Like his others, this bike is for sale. It’s Ben’s personal bike, and he rides it all the time. “It’s my every day bar hopper so to speak. I’ve probably got around 5,000 miles on it now. I finished it last March, so I’ve had it a little over a year now,” he said. Beginning with a 1949 Panhead he bought from “a guy in...

Building an eye catcher is what custom bikes are all about. “In most towns, this would be the coolest bike in town. If most towns are like Des Moines, when you go to a bike night the coolest bike you’re gonna see is the Softail with tons of bolt-on chrome,” said Al. “Something like this little bobber will blow it out of the water. There’s nothing better than a blacked-out,...

An advantage to this bike is it will never rust as rain is a word they do not know in the Arabian Sheikdom of Abu Dhabi. Another advantage is with petrol prices at 30-cents a litre, one can make a detour in this fantastic metropolis to take in all the highlights, which seems to grow daily. In 1960’s as the first oil was found, there were in some parts no electricity or running...

  The winner you see here was designed by Revolution Choppers of Dannenberg, Germany. They managed to find a good mix of what is both good looking and can be made street legal, as the kit must meet the tough TUV standards (Europe’s version of our DOT). They won with 18.3% of the votes. Second place with 18.2% of the votes was Markland MC from Sweden and third with 17.9% was...

SPECIFICATIONS Model/year: S&S shovel / 2008 Builder: S&S Displacement: 93 Cubic-Inch Case Polish: AQQ Carburetor: S&S Air cleaner: S&S Horn Exhaust: AQG with brass end caps Ignition: Morris Magneto Charging: Spyke Oil pump: S&S Transmission: Baker 5-speed Primary drive: Primo 3-Inch Final drive: chain Frame: AQG rigid...

  That “strong frame” is one of Bill’s rigid frames with 35 degrees of rake and holds a pair of Blings’ Smooth Narrow Glide forks. Stuffed between those legs is one of the biggest hoops you’ll find on a custom. Here’s where the “dirt” part of Asbury Dirt comes in with a 23” stainless rim laced wheel sporting a Bridgestone knobby tire, while the rear wheel is a chrome 18” rim also...

  Fred started with a ’75 XLH and let his freak flag fly, throwing everything out but the heart of it, the 1000cc unitized engine and transmission. Then, to house it, he fabricated a wild rigid frame design that not only eliminated any need for the flat iron struts so many Sportys wore in place of shocks back when, but took it a step further by eliminating any semblance of...

  Bill’s no stranger to custom Harleys having built a wicked cool Night Train custom, which he still owns, which had a fat front tire replacing the stock skinny hoop and that apparently set the stage for the design of this one. “I don’t want anything that someone else can just go out and buy. I want to be different. I liked the Exile fat tire look; Russell’s a bright guy. I think...

I try to catch myself before I start up the blabbing “back in my day” machine, but sometimes it just goes on without me. And so it does. Back in my day, Ironhead Sportsters ruled the tarmac of America with ground-pounding power, vibration only a “real man” would endure, and simple, big-cube technology straight from a tractor. None of this mattered, though, after twisting the...

  The Revolution RV 100 is based on what Martin refers to as a Parallel Plate Frame design, which is not unlike the stationary industrial machines that he makes in his day job. The idea of doing this with a motorcycle intrigued Martin as he felt it offered a lot of advantages as far as packaging and the ability to change the geometry of the design easily and quickly. “I use a lot...