Jesse Bassett's Gasbox

▲ Jesse Bassett; the driving force behind
The Gasbox, and evidently a force to be reckoned with.

▲ Neat, clean, economical and stylish

Triumph-KTM hybrid. You can get a nose bleed climbing up onto the saddle.

▲ When Meriden Triumph built the

Tiger Trail back in the early 1980s, a lot of people thought it was a step too far. Well this
Tri-KTM is either a giant leap forward, or a giant step backwards. But we like it. It's bold, a little brash, and looks like a lot of fun—if you're tall enough ...

▲ The unit 650cc T120 engine just
squeezes into the KTM frame. Custom fabricated stainless exhausts tuck in neatly beneath the saddle.

▲ Made to order not down to a price but up to a standard. Prices are typically anything from $20,000-$40,000,

▲ Top

No, the Gasbox isn't the bike. The Gasbox is Jesse Bassett's custom shop in Lakewood, Ohio, USA. Think Cleveland. The shop was opened in 2009 and specializes in custom fabrication and vintage motorcycles.

Jesse, who has more than twelve years of mechanical and fabrication experience—including engine work, repairing, restoring, customizing, and building motorcycles—began this 1965 BSA project in 2009 when one of his customers brought in a rigid chopper to be customized.

After dissembling the entire bike, all that was left was the engine, frame, and stock BSA QD rear wheel.

Jesse’s customer, Brett Scully, wanted a girder fork, so Jesse sourced one from a BSA M20. He had to fabricate a new top clamp, neck stem and new linkage. Jesse used antique "faucet" handles (tap handles in BritSpeak) for the friction damper adjustment knob simply because of the look of the porcelain and brass. By adjusting the rake, offset and height of the fork, he was able to obtain the correct frame stance.

The rear wheel is stock BSA 18-incher powder-coated black with stainless spokes and a Coker tyre. The front wheel is a thirty-six spoke 21-incher laced to a BSA Bantam hub and shod with an Avon tyre. Both front and rear drums were "windowed out" in a mill, and then the shoes were drilled.

Fuel and oil tank

The fuel tank began as an oil-in-frame Triumph item that has been chopped and fitted with late model Harley style rubber mounts. Jesse found a local die maker to duplicate the BSA golden flash emblems and cast them in bronze. Jesse fabricated the oil tank from scratch, then fitted it with the cap and fittings of a 1960’s BSA stock item and rubber mounted the entire assembly.

Engine

The engine was disassembled and polished. The sludge trap was cleaned. The "notorious" BSA crank bushing was upgraded, and the cylinders were bored and fitted with the next size over pistons. Compression is 9:1. Jesse fabricated the exhaust pipes from stainless steel and styled them after BSA high-level scrambler pipes. The ignition system is a ubiquitous Boyer unit.

Cycle parts

The handlebars were formed as part of the girder fork top clamp. The levers are Cook replicas typical on pre-war British bikes. The grips are made of the same leather as the seat. The headlight is a fender light from an early MG and had to be modified to adapt to the girder.

The paint is black with gold-leaf and red striping by Jerry Koenigsmark of Jerry’s House of Kolor. The leather work was done by Jason’s Custom Upholstery. All of the polishing and nickel plating was handled by Jason’s Show Quality Metal Finishing.

The Gasbox

Jesse's shop, we hear, is a pretty anonymous place. Driving right past it without noticing it is easily done. But inside, as many as fifty machines are lined up awaiting various forms of attention. His customers are happy to wait months for Jesses to do what he does best. No doubt, his reputation is growing along with increasing trade.

Typical prices for Gasbox bikes are around twenty grand. US dollars, that is.

By the time you read this, it's hoped that Jesses will have relocated to an old fire station in North Olmsted which offers a lot more space and will give Jesse a chance to spread his wings even further.
 

Our view of the bike?

We love it. It's nicely understated and impeccably detailed. The lines are smooth and fuss-free. It's just about as basic and as straight-to-the-point as you can get. So okay, there's not going to be much stopping power. But you always ride bikes within their own limits, and intelligent engine braking will take out most of the unwanted excitement just as long as you don't get too cocky. Job done.

Want to see more of Jesse's projects? Check out the shop at:
www.thegasbox.blogspot.com