DK Interviews Garage Builder Stacy McCleary

There’s many reasons why people build custom motorcycles, but some of the best come out of tribute. That was the case when Garage Builder Stacy McCleary decided to take on his Triumph build. Stacy received a 1961 Triumph engine and transmission from the daughter of one his good friends and wanted to build a bobber with the donor components in tribute. Stacy is a Harley guy himself, but the Triumph build allowed him to honor his friend Willie in the best way he knew how. The result is a beautiful little bobber that anyone would be proud to own.

See Stacy’s story in the video below and take a look at his tribute Triumph build.

Transcript Below:

Hi, my name is Stacy McCleary. I’m out of Northern California. I have a little garage in my backyard that I call Stacy’s garage.

Anyway, I’m excited to be here at the Dennis Kirk show. I’ve been here the last couple of years. This year I brought this little 1961 Triumph that I built. A little bobber chopper bike. This bike’s kind of special to me. I’m a Harley-Davidson guy but this little Triumph, a good friend of mine Willie owned this engine and transmission. So, I bought the, this engine and transmission from his daughter and I built this bike in honor of my friend Willie.

It’s a cool little bike. It runs really nice and I built it in my back garage just like all you other guys can do. You know, all over the United States here.

It’s got a lot of special little features. I made all this stuff from the front end to the handlebars, to the sissy bar and the exhaust all the bracket, everything on this bike was built in my garage. The best thing I like about it is the way it rides. It rides like a little Stingray bicycle with a motor in it and it’s because of the compact design of it. When I first built the bike, this front end was 15 inches longer and I rode the bike for a little while and like have crashed it three or four times. So, I brought it back, I cut 12 inches out of it. Rode it around, didn’t like the way it looked. I cut three more inches out of it. So that’s where I’m at today.

I hope you guys enjoy looking at this little, little Triumph and enjoy your stay in Sturgis. Thank you.