Unfortunately not everybody has the time, the talent, or the treasury to tie up a bike for long periods of time. That’s why so many cash-strapped people today just throw on a set of louder pipes, a different handlebar and seat, and maybe some paint or graphics just to keep it on the road with enough left to fill the tank. Hey, they riding and having fun and that’s cool and all that, but how do you face the dreaded parking lot full of Harleys exactly like yours?

 

  Well if you’re Bob Harten of Raleigh, North Carolina, and you happen to own a 1996 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy that you’re extremely fond of, you work at it over the years until you get it right. Bob’s FLSTF has seen all the regular guy changes (pipes, seat, bars, etc.) over the years, but you can’t keep a Harley guy down when his dream is to stand out in a parking full of Harleys. So, Bob became the man with the plan and the plan was to make this Bob Harten’s Fat Boy that other bikes get lost around while not losing anything that made this bike fun to ride in the first place.

 

   Yeah, there was some serious disassembly required and yes this caused some downtime, but Bob kept this custom fairly simple in execution and downtime to a minimum. The stock factory profile was basically kept intact, but with big and little tweaks ensuring a Softail that could be correctly called unique. Getting it down to a pile of Motor Company parts led to dunking the frame and swingarm in a vat of liquid copper and set the stage for an eventual fat Boy with its own parking lot look. Lots of other choice and important style pieces like the headlight, risers, engine parts, and fender struts also took a copper dip until the warm, fuzzy feel of Atomic Number 29 ties the whole bike together in a way the hard glitz of chrome never can.

 

   With all the normal guy changes Bob made over the years incorporated into the build like pipes, wheels, mini apes, foot and hand controls, and a dandy ostrich skin solo seat, there wasn’t a lot left to do. But, before Bob got it all back together, a bit of custom paint was in order. No, no dragons, wizards, tribal, scallops, panels, two-tone paint, tri-tone paint, or metalflake designs were called upon to fight for attention. Bob let his paint play supporting actor to his copper lead and that was a great casting choice. Yeah there is the tastiest bit of pin striping and subtle Harley-Davidson graphics on the tank, but you have to look for them instead of looking away from them for being too overpowering.

 

  What Bob’s gone and done with his pile of custom motorcycle money is get just about the best custom motorcycle bang for the buck he could while still keeping this bike usable to hop on and get a pack of smokes at the local Quickie Mart without having to start a NASA-like countdown. Hell, Mr. Harten could even take off for a weekend if he could find a way to pack stuff without hurting the striking finish. All in all, this type of personalized ride is what most of us are really looking for, but are afraid to admit. This coppery Fat Boy of Bob’s just might give someone an idea or two to figure out their own not kinda unique or very unique whatever wrong use of that word is bandied about these days. Bob’s got his dibs on his style, now it’s up to the rest of us to figure out ours.