When he received the bike, Walt disassembled it right away. He then sent the stock Shovelhead motor to Connecticut Performance Center for a complete rebuild. A little later the motor was brought back to the shop and weighed considerably less than when it left. “Van didn’t want a big bore kit, he wanted the motor strong and quick, but appearing stock,” Walt said. The 74” was...

     All I have to do to justify my appreciation for custom Harley builders from the other side of the Pacific is to point out our stunner of a Shovelhead feature bike called GangStar from Ken Nagai of Ken’s Factory located in Nagoya City in Japan’s Aichi prefecture and also at Ken’s new American facility in Signal Hill, California. Is that thing a pip or what? Strange as it may...

      Built by Tim Scates for his daughter (she must be pretty hard core) it’s called Amy’s Twisted Bobber and one look at the downtube on Tim’s custom frame and I think you get the picture. But, it’s not what you think. Nope, Tim didn’t twist that, but found it. It’s a forged bit of 1.5-inch solid steel from the 1800s that’s been repurposed into the beefy round-tubing rigid frame....

     To me anyway, purple is one of those dangerous colors that can make or break a paintjob. Use the wrong hue or maybe too much of it and it’s only satisfying to purple freaks of which there are quite a few of you out there. Many times I had people ask, “What Harleys have you got in purple?” That was the most important question, not what model or the cost, but was it available in...

 Today’s feature bike comes from the fertile mind of Scott Fuchs AKA Scott Foxx out of Capone’s Street Rod Motorcycles in Shelbyville, Indiana. For comparison’s sake, here’s the link (Click here my friends) to our other Smoke Out dual-drive bobber we showcased a couple days ago. Both of these bobbers have a rare take on final drive probably just because the builders can that...

  So yeah, this bike connects with me on all my levels with a touch of the past infused with the present and showcased like the best metal smith that existed in the 19th century might have built if he somehow got his hands on a Knucklehead. Normally anything with a Knuckle has the engine as its prime focus, but that is not strictly the case here. Cristian is properly respectful and...

     When I think about it, they actually did figure out how to roll back time with a Panhead bobber so traditional in style and finish that you gotta love it for exactly what it is sitting in front of you. It’s built the way I remember the rare radical builds I ran into when gasoline and Harleys were first invented I think, well, at least it seems that way. And, none of those...

     Everybody loves a Panhead. Harley’s revered icon of post-war production lead the company into a new future that still endures some seven-decades later. But, if you think a Panhead’s a Panhead like the lovely mill you see before you, you are wrong/not wrong at the same time. That lovely black Panhead engine is a true Panhead-style engine, it’s just that it’s not got a bit of...

    In high school I was one of three or four kids who rode a motorcycle to school. I never understood why nobody was really interested in them and back then it kinda made you odd-man-out in many ways. A girl-friend’s parent sure treated you differently if you pulled up on a motorcycle to take their daughter out on a date, but if I stole my father’s Bonneville convertible, it was,...

      What I really like about this bike even though it just might be a bit flashy for my conservative taste is that this thing is not some trailer queen/show-only special, but a real rider that someone very thoughtfully built with an Old School feel and safe and sane modern upgrades that don’t hurt the Old School experience in any way. From my own imperious point of view, they...