We quickly learned that most Dutch spoke very good English and many of them would jokingly and often say, “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much.” The Dutch are a proud nation of people, and they have made significant contributions to the world. For example, if we would have sought and heeded the advice of the Dutch on how to build dams, we could have possibly saved the lives of many New Orleans residents and prevented millions of dollars in damages and destruction during Hurricane Katrina. But I guess that’s all in the rear-view mirror now, and we have to look forward. When it comes to building custom motorcycles there are also a few lessons that can be learned from the Dutch, especially if the bike builder is a guy by the name of Piet Hofman.

On our trip through the land of the tulips, stopping by the local Harley dealership was a must. We also found time to visit a few custom bike shops, and one of them happened to be Violator Motorcycles. It was a relatively small shop, about hundred square-meters in size, and the owner/bike builder was Piet Hofman. Like other Americans living and working abroad, we have a tendency to quickly develop a few special names for those extraordinary locals in the host country. Piet Hofman was immediately dubbed “The Dutch Knucklehead.” Piet has a special sense of humor and the name is most deserving. Piet Hofman is a builder with many interesting stories, but when he is building a custom machine he is very focused and has little time for shooting the bull manure.

His motorcycle building creativity can easily be seen in one of his latest creations, a bike with an Old School appearance but loaded with modern features. Not surprisingly, this particular custom-built machine answers to the name, Old School.

Choosing the correct motorcycle frame will determine the overall final appearance of a custom-built motorcycle. Many builders outsource for their frames, which can be a good thing, but many of them still end up doing slight modifications to acquire precision fittings for certain components. Piet Hofman produces his own trademark frames and many other custom motorcycle parts. “Most custom parts that are used on our Violator bikes are made right here in the shop. We use the finest quality of metal, other materials, and machinery so we can guarantee our customers a great end product,” said Piet.

For this Old School custom, Piet used one of his ’07 Violator frames with a 45-degree rake and a two-inch stretch through the horizon curving backbone. The single-sided swing arm, which also carries the engine’s precious oil inside the solo spar, swings in conjunction with twin Violator shocks placed underneath the rear portion of the transmission to help soften the ride. Inboard of it, a large perimeter brake rotor is clamped by a six-piston caliper with a matching brake system up front. That big drive pulley sprocket spinning freely outside of the swing arm and looking for all the world like it’s connected to nothing surely looks like it shouldn’t be able to do what it was made to do, but it does turning the 200mm rear tire nicely. Those ten-spoke wheels are also Violator products and are made from billet aluminum and dubbed the Radical model in Piet’s parts line. Choosing this design for a custom eliminates having to decide what brakes to use as these are Violator perimeter-style specific.

The fork is a conventional-style unit from Violater and provides both a wee bit of travel and something to stash the 19“ front wheel in between. Soaring over those forks is a set of handlebars that look like somebody pulled a gun on and said, “Reach for the sky.” And they did, permanently. Piet refers to these bars as Radical New School. Tucked in tight between the triple-trees is Piet’s blocky, but small billet aluminum headlight. There’s just enough special about it to make it look like a cool “found” object that happened to make a cool headlight.

Bodywork is minimal, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t require quite a bit of work. The split fuel tanks hang inside the frame and accent both the lines of the frame’s top tube and showcase the V-twin power plant below. Piet fabbed up a small rear fender to keep Euro road grime off the rider who’s perched on a seat jutting out from the backbone before it runs into the swingarm pivot. Henk covered it in a cheeky thin leather pad that’s probably sufficient for the rides this bike will encounter. GL Paints of Oud-Beijerland, The Netherlands, did the paint, graphics, and all the final touches. The brown and champagne color combo provides a sleek, calming appearance and doesn’t overpower the simplistic design statement of two wheels and a motor. .

The power train is a Harley-Davidson 1340cc Evo with a five-speed tranny, and a BDL clutch and open belt primary. The Harley CV carburetor is fine-tuned for sure starts and maximum performance, and the exhaust system is a Violator handcrafted 2 into 1 shorty model that kicks out a great sound. There’s not a lot here to push around here so those 80 almighty Evo inches can act bigger than they are. Owning a bike this cool would also allow its owner to act the same way.

Up Close: Harley Davidson Evolution Engine

It’s amazing how in a family some kids get overlooked for their real world qualities versus the possibly more glamorous or more athletic ones and it’s not until later in life that their attributes are appreciated. So it seems to go with the often-overlooked Evolution engine from Harley-Davidson. Back in the day, 1984 to be exact, this was considered a big engine. Today, it’s an “in-between” size. Back in the day, it saved a famous American motorcycle company from disappearing almost by itself. Today, it’s just a footnote in history that not a lot of people appreciate or care about.

That’s not the way every V-twin nut feels, though, and to some of us this is just about the perfect engine to power a lightweight bobber with a combination of useable power, reliability, aftermarket parts availability, and simplicity of design. This was Harley’s big twin engine from 1984 to 1999 and it’s still being produced as a new crate motor today. Right out of the box, these are one fun ride in the right vehicle and I swear the new ones run quicker and smoother than they ever did. Dead stock they probably realistically put out 55-58hp and 70-72 ft-lbs of torque, but in a light bike, this is plenty. That 3.49”bore x 4.25”stroke engine was famous for producing torque and in case you haven’t noticed, under-square engines are back witness the new 96” TC.

There’s tons of them out there used, they’re available brand new for reasonable prices, and H-D’s re-built trade-in program is still a deal. Sure you can make ‘em bigger and nuttier, but there’s something about a good runnin’ Evo that just feels right. 

Builders: Piet Hofman Violator Motorcycles

Most builders have some type of formal or informal mechanical training before entering the bike building industry. Some spend months at a highly technical motorcycle mechanic school, and others have picked up their skills from “Uncle Joe” while wrenching out back under the shade tree. Piet Hofman is one of those builders who have both, schoolhouse training and that shade tree-type schooling from “Uncle Von Dutch.” His formal training is somewhat different from the average bike builder. Piet’s father owns and operates a Dutch oil pipe manufacturing business known as TUC. Piet is school trained in metal arts and worked several years with his father’s business shaping and molding metal oil pipes, hand making metal connectors, and other related metal works for several Middle Eastern counties. His father’s oil pipe metal business is what jump started Piet’s motorcycle building business. This pipe-making and metal-forming background sure makes it easy to understand why Violator Motorcycles produces such great custom bike frames and other custom motorcycle parts. Obviously, when these products are this good, it’s no surprise the custom bikes are also great.

Piet Hofman burst onto the custom-built motorcycle scene back in 1999 and brought his own sense of design and style to the industry. His new custom bikes quickly gained much attention throughout Europe as many of them placed in the top rankings at custom motorcycle shows, including the AMD Custom Chrome Bike Show, and many other custom-bike contests throughout the European continent. His bikes have also won top honors at Dubai Bike Week, and Daytona Bike Week’s Rat’s Hole competition. Now, Violator Motorcycles is a well-respected company and a world leader in this popular motor sport business.

Visit www.violator-motorcycles.com for more info.

This bike feature originally appeared in Barnett’s Magazine issue #66, December 2008.