This Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail is owned by Nate Ullrich of Clinton, Iowa, and modeled here by his lovely wife Theresa. Nate built the bike in his garage. “I did all the assembly, and everything was my idea,” he said. “My friend, Panhead Mike of Suicycles, raked the neck six-degrees. Mike Gulick laid out the marble paint job. Jody Grogan of Performance V-Twin powdercoated the frame and Ken Burden did some custom engraving. Sleepy helped on some electrical problems, and Patrick Jones helped over the years with various welding needs.”

Nate has always “loved the low seat height of the Evo Softails and with the rear lowered two-inches this bike feels even better. Ape hangers are very popular in the Midwest, and my bike features 18” bars on 3” risers. The ape hanger/sissy bar combination is common on bikes that my friend Joe Tracy has built over the years, and this bike is loosely based off his style.”

Few build go off without a hitch, however, and Nate’s was no different. “The engine — I’ve been through three engines on this bike, but this 100” RevTech has held up as the best of all of them. I’ve got over 60,000 miles on this one, and the only problem so far had been a seized lifter, which chewed up the can lobe too,” he said, adding that he’s torn up three or four primary belts over the years, and suffered “a small electrical fire once.” Also, “A few broken cables and a chewed up primary pulley have left me stranded a few times.”

Fortunately, the rides and handles great. “It’s a different world getting behind these tall bars, and when I’m riding down the road hand jamming the jockey shifter, it truly expresses the freedom in the wind,” he said.

Using this bike as mostly highway cruiser, Nate said, “I’m not into riding around town like each stoplight is a bike show. If I’m going to start my bike, I want to put at least a hundred miles on it. The big-inch motor has plenty of power at the throttle, which is nice when passing 18-wheelers, but I’m not into seeing how fast I can take it and beating the hell out of it. I like a simple cruising speed whenever possible. I have over 100,000 miles on the bike, so I’d say I’ve ridden it quite a bit. I bought it new in November of 1996, so nearly every mile on the odometer was handled myself. I rode it to Sturgis numerous times, to Daytona once, and to many bike rallies around the Midwest.”

“This is my 4th bike build. If you want to count the number of bikes I’ve torn apart and changed over the years, the number would be considerably higher,” Nate said. “I currently own eight bikes, but this was my daily rider for about ten years. Now I ride a Road King for daily transportation.”

What up next for Nate? “I have a Softail chopper in pieces, an FXR project, a Shovel basket case, and a Knuckle basket case,” he said. “I’m not sure which one I’ll tackle first. Probably the chopper, since it’s nearly complete already.”