There is a responsibility, a true weight of expectation, when you are blessed to own a truly unique vintage motorcycle. If it’s in exceptional original condition, then the pressure is to keep it that way and not do anything to destroy it. If it’s seen better days and a bit of a bitsa, then you owe it to the public to have it out on the road, race it and show the people what these old treasures are all about. Then there is a third way, a rarely trodden path left to an exceptional few who possess incredible knowledge and skill. And that is to build from scratch their very own vintage motorcycle as if they were one of those remarkable early innovators. Sean Jackson is one such man, and together with a group of highly talented friends, they’ve built a supercharged, 8-valve, V-Twin for the ages: the Pennsylvania 8.
Sean started his journey with motorcycles at a very young age, by thirteen he was building mini-bike choppers, straight out of high school he became a mechanic and it wasn’t long before he was travelling the world with his friend Kevin O’Neal, developing improved systems for locomotives and scoring themselves a few patents along the way. “In 2021 I met Tom Banks and together we decided to go all in on an antique motorcycle business that came up for sale called Competition Distributing. I left my big corporate job and we moved the company back to my shop in Pennsylvania and started building it up.” Kevin would later join them, and together they continue Lonnie Isam’s passion, which he started in 1968, as the industry leader in antique motorcycle parts.
But being the innovators that they are, and with many of those parts either drying up, or open to serious improvement, the guys have stepped things up. “We have since made large investments in additive manufacturing such as 3D metal printing. We create 100-year-old parts by scanning, modeling and replicating them as well as traditional manufacturing methods. We supply parts from 1910-1936 early American motorcycles,” Sean explains. Oh, and when he’s not busy doing all of that, he builds incredible one-off creations like this, the Pennsylvania 8. Which is the absolutely perfect way to prove that he and his team can create any part or piece you could ever need.
To craft the foundation of the one-off creation, a head stock and lower engine case were placed on the floor, and the outline for the frame was literally sketched into the concrete; talk about doing it old school. And what a frame it is, the guys can literally 3D print a head stock and associated parts for any old school bike, and from here this particular chassis features a double down tube. But it’s not in the style you’d expect, instead the tubes are stacked one in front of the other like an over/under shotgun. Every section has been beautifully thought out, one flowing neatly into the other, and the rigid, single-sided rear, is just another feast for the eyes.
Bolted into the heart of the frame is the show stopper, an engine like nothing you’ve ever seen before. At the bottom you have one of the very few stock parts, the cases from a 1926 Harley Davidson JD. On top sit a custom set of cylinders, hand crafted in house by the guys using 6-inch dura-bar stock. Then to top the engine off, Sean put all of his years of engineering and mechanical skills into designing and crafting a seriously unique set of cylinder heads. The Rudge style units feature four valves and large cathedral ports, with Inconel valves to help cope with the large amount of heat.
One of the great things about a vintage engine is being able to see so many of the moving parts, and the pushrods, rockers and all the valve springs are just more of the items made at Competition Distributing; along with the custom machined cam chest and oiling system. The guys took care of more parts too, designing their own lightweight Titanium conrods and stuffing those beautiful cylinders with high compression forged pistons. Then things get really spicy, with that stunning bell mouth running into the carb and picking up the fuel, before it’s compressed by a supercharger on a custom intake and rammed into the engine, the sound from which thunders from those epic short pipes.
Kicking things over and sending power to the rear is a 1926 JD three-speed transmission converted to sealed bearing. All of the sprockets and chains are left exposed, and this mechanical masterpiece really comes alive when its booted into action. The body work doesn’t let things down either, those vintage lines are brilliantly handcrafted to form the fuel and oil tank, and its topped off with the team’s own pre- lube system. There is so much detail and skill in the taps and all of the hard lines, and when these aren’t capturing your attention, you can soak in the high-end paint work and period perfect graphics package all laid down by Brian O’Neal/Wuds Goods. The seat floats neatly on a small support and the leather work has been meticulously hand tooled.
To get the bike rolling, a set of custom hubs were made and then laced up to those absolutely huge 23-inch clincher wheels, wrapped in standout white tyres. The front end, that too is made in-house and takes you back a century, was meticulously hand poured from wax before the final racing scissor forks were cast to create the finished product. It only made sense that a set of board track bars were bent up, and all of the throttle linkages were hand made, with the cables hidden and then sheathed in leather. The Pennsylvania 8 is a truly special creation, demonstrating the immense skill that resides inside the walls of Competition Distributing, and stands as a fire breathing testament to Sean Jackson’s abilities to dream, design and deliver an antique product with aerospace levels of engineering.
[Competition Distributing]