There’s a hidden joke in the name of Kent Weeks’ stubby Shovelhead Shorty.

As Kent tells it, the owner is far from being a midget. “Frank has been a customer for a long time. He’s pretty tall and most of his bikes are pretty stretched out, so he wanted something different and asked me to build a hot rod for him. This was actually the first short bike that I’ve built, even though my personal bike is a ’69 Ironhead, so it’s got a short wheelbase too.”

The build started out with the intention of assembling everything around a classic vintage-style Jammer frame that Frank already possessed. A peanut tank sits in the riders lap, as he squats on a springer saddle tooled with the inscription, “Shorty” and a checkered flag racing motif. While the kick start features prominently in giving the build its old timey look, there’s also a Tech electric starter in case you already got in your cardio workout for the day.

With a rake of 35” and stretch of 2 ¼”, Shorty isn’t going to be confused with a Buell Lightning anytime soon, and I’m guessing that the 93 ci Shovel doesn’t lend itself to crossed up power wheelies driving out of the corners. So I had to ask, “Why the steering damper?” Kent chuckled, “The steering damper is just really more for cosmetics to give it a hot rod look. It’s not like it’s actually needed.”

Wheel base wasn’t the only feature that gives Shorty its name, Kent elaborated, “Frank’s got a thing for really short pipes. So with this one we made the choice that since the engine cases and tranny cases were not fully polished or anything, we kinda decided to do stainless pipes and leave ‘em raw. Same thing with the oil line fittings. Usually I’ll polish those up but we left them raw.”

Mostly Kent prefers to keep his builds graphics-free, so the choice of paint has to be spot on in order to showcase the fab work. Personally, I’ll admit to having a special soft spot in my heart for the candy brandywine tone, since the first street bike I ever owned was a 1987 Suzuki Intruder marinated in a near identical shade, but apparently I’m not the only guy who swoons over it. Kent recalls, “There was an ’04 Road King conversion we did in this color and when Frank saw it, he immediately wanted it for Shorty too.”

Now a joy ride on the fender of a rigid is never an inviting proposition. But just in case Frank ever runs across a gal too drunk or foolish (or both) to realize how utterly miserable she’s about to become, Kent added an irresistibly juicy worm to lure her onto the hook. The skinny lil’ ass pad that silently whispers bald faced lies like, “You’ll be fine Darlin’, I’m padded for your comfort”, is paired with footpegs placed high and tight enough to pre-form the gullible “soon-to-be-bitch-that-fell-off” into a prophetic cannonball position. Despite appearances, Kent denied any sinister intentions, “Hey, the split pillion seat came about because with the ribbed fender it just seemed like the right thing to do. It’s not good for anything more than cruising around the neighborhood.”

Lack of functionality as a form of two-up transpo aside, Shorty is a clear winner as a sweet and simple design with just enough flair to give it a personality all its own. While Kent is happy to build bikes to suit his clients’ individual tastes, according to him, “This project is a lot like something I’d love to have in my own garage for a hot rod. It’s got a lot of little details, but clean and simple . . . and plenty of power. It’s all good!”

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