1974 Amen Savior CB550 Chopper
We often attend many motorcycle events and truth be told, seek out any custom builds or survivors projects that have vintage Japanese motors but we don't often see 550 motors in choppers. So when a good one comes along we take notice. The company "Amen" made plunger style chopper frames for many different inline four motors back in the 70's including the Honda CB750 and CB550 but the 550 frames were much more short lived and rare than the 750 ones. So when we met Steven Rodriguez at the Cooks Corner bar in Trabuco Canyon before last years Born Free show we took notice of this awesome Amen chopper he had built and been riding for some time. The bike was obviously a "daily rider" with tons of style and some really cool functionality. So we took a chance to snap some pics and talk with Steven about this neat piece of 70s chopper history.
To get started give us your full name and where you are from?
My name is Steven J. Rodriguez III, but most people call me Stevie and I live in Phelan California
What is the make model and year of your chopper?
It is a 1974 Honda CB550
Did the bike come to you as an survivor style project or did you build it from scratch off of the original Amen savior frame?
it wasn't an original chopper. It definitely was gone through by a couple of its owners by the time i got my hands on it ...but the bike did come to me as a running bike minus the front end from a buddy of mine Jeff Montgomery up north in Hanford, California
Let's talk a little more about the Amen plunger frame and why you chose to run that setup?
The plunger wasn't my first choice, I was looking for a hard tail when I came across the frame and at the time, the plungers were a bit more unique and not quite as common. They still aren't if you ask me. You'll definitely be surprised how many people didn't even know Amen made these frames! But I like the way they look And the "idea" of the plungers, the late 60's and all of the 70's were a time of wacky ideas and beyond nuts innovation for choppers from that era and these savior plungers definitely show both of that.
To get started give us your full name and where you are from?
My name is Steven J. Rodriguez III, but most people call me Stevie and I live in Phelan California
What is the make model and year of your chopper?
It is a 1974 Honda CB550
Did the bike come to you as an survivor style project or did you build it from scratch off of the original Amen savior frame?
it wasn't an original chopper. It definitely was gone through by a couple of its owners by the time i got my hands on it ...but the bike did come to me as a running bike minus the front end from a buddy of mine Jeff Montgomery up north in Hanford, California
Let's talk a little more about the Amen plunger frame and why you chose to run that setup?
The plunger wasn't my first choice, I was looking for a hard tail when I came across the frame and at the time, the plungers were a bit more unique and not quite as common. They still aren't if you ask me. You'll definitely be surprised how many people didn't even know Amen made these frames! But I like the way they look And the "idea" of the plungers, the late 60's and all of the 70's were a time of wacky ideas and beyond nuts innovation for choppers from that era and these savior plungers definitely show both of that.
The old CB550 Amen frames are a bit more rare to find compared to the 750's, why did you go with the 550 instead?
The bike came with the 550, it was tired and I already had a 550 a buddy just gave to me, so I decided to stick with the 550 on the premise of it being different and most people you see are running the 750's.
Who did the paintwork on everything?
A buddy of mine, named John Radtke from Affinity did all the paint and another buddy of mine, Bill "O-Z" Walker from Walker and Company did the custom lettering and the bee drawing.
Does the bike have a name? We noticed that the tank had "Killahbee" on it, what's the significance of that?
The bike name is in fact "Killah Bee" and the significance is that those who would ride near me said my bike sounded like a swarm of bee's and being that I am a Wu-tang fan the name formed into Killah bee and stuck!
Who made the girder front end that is on the bike originally and is that a vintage part?
The girder is an original vintage part, I'm not to sure who actually made it though
The handlebars are actually a really nice touch also, who made those?
The bars were one offs by Slim from Slims Fab, but I had those bars for like 5 years and finally found something to put those on
The bars were one offs by Slim from Slims Fab, but I had those bars for like 5 years and finally found something to put those on
These swooping exhaust pipes are actually a pretty iconic design for the vintage Honda 400 and 550. I actually own a CB550 myself that has those same pipes and I love them. You ended up doing a white ceramic powder coat on these is what it looks like? Why did you end up choosing to go that route and were these the pipes that came with the motor?
The pipes did not originally come with the motor, I ended up getting those pipes from a parts donor cafe bike. And As far as the white ceramic goes, it is actually a drag racing trend that the old rail and gasser guys use to do way back when and always dug it and again was more unique than just black or chrome pipes.
You must get a lot of looks on this bike especially with the funny stickers you are running. What's one of the funniest things someone has came up and said to you about your bike?
I actually get alot of laughs and compliments on the sticker "why yes, it is a fucking honda!" And still get asked if it's a triumph, or kz hahaha.
What's been one of your biggest challenges with the bike so far?
Honestly, the learning curve, being that it was first full bike build and plunger frame so learning the plungers and learning as much as I can in general about building and running older designed bikes. Definitely helps that I still got a bunch of old timers giving me ideas and tips about bettering my bike.
We see you are running stock 550 carburetors but with a vintage bread Box air filter, which we really love the look of on these inline fours. What kind of jetting issues did you end up running into with that?
Believe or not, they are 750 carbs jetted to the smallest needle and it's a 550 bread box. the most issues I come across is the fuel mileage. even with the smallest needles on the 750 carbs, it still runs a bit more rich than I would like it to run and with being a smaller 2 gallon tank, it can be a drag on frequent fuel stops. Other than that, the 550 has been bullet proof for me
What's next for the bike now? Any plans on changing anything up or any long trips?
