The American Dream Prism Supply Crafts A Timeless Panhead

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Wisdom and timeless style generally evolve after decades of mistakes and missteps. The brothers Hindes of Prism Supply in North Carolina are overachievers in every sense of the word, and the depth of their work belies their age. In their mid-twenties, the duo has officially been in business for only two years, but has already completed an impressive number of custom motorcycles and handmade parts.
Jake and Zach together have a skillset and accomplishments that many an older man would be proud to display, including race car fabrication, machine work, and sheet metal fabrication experience, along with Jake’s mechanical engineering degree, just to name just a few.

“I do feel we have both advantages and disadvantages due to our age and shop location. I feel we are looked down upon often when people find out we’re in our mid-20s. I guess people don’t think you can be good at something at a young age,” Jake said without hesitation. “This just motivates us more to be better at our craft. What people may not be aware of is how much experience we have in working with metal and fabricating. We have been around some of the best fabricators in the world due to our location here in the Charlotte, NC, area. You have to think about all of the race shops that are around us. So for us, we grew up fabricating.
“The unique thing about our shop and how we build bikes is the fact that we actually build a majority of the parts that go on our builds,” he continues. “Frames, front ends, tanks, oil bags, fenders, exhaust, etc. We make them all by hand in-house at Prism. We didn’t know that was not the norm for a motorcycle shop.”

The bike featured here is their ground-up creation, built on the #BikerLive TV show on Discovery Channel. On the show, the Prism crew edged out two other shops in a social media-based viewer voting process. The TV angle isn’t really important to their story but might be a sign that maybe, just maybe, the general public is moving away from God-awful, OCC-style abominations and starting to appreciate classy, traditional-styled customs. With the artificial deadline created by the producers of about two months, the brothers had little time for procrastination or bad decisions and got down to the business of building a motorcycle from scratch.

The frame was handcrafted in the Prism shop and mimics the stock geometry of a vintage Harley-Davidson straight-leg frame. Jake’s mechanical engineering degree and SolidWorks experience were put to use during the design of the springer front end, and various models were tested and cycled through their paces virtually before the actual fork was built. Zach and Jake flexed their fabrication muscles further by fabricating a long list of parts for the machine: frame, springer, tank, exhaust, bars, oil tank, air cleaner, seat – the list goes on and on.
“We wanted to make a timeless, traditionally-styled chopper, and build as much of it by ourselves as possible. The springer may only have a couple of inches of travel, but it works great and helps the bike have that old-fashioned feel when you ride it,” Jake explained. “This bike and rider are much more connected than something with plush suspension. That communicative feeling a bike like this delivers is like a time machine, giving a contemporary rider an experience shared with generations long gone.”

This seemingly timeless old motorcycle does feature some modern conveniences, including an electric start, a 5-speed transmission, and a 103” S&S Panhead engine. No clapped-out, low-compression 74-inch motor here; this is a modern wolf in sheep’s clothing. The electric foot makes starting it easier. These were requests made by the bike’s owner Tim Clark, who commissioned Prism to build it long before the TV guys came around. Jake and Zach are cool with it and believe if the electric starter makes it more enjoyable for its owner, why not?

Another local artisan who pitched in was the Hindes brothers’ buddy Porkchop, who did the flawless paint that is flashy enough to be interesting but low-key and classy at the same time. As always, nothing is done alone, and the Prism guys thank their friends who helped out along the way: Andy Williamson from Refuel Motor Culture, Peter Matofy, Randy Rollins, Derek Fearheiley, and Josh Jennings. Charlotte, North Carolina, might not be on the chopper world’s radar yet, but according to Jake, it’s on its way. Having solid, young builders with a passion for doing things themselves and doing it right is a good start, and we look forward to watching Prism lead the way.

This article first appeared in issue 15 of Iron & Air Magazine, and is reproduced here under license.
Words by Bill Bryant | Images by Neale Bayly, Patrick Bayly & Brett Houle
Prism Supply | Website | Instagram



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