Even with approximately 3,700 miles between Stockholm and where I’m writing from on Cape Cod, nothing was lost in translation as far as building a bad ass Harley-powered custom trike. If somebody told me this trike was straight out of Hoot Owl (pop. 4), Lotsee (pop.2), or Shady Grove (pop.2), Oklahoma, I wouldn’t doubt it for a minute. That trike and its owners along with a hell of a lot of European American V-twin bike owners make me feel more European than American with their More-American-than-Americans- could-seemingly-ever-be attitude. They make a conscious effort to live the American way of life and they do it extremely well despite the 3,700 mile (or more depending on your reading location) difference with all the built in cultural hardships long-range mileage entails.

For Febe’s husband, Peter Ström, this isn’t his first Barnett’s Magazine Online rodeo as we featured a Sporty he built for his also–lovely stepdaughter Janine this spring. But this is a whole different build and one that has a lot of special meaning to both Febe and Peter. “This is my personal bike Peter built for me and the idea for the trike is all my husband’s and a little bit of mine. We wanted to show that we could build a good looking trike that is more like a long, clean, and low chopper than a trike,” said Febe. “We also built it to make it work well for me since I have a muscle disease that makes me unable to drive a conventional motorcycle. The solutions that we came up with make it easier for me to ride and allow me to be on the road with my husband and friends.” Yup, it’s a three-wheeled love letter from Peter to Febe that can be really appreciated on those 20-plus hours of daylight during Stockholm’s summer.

Instead of starting from an old Servi-Car’s carcass (and its ancient Flathead engine), Peter drew up a radical frame and had the lads at Calles Chopperdelar Sweden in Moheda, Sweden, whip it up into a three-dimensional three-wheeler chassis. With a 42-degee rake and an additional 6-degrees in the trees, Febe was destined to have her radical chopper look by hook or by crook. An 18”-over DNA Bullet fork cradles a 21” 40-spoke wheel while out back a couple of pretty fat 295/50X15”Hanook car tires mounted on hot-roddy (Is roddy a real word? Probably not, sorry, but you get the drift.) five-spoke car mags (some photos in the gallery show the earlier steel rims). CCS also hooked Peter up with a bunch of other parts like the oil tank, bars, and more. Other little hot-roddy touches Peter chose were things like the spinner gas cap on the long 4-gallon fuel tank and the MOON clutch cover.

After rebuilding the engine out of an FXR to basically stock specs, Peter added a few little pieces to make it special like the you-couldn’t-miss-it-if-you-tried FSD Inferno hot-roddy (there’s that word again, if I use it enough it may get in a dictionary) exhaust and something really special for Bebe, an EFM auto clutch. In case you’re not familiar with an EFM auto clutch, well let’s get what it isn’t out of the way first. It’s not like the belt driven clutch you drove at the local go-kart arcade, it performs like a regular old hand clutch in operation. It’s not an automatic transmission as you still have to manually shift each gear. It’s not a gimmick, but was born out of drag racing so it performs well and performs reliably. For a lot of people with some sort of physical hassle, it’s a god send as Febe said, “The auto clutch is really a cool part and makes my driving so much easier. I just release the throttle and switch gears.”

Peter and Febe came up with a lot of special touches like the numerous brass pieces and parts scattered about the bike topped off by real brass knuckles. “I just love my real brass knuckles in the rear that we found at an arms exhibition and my foot pegs that are look-alike brass knuckles I bought in the US,” said Febe. “Also I like all the texts on the bike which can be annoying for some people.”

Final assembly was done by Peter and Kenta Falkered of Ace Performance (Ace has had bikes in the AMD Show in Sturgis) while paintwork was another collaboration. Peter had ideas of how he wanted it to look and basically that included no paintwork in a traditional sense. Basically Peter wanted a raw metal finish with some gold leaf graphics all covered in clear coat by Airbrush Studio Stockholm. Peter also whipped up the seat that I have to look at twice to see how it works, but I gotta assume it does.

The trike has turned out to be an unqualified success according to Febe with many wins at local shows including three first places in three years at Easyriders bike shows in Vega/Stockholm. “From the beginning we didn’t know if the trike would work for me so I’d like to say that that the whole trike makes me happy and that it turned out so much better than we even hoped. It handles like a go-kart, it’s smooth to ride, fast, and very reliable,” said Febe. “Peter and I have traveled around Sweden on our vacation both on the mainland and the beautiful island of Gotland and I use it to travel to and from work in the summertime. With all of that, going to shows, and just riding around with friends for coffee and such, I put at least 4,000 miles every season on it.”

So what’s next Peter? You’ve got a long, dark, almost sunless winter coming up and I expect the lights and the Jøtul wood stove to be burning in your shop.