When Mark Barnett first handed me the pictures for this feature, my eyebrows almost shot off my forehead as it began to sink in exactly what I was looking at. I gotta admit I’ve got a penchant for fast, sporty bikes and this one sure caught my eye. The aggressive style immediately had me mentally riding it hard down a twisty road and then I noticed the cylinder heads that today...

  Delighted to compete in the build-off using S&S’ three-cam X-Wedge motor, Mike had to have it in his shop before he could build the frame because of the new motor’s wider mounting footprint. The 117” fuel-injected motor, the X-Wedge, was built completely in the 21st century. “I absolutely love the X-Wedge motor, it’s so powerful and so smooth. It’s solid mounted in the...

  Branko knew that S&S was founded in 1958 and kept an eye out for parts he might be able to use from that year on his custom. He didn’t have to look far, in the back of his shop he had an original ’58 Harley frame. A while ago Branko had planned to chop the frame and fit it with a ’64 Panhead, but the customer changed his mind and the frame was mothballed. “I thought it would...

  Dave’s 1950 H-D EL Panhead bobber, Old School, is a textbook example of what he’s talking about. Using vintage parts in a timeless design crosses every boundary of customs and makes anybody with the least bit of motorcycle DNA in their blood want to take it out for a spin and actually experience what Old School was really all about, both the good and the bad. One thing that...

Joe Yezzi, owner of this sleek 1975 FLH called Low Lucy, harbors no ill will towards the AMF era and said, “I’m a traditionalist, I have an old soul. I like the OEM Old School stuff and I’m a big Shovel fan. I’d rather buy three Shovelheads than a new model. I got no problem putting AMF on the bike, it is what it is. People are now doing anything they can to get the old decals that...

    Frankly, knobby tires on a hardtail custom actually made more sense to me than trying to maneuver a no-fun-to-ride 360mm rear tire around a huge parking lot. And even though it did seem a little shocking at the time, big off-road Harleys had been around a long time. Hey, who hasn’t seen one of those old WWII –era film clips of rigid frame Harley-Davidsons being skillfully and...

      Coming up with the perfect chopper formula was probably quite a bit easier (and tougher) when the owner is none other than The Horse Backstreet Choppers’ editor, David “Englishman” Gregory. For some funny reason, I’d dare venture a guess that Englishman, with all his exposure to vintage choppers over the years, had quite a bit of say in what and where this build was going to...

     The new unitized-construction 30hp 750cc 4-cam side valve twin was a heavily revised version of the old WL 45 twin. It didn’t take long before it was stroked to 888cc and putting out a respectable 40 horses or so. There were both street and race models straight from the factory and the beautiful and famous KR road racers and dirt trackers raced and won against the Brits in the...

  The inspiration for this vintage build was to create something that would show his respect and admiration for his dad, Bernie Walksler, who has encouraged and supported him throughout his career. It all started a couple of years ago when Dale discovered a pile of rare 1936 Knuckle parts at a swap meet. Using an early Harley-Davidson VL frame and the legendary 1936 Knucklehead...