Those 750cc side-valve engine bikes were smaller, lighter, and sportier than Harley’s big-block EL and FL models to appeal to returning servicemen’s tastes after their wartime experiences with smaller, lighter, and sportier European bikes. Harley combined what they thought were the best aspects of British vertical twins with traditional Harley 45-degree V-twin architecture creating an Anglo-American hybrid. In 1957 the K model morphed into the Sportster and that just might make Harley the oldest manufacturer of hybrid motorcycles, so to speak.

From his Harrisville, New Hampshire, shop, so cool and artsy it will make you instantly jealous, Walt Siegl did his part for the green movement by recycling a cycle and creating a hybrid to boot, sorta. Actually his customer, Michael Owings, brought up the hybrid idea. “He wanted a hybrid between a Harley-Davidson and a British bike. He’s a Kansas boy and his exposure was just Harleys. Later he got attracted to all the British bikes, but still had a love affair with Harleys,” said Walt. “I told him I could build a hybrid of a British bike, you know, one that’s agile, fairly small and easy to handle, and a big humping Harley. The concept is quite interesting.”

Walt began with just a ’77 Shovelhead engine while Michael found a frame. “I used the neck and the downtube to build the rest of the frame around. Everything behind the rear engine mount is different,” said Walt. “It’s got a 30” pipe height I used as a formula to build the bike.” Unlike Raul Julia’s famous rear-view-mirror-throwing declaration in The Gumball Rally, “What’s behind me is not important,” it was important to Walt. The horizontal rear frame loop aft of the shock mounts Walt added looks veddy British and serves as a mount for the narrowed Sportster fender.

Keeping the period feel is a set of Ceriani forks Walt rebuilt and lowered an inch so he could get the proper stance for the 19” front wheel and the 18” rear. “The Ceriani was off a ’68 MV with drum brakes. I had to do some extensive machining to get the four-pot Brembo caliper mounted. In the end, it looks like it just came with it,” he said laughing at his own absurdity. “Actually, it was so much work it was amazing.” Luckily, the Works Performance rear shocks required nothing more than getting the shocks made to his specs and bolting them on.

The wheels were a point of contention and usually Walt gets his way, but not on this one. “I bought a beautiful set of Dunlop polished stainless-steel rims and he wanted them black,” he said with a sigh. “Hey, the black looks good, but I had to keep in mind it was his bike and to slow myself down to not build a bike closer to say, a TT bike, than a true hybrid between a Harley and a Triumph.”

Walt rebuilt the Shovel, but not to stock spec. “I knew Michael had a fairly aggressive throttle hand so I wanted to make sure he got something to satisfy that and something he could take on the open road that was smooth with long legs,” said Walt. “That’s how we came up with the 93” combination.” The internals are all S&S with ported and flowed heads and a spicy Andrews cam. S&S supplied the Super E carb sporting a wicked-cool Lowbrow Customs air cleaner. Walt fabbed a set of exhausts that have a Dunstall-inspired twin-muffler-style that fit this bike perfectly.

The engine’s left side is beautifully dominated by a finned Anderson reproduction primary to die for. A BAKER 6-speed (with kicker) features Walt/BAKER-derived gear ratios chosen just for this engine. “Michael went far and beyond with this engine,” said Walt.

“After all the time I spent working on this engine combined with the BAKER 6-speed gearing, when I finally took this bike out and started going through the gears, it was amazing. It just keeps pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling.”

After banging out a tank with Bonneville overtones (see Up Close), Walt came up with a period-perfect front fender featuring outside stays that look crazy correct. Walt had an artist friend, Vincent Scarek, lay on the subtle, but extremely striking Root Beer and black paint with silver striping. The end result looks very British with a hint of obscurity like it might have come from an Ariel or Panther model you didn’t know of. “He’s an artist, a sculptor, and he understands what you’re after in creative qualities,” said Walt. The two-up seat Walt and Vivian Smith created has the kick-up rump English bikes were known for and would look way better on a Bloor Bonneville than the one it comes with. The Sportster headlight and taillight Walt used adds the Harley aspect to his hybrid design and never looked better.

All this work would mean nothing if the customer wasn’t satisfied, and Walt said, “Michael rides the bike everyday. He texts me everyday how much he loves it, how powerful it is, how agile it is. I tried really hard to make sure that he got the motorcycle that he was after. He’s completely thrilled with it and that’s the most important thing.” BM