This Ride is No Mule””

Source: www.TurfMagazine.com

Every man should have his toys, right? Steffon Hoppel’s "toy" is Metal Therapy, his hand-built, one-of-a-kind chopper. And, yes, it runs, and it will definitely blow your hair back, says the reticent Hoppel.

Hoppel is co-owner with Todd Pugh of Green Industry Innovators, Louisville, Ohio. He’s also founder and owner of Hoppel Fabricators. He started the business 25 years ago and he and his team of craftsmen manufacture unique labor-saving equipment for a variety of industries and customers. The Mulch Mule is one of their many creations.

Then, of course, there’s the fun side of owning your own fabricating shop-designing, building and tooling about on the ultimate chopper.

Hoppel and his team unleashed their imaginations and let creative juices flow. Then they went to work. The bike, designed and constructed over a period of 16 months, represents 1,600 man-hours of tracked and logged time.

Hoppel says this is a fully functional and legal motorcycle that rides correctly. It’s truly hand-built with no original bike, stock or aftermarket frame, tank or body panel components.

Here are the features that make it one-of-a-kind:
– In-house designed and fabricated, unitized chassis/body;
– In-house designed two-spoke wheels;
– 64.5-degree front total rake with correct geometry;
– Center-mounted automatic air-deployed kickstand, which allows parking the bike vertical when the ignition is turned off;
– In-house fuel system with no gas cap on the 5-gallon tank (2-quart reserve) and no exposed fuel hoses, petcock, etc.;
-In-house designed and built engine oil system, internally ported through engine/transmission intermediate plates and directly into chassis tubes-air dam and up tube, holding 5.5 quarts of oil;
– Special air ride rear suspension system with no exposed axle or swing arm pivots;
– Rear stop-tail turn lights and lenses in the ends of the swing arm with molded in third brake light and license lights (LED);
– The front head light assembly was designed and built in-house;
– Full digital instrumentation in left and right mirrors including tachometer, speedometer, oil pressure, turn signals & indicators, trip meter, charge light, neutral light, etc.;
– Extremely limited exposure to any cables, lines, hoses and wires. (The bike contains 350 feet of wire on the bike, all inside.);
– A 2-in-1 stainless steel exhaust system, ceramic coated, again designed and built in-house; and
– S & S 124 CID twin-cam engine with Baker RSD six-speed transmission (belt drive).