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  What I’m seeing is a bike that I personally don’t characterize as a board tracker or a skinny wheel bobber or whatever typical category something like this would be placed in. Nope, what I’m seeing is a motorcycle that looks like a 3-D line drawing of what an absolute minimalist hot rod with two wheels looks like. The finished result looks as pure as a black and white sketch of a future bike that’s come to life exactly as it was simply drawn. Everything from frame tubing sizes to wheel and tire diameter to bodywork is just enough to exactly do the job that’s needed without one ounce of anything unnecessary.
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    Don’t believe me? Take a look at that rigid frame. There’s not a lot going on there other than what’s needed and the lines alone dictate the perfect stance of this bike. Nothing outrageous dimensionally, the fairly step neck keeps the always pretty chromed springer short and sweet. And, most importantly, the design is kept tight. Just likeGoldmember said to Austin Powers,  Tight like a tiger.” The tall26-inch Metalsport LA Lace wheels, front and rear, compliment this real-life line-drawing and really accentuate the look of a laced wheel in this large airy size. The frame’s light and airy, the shiny springer is light and airy the wheels are light and airy, the oil tank looks like it’s just hanging in air, and even the way the engine and transmission are separated, but connected by an open single chain primary to each other adds to the light and airy feel. It’s all there and kind of bolted, but floating around in air. Where’s all the other filler stuff most bikes seem to have? All I can say is that it’s not on this bike and Robbie knew exactly what and only what was necessary to make this bike a spectacular fun runner.
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  I do love that Robbie kept a bit of sane practicality to his creation with foregoing the hip show route of no-front brake. Personally, I like the mechanicalness of things and disc brakes are part of a bike so don’t remove or hide them, let them have their time in the sun too. Even though that front caliper isn’t the latest Brembo monoblock radial, it’s still a hell of a lot better than nothing especially when you combine it with the rear sprocket brake. Needless to say, a too much brake on a bike with tires this skinny might just lock them up at the twitch of a finger. I’m totally cool with this setup as my right hand still tries to find a brake lever on front-brakeless bikes no matter how much time I spend on them.
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   Knuckleheads are just theSophia Loren of Harley-Davidson engines. They may not be quite as advanced or as powerful as more modern models, but nothing looks like them and like Sophia, they’re as real as you can get. They’re all S-curves, finning,  and castings where engines now are efficient, attractive, but never gorgeously beautiful. This is not a 100-point restored Kucklehead, but kind of Robbie’s intelligent design version with a late modelS&S Super Stock crankcase instead of the expected generator style with all its lovely finned side covers. I like it as the combo of old and new melding into a purposeful piece that doesn’t look like it was Frankensteinized into some stitched-together bastard of an engine. Actually it’s rather clean and that fits in with the rest of the design. Plus I adore Knuckleheads whether old, new, or something in between.
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  Paint can make or break a motorcycle as we all know. Since there’s really not much acreage to paint here other than the custom Sporty-style tank, a round oil tank and a slim-to-none rear fender, graphics would only muddle up the mininamlist lines. What Robbie chose to do is possibly theonly time I ve not hated a Mystic Chameleon paintjob. It was a great idea when it first came out, butafter seeing my first Mystic Mustang, I’d seen enough. The idea of paint changing color as the light hits it sounds great on paper and it really does change color as you move around it, but I never saw one color out of the huge spectrum that I’d actually pick by itself. Here, Robbie gets a pass from me as there’s so little paint surface that the Mystic Chameleon paintjob just gives a hint of change instead of a huge splash of color. Hey Robbie, at least this is the very first time I didn’t say I hate this type of paint and frankly, you should take that as a compliment on your choice. Hey, it’s the only nit I had to pick on this lovely ride and I’m usually very annoyingly picky.
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 Robbie Closson is obviously a very talented guy with an eye for detail and a bunch of good taste. His shop, Holy City Designs, is completely equipped tochange your oil and do a tuneup as well as customize your Motor Company stocker or build you a ground-up classic like this cute little number we’ve featured here. For more info on Holy City Design, just slide your cursor to the right and click onhttp://www.holycitydesigns.com/.