American Iron Garage – July-August 2019

40 • GARAGE BUILD • ISSUE 419

by Steven Blackburn

Photos by Fred Lomas

A much rougher ride than

a chromed-out Softail

sun and sea

S

OMETHING MAJOR MUST’VE HAPPENED IN MATTHEW

O’Connor’s life for him to go from riding a chromed-

out Springer Softail 24/7 to a rusty 1982 Yamaha

XJ650 Maxim on the weekends. Sure, if that major

thing is he became interested in riding a ratty bobber after

being perpetually exposed to the ones his son Shane builds,

including a 1988 Kawasaki 454 LTD and 1977 Harley Iron-

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look with the slick bobber feel (i.e. a functional custom). He

also likes his dad. Or, at least, we assume he does, because

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and soon began bouncing some ideas off him.

They agreed on pretty much everything, too, except

Shane didn’t want the tank to be cream-colored. Guess where

Dad fell on that particular debate? Regardless, they eventu-

ally met somewhere in the middle (which we’ll get to later).

Since they agreed on everything (however begrudgingly),

Shane needed a bike and soon found a nonfunctioning Maxim.

“I ended up buying the bike from a guy who installed

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wouldn’t run,” recounts Shane. Fixing this was no problem

(for Shane) because, unlike the previous owner, Shane is

mechanically inclined—and paid to be, as a maintenance

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do was install a jet kit in the carbs for the correct air-fuel

ratio,” he says.

That very day, Shane began cutting away at the frame.

But his workspace, a one-car attached garage, made things

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space department, but when you add Shane’s Ironhead and

Kawi, his work bench, parts, and tools, including his trusty

Eastwood 135 MIG 110 welder, this space becomes quite

intimate. “It’s been a tough place to work on the bike,” says

Shane. This has forced him to “get creative,” especially during

this build since his drill press had just broken right before