Click here for more photos

Oh, that comment about “just needing a bottom end” is easy to explain. “I changed the engine quite a bit [a bit of an understatement Scott], that was the first thing actually. I don’t even think I had the engine broke in as I had planned on that. I think when I bought the Sportster you could still get them for $5,600 brand new for an 883, the 1200 was about $2,400 more. I’d kinda done the math and thought I can make it a 1200 with a Buell top end and all of this for about $900 or so and I’m saving like $1,500,” said Scott. “A good friend of mine, Fred Meyers, was a big Buell guy and had this Buell Cyclone he had done all this engine work to. I rode that thing and it was a monster, man. That’s what I wanted to do, but to a Harley.” Sure enough, Scott, with Fred’s help, turned a once mild-mannered (approximately 46rwhp) motor into the devil itself. Buell Thunderstorm heads capped 1200cc H-D cylinders filled with Wiseco 10:1 pistons along with a Buell X1 cam, Screamin’ Eagle ignition, and a 42mm Mikuni carb. “We dyno’d that thing and it was over 80 horsepower. Oh it’ll move. I like to haul ass, that’s why I built the engine the way I did. It’ll get the front wheel off the ground no-problem,” said Scott. “It’s reliable too. Before I yanked the speedo off, I was up to about 50,000, so it’s somewhere upwards of 60,000 now. That bike was built to ride― to me, it’s transportation. It runs great and nothing’s been done to it since.” I got a feeling that those Paughco upsweeps let any waiting customers know Scott’s on his way to work at Hula Moon Tattoo long before he gets there. “I don’t baby that thing, I throw it into the turns and power slide it into the parking lot,” he said.

The Paughco rigid frame definitely changed the tone of this bike from customized stocker to “Look at that thing!” in one fell swoop. The simple tubes hark back to another time and the clean lines do nothing to dissuade that train of thought. “That thing sits so low, when I went to change the primary fluid, drained it, and went to put it on my bike stand to fill it, my frame was too low for the bike stand,” said Scott. “The bike is so light I could actually hold it up with my left hand and lean it all the way over and pour the fluid in. I’m a pretty scrawny guy ― I’m 6’1” and weigh160 pounds ― so it shows we really got the weight off it.” A 21” wire-spoked wheel wearing a classic Avon Speedmaster sits up front with braking courtesy of H-D while the stock, solid Harley rear wheel is missing in action. “That 13-spoke wheel came of a Dyna Glide I believe. That was sitting around my buddy Roadside’s dad’s shop, laying on the floor. It was free, you can’t beat that,” said Scott. Along with the stock rear wheel, the stock H-D brakes are gone, replaced with a Performance Machine set of binders.

For the tins, Scott chose a Paughco teardrop fuel tank as it fit the look he was going for without creating a theme time machine. “I think a machine should be just what it is. I hate it when people try to make a new bike look like a Panhead with those covers they make now, I hate that. I didn’t want to make it look like it was trying to be a Shovel or an Ironhead or anything like that. Hey, this is just an Evo Sporty,” said Scott. “That’s one of Pat Patterson’s Led Sleds’ oil tanks (www.ledsledcustoms.com) and that was another thing I got from Roadside. Tommy Leonard fabbed the mounting brackets on there and mounted it up. Tommy is one of Roadside’s buddies who has done a lot of fab work for him He’s just a good old boy with a behind-his-house shop out in the sticks. He’s a really talented welder who did all the fab work on this bike.” The fender is an aluminum unit that will probably be changed soon as Scott has a bit of disbelief in his voice that it’s still there after he said it was super thin. “Once again, Roadside’s got a really cool ‘70s fender that fits the Avon better, it’s steel and heavy and strong. Probably chrome that,” said Scott. “I don’t like a lot of chrome, but it does look great on that thing.”

When it came time for paint, Scott knew where he wanted to go. “I’ve always had a thing for blue metalflake. I play drums and the first drum kit I had was a ’68 or so Pearl kit that was blue with a silver sparkle in it and I just always liked that. I knew I was going to have a white Bates-style seat. That’s a West-Eagle seat on there ‘cause I ain’t paying $1,200 for a Bates seat when I can get a seat for $8- from West-Eagle (www.west-eagle.com). Yeah, a white seat and blue flake,” said Scott. “I was going to paint it myself, but Roadside Marty said, ‘I don’t know if you wanted to shoot this thing, but I was gonna surprise you for your birthday. I talked to Bob Bordeaux of French Kiss Customs and I’m just going to get you a paint job for your birthday.’ Anyway, I just told Bob I wanted blue with silver flake and do whatever he wanted to do,” said Scott. “When I got the box from Bob and opened it up, I was flabbergasted. He did the old cob web technique. It was beautiful.”

Scott ended our conversation saying, “I’ve always been a Sportster guy. I like going fast and I’ve ridden just about everything from Harley and Panheads are cool to ride, but something that old I’d be bored to death with. This was a budget build and I tried to stick within my parameters, like ‘Hey I don’t have a lot of money, so how cheap can I get that?’ Oh yeah, I’ve still got the stock Sportster swingarm frame that I’m planning on doing something with one of these days if I come across like a cheap bike.” Yup, that sounds about right as most people after getting their first custom build start planning the next. Sorta like getting your first tattoo― then another, then another . . .