From the split rocker boxes to the stunningly delicate foot controls, there’s a lot to take in. Every piece of Nate’s mechanical porn could stand on its own as a work of art. It’s so stinking clean you could safely perform surgery on it if you could ever get anybody to consider having their surgery done on a Shovelhead. No, I don’t know any reason why someone would, but if push came to shove, Nate’s engine looks about as immaculate as any Shovel or other engine could ever be. Even the beautiful shorty pipes stay within the engine room limits. Tight and tidy only begins to describe what’s going on here.

 

  On the other side of the bike, things look the same, yet totally different. There’s a more raw look with the open-as-open-can-be Belt Drives Ltd. primary. A bit of the dark side to counter the ungodly sparkle of the right side. You can’t help but like the beefy, yet readily handy hand shifter and Nate made it even more likeable by hooking it up to a BAKER Drivetrain 4-speed kicker tranny. Hey, four speeds are all you need on a bit of a bobber with S&S’ 93-inch modern and powerful interpretation of a favorite Harley engine from what was once considered The Motor Company’s dark days. With the preponderance of Shovels in bobbers today, you’d never know they had a reputation that wasn’t always kind to them. No more.  

 

  But, it would be a dishonor to Nate and his crew, Buck Howard and Jenn “Sweet” Brown, to not check out the rest of the bike as there’s as much or more going on around the engine that will make you unknowingly drool a bit as you check it out. Take the highly-polished stainless frame for instance, now there’s a piece of art that only gets nicer and nicer the more you check it out. Beautiful lug work, hand made mounts and rear axle plates that refuse to hide their beauty go a long way to showing the capabilities of the Murfreesboro Three. They don’t take the easy way or the standard way to solve typical build problems, but they take their way and the end result is stunning.

 

   Everybody loves a springer and it would have been easy just to modify an aftermarket unit and nobody might be the wiser. But, the route Nate took with his own design really takes a springer to an interesting technical level. I love stuff you have to look at to understand how it works and Nate got me on the springer that he’s made up of many fabricated bits like the one-off triple clamps that reach out to the two-piece forward legs and rein all the beauty in for a practical purpose. Unlike most springers, you have to find the spring which is almost buried in front of the steerer tube. I have no idea if this fork was designed for a specific purpose or just to be beautifully different, but breaking out of the standard springer design takes confidence and guts as there’s simply a ton of work that went into it.

 

  Even little things like the fuel tank don’t hit you as something different particularly until you notice things like the tank inserts that support the graphics. I assumed that the brass screw heads were there merely for decoration at first until I stopped being lazy and saw those inlaid panels being held on by them. Nothing superfluous going on here and I really should have known better. Nate’s not about making two-wheeled furbelows.

 

  For paint, Nate sought out the legendary Buck of Buckwild Designs in Covina, California when it came time to cover up the limited bodywork. Buck did his usual spectacular work creating a paintjob that’s got a lot going on, but doesn’t look the least bit busy doing it. The closer you get the more it strikes you in the side of your head with tasteful graphics laid over sun-catching flake. Frankly, this bit of retro paint would look good on just about any bike short of a big bodywork dresser in my opinion. Another little piece of outside artistry is the leather sprung seat by Adam Croft of Last Ride Customs. Nothing over the top or fighting with other design elements, Adam just whipped up a really nice covering worthy of Harlot’s build.

 

   All in all, it’s one tasty bit of bobberdom that should make Nate and his crew proud as hell. Somehow I’ve got to figure out how to get a ride on this bike when it’s done its show duty. Besides being a build with one mind blowing detail after another, it sure looks like a fun ride. A beautiful, yet bad-ass bobber that will never go out of style.

 

 For more information on what Nate’s up to, click on http://harlotcycles.com/ or check out Harlot’s Facebook page.