign the gas tank to get the engine in place.” Unfortunately, I have not found anywhere a mention of how many liters of gasoline can fit into this motorcycle and how many kilometers can be driven without refueling.
But it’s not that important, right? In the end, thanks to such an unusual power unit, we got one of the most rocking choppers in the world. And to consolidate their success, the Cantwells made a custom seat, installed a 300-millimeter rear wheel, rims from RC Components, and painted the whole thing with candy Black Cherry paint.
This bike was one of six motorcycles that Derby City Customs built back in 2008. Apparently, this chopper was built for roads, and therefore there are very few photos and information about it – at least those photos that exist have not been deleted in 11 years. But if we take the example of Thomson Superchargers products, then installing a supercharger on a standard V-twin gives an increase in horsepower of 50-60 percent, and an approximately 100 percent increase in torque at low revs.
In general, it remains to be hoped that this chopper is still alive and well and travels the roads of Kentucky. If we’re lucky, maybe one day this memorable motorcycle will pop up at some auction and give us a couple of fresh photos and some interesting details about its design.
Source: https://www.knluftfilter.com/blog/chopper-by-derby-city-customs-runs-and-sounds-like-a-race-car / (September 6th, 2008)
