Personally, I really liked this fun ride as soon as Sedrick “Mitch” Mitchell sent me a couple of photos to see if I would be interested in it for publication. Silly Mitch, of course I would as it’s cool, custom, and looks ready for riding all at the same time. This bike just looks like sassy fun on two wheels without going over the top.

Ricki built this bike at his dad’s shop in just two weeks so he could ride with his parents to European Bike Week at Faak am See in Austria. With that kind of short time frame it was a good thing he started with a low-mileage ’98 Sporty as he made more changes than are readily apparent at first glance. “I worked late hours and finished the bike the night before we were going to leave. I had all the ideas in my head and my dad helped me by having all the parts in stock,” said Ricki. “It was a great feeling to take it for the first ride that evening. I am not very tall so it fits me perfectly. It’s low and fun to ride.”

I mentioned there was a lot more work involved than you might guess and anyone who’s actually torn apart and built a bike knows what I’m talking about. Ricki tore off the stock front end and replaced it with a DNA springer cradling a chubby-cool 16” powdercoated red front wheel sporting a wide white-wall tire to match the same style he used out back. The high-mounted headlight and new set of low bars definitely gave it the old bobber look he was going for. And, in true bobber fashion, he bobbed the rear fender to show off a little more of the rim’s red goodness. Up front he installed a new brake setup while re-using the stock Sporty’s rear brake as is.

Yeah, for all you online gripers out there just waiting to pounce, the bodywork wasn’t radical, but remember he did have just two weeks and frankly, it looks nice just as it is. In this short time period, he managed to paint the tank, fenders, and round air cleaner in gloss black with orange and white striping. Obviously Ricki has good taste as he tastefully mounted up a set of old-style metal Harley tank badges that look good on just about anything as far as I’m concerned. Nice.

With other details like whipping up a header wrapped exhaust, finding the right taillight, installing lower Progressive Suspension rear shocks, solo seat, and some of the whacky-coolest front turn signals I’ve ever seen out of the way, he still had to reassemble it all correctly for the ride. Remember this was finished the night before leaving and nobody wants to ride along with somebody fixing and adjusting their bike the whole way. Hey, we’ve all been there on one side of that fence or the other and that’s a pain in the ass for everybody. Besides, Ricki didn’t want to let his dad down about his apprenticeship.

So how did it ride? “Just perfect. It was so much fun in the mountains of Austria, “ he said. “It was comfortable and easy to handle and I could ride it easily without hands as it tracked so well.”

Unfortunately this is not Ricki’s personal bike as it’s owned by the shop. That doesn’t deter him a bit, though, as he rides the pee out of it every chance he gets. “I will be finished my training as a motorcycle mechanic in 2015 at my dad’s shop. In the meantime I’m saving my money to build my own bike. I will build another Sportster Evo, but in another style with a 250mm rear tire. Something low and wide.”

Yup, take that statistics mongers. Harleys will always have appeal to not just us old people, but to the people who are young just like we once were. And so it goes . .