What’s your name and where are you from?
My name is Chase Sifford from Willow Wood, Ohio.

Give us the backstory on how you got into motorcycles and how long you’ve been building for.
I started riding motorcycles when I was 8 years old, but I wanted one for a long time before that. Mom probs. Dad finally had one of his buddies bring over his kids’ dirt bikes and I was hooked. Dirt led the way into street when I was around 21 when I bought a DRZ400SM.

I started actually building bikes, instead of doing bolt on mods, when I was 22. (Almost 8 years ago.) I started out with old Hondas because they were cheap and reliable. The first was a 1979 CB750K that I built into a café racer. The second was a 1971 CB350 that turned into a ratty brat tracker with a skateboard deck for a seat. I loved that bike.

Take us back to the day you found out you were selected as a builder for this year's GD, what was going through your mind?
When I found out I was selected I was turning wrenches at The Grands BMX nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cell service was spotty as hell in the convention center so I had to keep going outside to see if I had made it or not. I got really busy after semi-finals and couldn’t check my phone for a while, but when I did I saw that I was tagged in a post and got stoked, I made it. All the homies got pumped and we started pounding beers and throwing high-fives, boss was pissed, we didn’t care. After that I wanted to fly straight home and start turning wrenches.

Tell us about the starting platform for your build (year, make, model)
I started with a complete but crusty 1977 Ironhead XLT. I had bought it a few months beforehand and had been tinkering with it between customer bikes. It looked pretty sick how it sat, but it was way too low and had been rigged together by who knows how many people before me. Odometer read around 22 K, but time had put more miles on it than that. 

What was the inspiration for the build?
At first I bought it to yank the engine out of and fulfill my chopper dreams. That got shot to shit when I realized that some of the roads I ride everyday are rougher than most motocross tracks. I wanted something that had classic styling but I could still stand up on the pegs and bounce through potholes and road-slips on. That’s when it turned into a tracker. I’m really into club-style builds too, so I wanted it to look like a club-tracker that could have been built in the 70’s.

Have you named the bike? If so, how did you arrive at that name?
Yep, her name is Karen. She got her name from the first ride. The bike was really solid as soon as I took off on it but I’m a crazy person and constantly second guess myself. I felt like Ray in Goodfellas when he wakes up to his wife (Karen) holding the revolver in his face. Every bump and gear change I was sweating bullets. Turns out everything was fine on it with the exception of re-torqueing and replacing some bolts that vibrated loose. Has over a thousand miles on it now.

Were there any favorable moments during the build process?
Karen had an S&S Super-E carb on her when I bought it, but that was the best part about her. Everything else was a slow grind. The best parts about the build process where the times when I built something from scratch and finally got it bolted on. My favorite part about the build is the underslung foot peg mount that bolts straight to the chassis instead of the engine cases. I knew I was going to be putting some weight in my feet bouncing through shit, so I didn’t want them in the engine cases. I made it from 1” 4130 and used a set of pegs from my old CR125. Crazy solid and gave me the option to make the peg placement wider, lower, and further back.

We know building a motorcycle can be challenging and everyone runs into a set back at some point. Did you have any notable setbacks that you were able to overcome?
My biggest challenges were getting the wheel spacing right because I had to make a mount into the left front wheel spacer to bolt my GMA caliper bracket to. When I got that done the spokes were hitting the back of the caliper so I had to mill down the mounting flange and fix the spacing to center the rotor in the caliper. It was like working a puzzle. Other than that the biggest setbacks where trying to locate engine parts that weren’t out of Taiwan and didn’t break my bank. Ended up building the engine with all OEM parts except for the forged .030” over Wiseco pistons.

Throughout the build process we tend to learn new things whether it's a skill, knowledge or even something about ourselves. What are some things you’ve learned throughout building this bike?
The biggest thing I learned in a technical aspect was wiring. I built the wiring harness from scratch with the help of DEI’s products. It’s really minimal and simple. Headlight, tail light, charging and ignition. Finding the correct gage of wire was the biggest learning process. Had to burn a few wires up to figure it out but she’s licked now. I also completely learned how to do paint and body work from this build, and got to brush back up on fabricating. I built/ modified as much as I could on this bike. I learned a lot about myself during the build process working with the bike and in life. It’s been an eventful year for me, both good and bad, but I got the build done and feel like I ended up better and stronger just like Karen. 


Paint tends to be one of the first things that draws people in and then they start looking at all the other details in the build, who did your paint and what made you go with the color scheme?
I did my own paint with some matte, and gloss black spray bomb cans. Finished it up with a 2K clear. It’s really rad because in the dark it looks all black, but as soon as the sun hits it the matte pops out of the gloss. It ended up way better than I wanted it to. I wanted it kind of shitty so I didn’t mind thrashing it. I went with the black on black to keep that club style, classic color. I’m also just a clean, classic, no bullshit style builder. I would rather the build quality speak for the bike instead of flashy paint and gimmicky body work.

Now that the build is wrapped up, what’s your plan? (Catching up on sleep?, ripping it around the countryside?)
Since it has been finished its way easier to concentrate on my business and finishing up school. Between being a full-time student, trying to run a business, and doing a ground-up build I was exhausted. I’ve been using it to go on parts runs on occasion and have taken it to the Road Hawk Magazine bike show tour. Karen was the only sporty at the Club Vincent stop so she’ll be in the Scooter Trash Bash show August 7-9^th in Walker, WV. Other than that she’ll be on Ohio backroads shredding turns and catching some air.

Any plans for a new build?
I picked up a new Lowrider S so I’ve been slowly building it up. Other than that I’m building a 1992 Sporty for one of my friends that is going to end up really cool.

They say “It takes a village” who would you like to thank?
I would like to thank Busch Heavy and Jack Daniels for keeping me dehydrated and motivated during the build process, Shane Pauley for busting out all of the powder coating, Donald Brumfield for digging through his garage for parts I needed, all my friends for stopping by and hyping me up, and all of The Greasy Dozen sponsors for helping me get Karen together. I’d also like to shout out to Mooch Watts, love and miss ya buddy. This one was for you.

Lastly, where can people find you (Social media)?
Facebook: @RoastWorthy
Instagram: @roastworthy_cycles