Especially when it’s a Softail-style frame with modest frame dimensions and what’s now come to be the all-important seat shock sprung saddle. As anybody who’s ridden a lowered Softail can attest, the ride is horrible with minimal suspension travel out back. Mounting a thin saddle directly to the frame makes for a teeth-chattering ride. But, install a couple of seat shocks and the whole thing is transformed beyond all belief. Ride comfort goes way up while ride quality and safety are enhanced over a rigid to the point there’s no comparison. Yeah, I know, there’s always a seat with springs, but they compress under weight and really don’t offer much comfort.

 

   Now I know all this talk about comfort and safety and handling are boring the average reader to death and you’re all thinking, “Just man up you sissy!” You might be right on all counts, but I really, really like clipping along at a good pace on a bobber as their somewhat compact dimensions and power to weight ratio brings out the hooligan in me. Give me a nice set of back roads and a minimum of traffic while zipping along with not much more than two wheels and an engine, the very definition of a motorcycle, and life’s good ─ real good.

 

   Barnett’s Magazine Online’s feature bike belongs to a Mr. Carlos Salsa of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I should say right up front that that’s about all I know about Carlos other than he won the Extreme Bobber Class at this year’s Daytona Rat’s Hole Show and that he’s a past winner with other bikes. So, he’s got a good pedigree, builds or buys great bikes and he loves to get out of Canada in the winter for the warm weather and the show spoils in Florida. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine unless you are the Carlos Salsa and if you are, you already know all the information I’m lacking.

 

  But that’s all by the by as you’ve got Jack Cofano’s always lovely photos to peruse if you’re a bobber freak like me. I really, really love that Carlos didn’t take the easy way out with a rigid frame, but chose to incorporate a little modern technology with design that has all the good looks of a rigid with none of the styling downside things rear suspension can bring along for the ride. By the way, the chromed frame is perfectly over the top for this particular bike for some reason I still can’t fathom. This bike just looks like it’s moving just sitting there and movement in design while static leads the brain to wanting to experience that in real life. Other than the too-high-for-diminutive-me apes, I can see me (in my head anyway) riding the hell out of it with a sh*t-eating grin on my face.

 

  I don’t know if the relatively big S&S Superstock 113-inch engine is absolutely necessary, but I gotta admit I’m looking at it with a totally open mind. I’ve ridden enough 113s to say that the ones I rode were surprisingly smooth and useful all things considered. If they’re set up right for the intended use, they’re a fun engine with tons of power for any occasion. Speaking of fun, the FSD (Frankie Serrano Designs) exhaust has all the intensity of a giant church organ at full blast but without the slightest bit of piety. It’s a short uninterrupted outlet that lets you know exactly what’s taking place inside that engine’s combustion chambers. One unfortunate aspect of these is that you might drive more sensibly because anyone and everyone will know when you’re out clowning around. I’m going with good on them, though, as I’d just muddle through town until I got to where I could let my freak flag fly.

 

  I’ve got a feeling that ol’ Carlos is the same way as he’s got a relative shipload of braking onboard just in case he gets mesmerized by the combo of S&S and FSD doing their thing. Triple Brembos all around! I like to imagine Carlos was like Rodney Dangerfield in the college bookstore in Back To School yelling, “Hey folks, it’s on me. Shakespeare for everyone!” except this involved Italy’s famous brake maker Brembo and not that dead English guy. Plus the S&S/FSD combo is kinda like a twist of Teddy Roosevelt’s famous foreign policy of “Speak softly and carry a big stick. This modern version says, “Speak loudly, very loudly (FSD) and carry a big-ass-caliber weapon (S&S).” Well at least that’s the way I see it.

 

   Carlo’s fit and finish is way out of my mind’s bobber league with an engine clean and shiny enough to do surgery with by a definitely demented doctor. But, it is surgically clean and shiny. It’s probably not a surprise when I say I’ve never owned a paintjob as involved as his. For a bike with the absolute minimalist bodywork and still street legal, there’s quite a tale going on in the graphics. I like skull stuff to, but Carlos has got me beat by a mile ─ even his skulls have skulls for decoration. There’s a lot of skullin’ going on everywhere you look. Sorry I don’t know who to give credit to for the paintwork, but you know who you are and that’s all that really counts isn’t it? Probably not.

 

   So yeah I love bobbers. Some friends of mine just refer to them as jalopies, but I take that as an insult to say the least. No you’re not going to successfully do an Iron Butt ride on one unless yours really is, but they’re sure fun as hell to bomb around on a beautiful day. The “tight is right” formula of modern day bobbers just makes so much sense for a bar hopper, cruiser, or hooligan. Every bobber I’ve ridden had its own personality even when they were production custom versions just like every horse has their own personality. Some might be better than others, but they’re all a treat to ride.

 

  Oh, and one last thing. Did anybody figure out what the crowns mounted inside the forks by the top of the tire were for?