Bobbers
This particular bike is not destined for a bar, well at least not on the inside as of yet. The bike is called the Fulcrum Tactical and it’s actually a raffle bike for a law enforcement charity called Fulcrum Tactical Training and Support that was according to their website “created with the specific purpose of providing otherwise unattainable training and support to law enforcement agencies within the United States. Founded in 2009, Fulcrum Tactical has already provided free tactical training to 500 officers from over 177 Law Enforcement Agencies. Officers receiving free training include those from the largest departments such as Chicago Police SWAT personnel to Departments with less than 12 sworn officers in the heartland of America.” Tickets are ten bucks each, so shuffle on over to their website (www.fulcrumtactical.org) and partake.
Back top the bike at hand, Marty said, “That’s a regular production bike we build off the same platform, but not all identical. We’re willing to change it around, absolutely. There’s no one way, we do everything that anybody wants within reason. We make it at a good price point, they’re not crazy money. We do different front ends, handlebars, paintjobs, powdercoating, tires and wheels and still keep in a reasonable price range in the mid- to high-teens. That’s where we want to be with it and people don’t go, ‘Holy cow!’ I build that type of bike in a matter of days. I don’t mind kickin’ ‘em out there as it gets our name out there and we’ve got a pretty big name in the whole Chicago area, northwest Illinois, and southern Wisconsin.”
Even though it’s a price-point bike, it’s not a rigid which would cut the cost considerably. There’s a simple explanation for that and it involves the road surface or lack of in the Chicago area. “Oh yeah, the roads around here, forget about it. We need bridges over the potholes,” said Marty. “A Softail is the only way to go.” Included in the price point is a drivetrain consisting of an 88” RevTech coupled via a 3” open belt primary to a 6-speed Ultima tranny. “I’m an S&S guy myself or Harley, but the RevTech winds up being a pretty good product. They’ve really improved,” he said.
So how does it ride? “Oh beautiful, actually. It’s the Softail suspension combined with springs in the seat so it rides really comfortably. It’s an easy bike to ride, easy to handle. It’s not the one I’d take on a long road trip, but it certainly does what it’s supposed to do ― hop on and go bar to bar and you look good on it and it’s cool lookin’,” said Marty. “People really like it and women really like it. I’ve sold some to women because the bike is easy to handle, it’s not that heavy and they just like the look of it. I’m building one now for a woman who runs a bar with drag bars on it. She’s gonna ride it around with the bar’s name on it and the bar’s colors, so it really appeals to women too.”
Making a bike easy and comfortable to ride and handle is important to Marty as he said, “I make the bike fit every customer. If you want the high bar, I’ll do it, whatever you want, but I’ll make it fit you ― the bars, the controls, and the seat all made to them.”
Snake Alley Customs does a hell of a lot more than just this production bobber and was one of the first shops that made customizing Harleys a priority back when most were ground-up or get out type of businesses. “We still do a ton of custom Harleys, I love doing Harley stuff. I’ve got Harley dealers here that tell people to ‘take it over to Snake Alley and they’ll really customize your bike’ rather than just bolt-on stuff,” said Marty. “I don’t ruin a bike. I keep the Harley flavor and try not to go with what everybody else is doing like the ape hangers and 21” and 23” front tire on baggers. I try and stay away from that, my front tires are 200s and 180s and I like the big fat bars and fat pipes. It ends up being a slick bike that doesn’t look like every other Harley.”
For a whole different view of Snake Alley’s work, check out their Harley trike feature for a different take on three wheels. Click here.
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