I would like to modify the seat to line up with the sissy bar and cover up wiring, change the wheels because I found a couple of broken spokes so I am planning to change them to black Honda comstars and I have a trip coming up on March 17th to the Prowl in Bisbee, Arizona.
So you ride with the Scodes club from SoCal but you have a Coffin cheater's patch on your vest. Both clubs are "customs clubs" or cc's that require you to have a custom chopper to be a member. Weve always dug how many great vintage Japanese bikes The Scodes end up building and riding. Talk a little bit about both clubs and which one you would say you affiliate with most and why.
Thank you for all your input on this and we can't wait to share this with more people because this bike rules.
The pipes did not originally come with the motor, I ended up getting those pipes from a parts donor cafe bike. And As far as the white ceramic goes, it is actually a drag racing trend that the old rail and gasser guys use to do way back when and always dug it and again was more unique than just black or chrome pipes.
You must get a lot of looks on this bike especially with the funny stickers you are running. What's one of the funniest things someone has came up and said to you about your bike?
I actually get alot of laughs and compliments on the sticker "why yes, it is a fucking honda!" And still get asked if it's a triumph, or kz hahaha.
What's been one of your biggest challenges with the bike so far?
Honestly, the learning curve, being that it was first full bike build and plunger frame so learning the plungers and learning as much as I can in general about building and running older designed bikes. Definitely helps that I still got a bunch of old timers giving me ideas and tips about bettering my bike.
We see you are running stock 550 carburetors but with a vintage bread Box air filter, which we really love the look of on these inline fours. What kind of jetting issues did you end up running into with that?
Believe or not, they are 750 carbs jetted to the smallest needle and it's a 550 bread box. the most issues I come across is the fuel mileage. even with the smallest needles on the 750 carbs, it still runs a bit more rich than I would like it to run and with being a smaller 2 gallon tank, it can be a drag on frequent fuel stops. Other than that, the 550 has been bullet proof for me
What's next for the bike now? Any plans on changing anything up or any long trips?
I would like to modify the seat to line up with the sissy bar and cover up wiring, change the wheels because I found a couple of broken spokes so I am planning to change them to black Honda comstars and I have a trip coming up on March 17th to the Prowl in Bisbee, Arizona.
So you ride with the Scodes club from SoCal but you have a Coffin cheater's patch on your vest. Both clubs are "customs clubs" or cc's that require you to have a custom chopper to be a member. Weve always dug how many great vintage Japanese bikes The Scodes end up building and riding. Talk a little bit about both clubs and which one you would say you affiliate with most and why.
Yea I definitely ride with the Scodes a lot and for a while now, All the guys are so dope and are very very helpful when it comes to just general knowledge about anything. And being the youngest out of everyone i feel like i can learn alot from these old heads and try to as much as possible..It also does help that they're all so like minded as well when it comes to choppers or riding and just great great people! But yea these guys have some rad ass bikes, anywhere from your average chopper hoopty to blue collar "show" bikes!
With that being said, I still affiliate more to the Coffin Cheaters. It was started by my grandfather's brothers in '53 as a car club. as of now I'm the only remaining active club member. So I look to keep a family legacy going for at least one more generation.
What is one of the funniest trips that you have taken on the bike or awesome places you've gone on it?
Funniest forsure has to be the first ride I ever went on the bike after finishing it. We were heading out to saddlesore ranch in Golden Valley,Arizona. It took us something like 36 damn hours to get there! We left from our house in Phelan, California on Friday and a buddy had some wiring issues that basically killed his battery and left us sitting in a Ludlow Truck parking lot. So we had a parts runner go back to Barstow and pick up a battery while we fixed the wiring issue. Then while we were getting ready to split our other buddy snapped a throttle cable. So we had to take one off another buddies bike that had dual throttle cables. Then his bike wouldn't start and we had to rebuild his carb right there and ended up setting up camp in that parking lot. Which we all just refer to as the Ludlow Chopper Show now hahah. There was like 20 or so of us on bikes so it forsure freaked out all the squares. Then just outside of Bullhead Arizona another buddy snapped his throttle cable and had to cowboy it to the nearest bike parts store. Then we got lost on our way to saddlesore ranch after that, and it was already sundown that next day. the whole trip was FUBAR and chaos! But one hell of a time! Would definitely do it again!
What is one of the funniest trips that you have taken on the bike or awesome places you've gone on it?
Funniest forsure has to be the first ride I ever went on the bike after finishing it. We were heading out to saddlesore ranch in Golden Valley,Arizona. It took us something like 36 damn hours to get there! We left from our house in Phelan, California on Friday and a buddy had some wiring issues that basically killed his battery and left us sitting in a Ludlow Truck parking lot. So we had a parts runner go back to Barstow and pick up a battery while we fixed the wiring issue. Then while we were getting ready to split our other buddy snapped a throttle cable. So we had to take one off another buddies bike that had dual throttle cables. Then his bike wouldn't start and we had to rebuild his carb right there and ended up setting up camp in that parking lot. Which we all just refer to as the Ludlow Chopper Show now hahah. There was like 20 or so of us on bikes so it forsure freaked out all the squares. Then just outside of Bullhead Arizona another buddy snapped his throttle cable and had to cowboy it to the nearest bike parts store. Then we got lost on our way to saddlesore ranch after that, and it was already sundown that next day. the whole trip was FUBAR and chaos! But one hell of a time! Would definitely do it again!
Thank you for all your input on this and we can't wait to share this with more people because this bike rules.
Mike Vandegriff