Perry is unusually tall for a racing driver, so we decided to stretch the hard tail beyond the normal 4″ to 6″. A longer stretch in tandem with our DPC clip-ons mounted low would give his long arms the reach that he needed. He also wanted a scuba-style oil tank, so we modified the dual down tubes below the seat into a single tube, and bent in the upper hard-tail tubes to better align with the Biltwell Slimline seat. This extra fab work was well worth it — the end result really cleaned up the aesthetics of the frame. We decided to finish the frame in “near-chrome” powder coat to pop against the orange we were using on the tank.

We re-laced the stock wheels with new spokes and powder coated the rims in white. Then we shod them with Pirelli Sport Demon rubber so Perry could attack the mountain roads near his home. The rear fender was done with a custom-fabbed wing and finished with Perry’s racing number, 20. It doesn’t just look cool, the wind tunnel data proved that we were getting a half-pound of down force at 80mph! Just kidding.

Although the venerable Ironhead motors in these old Harleys run well enough, we knew our customer had sporting intentions and knew he needed more horsepower. So we found a rebuilt 1000cc that had been massaged to turn out 75 angry horsepower by way of hot cams, head work, a Branch intake manifold, and a Mikuni carb. We finished it off with a custom X-pipe exhaust that works great with keeping the air/fuel mixture consistent between the front and rear cylinders.

We had been calling the bike Mele the whole time as we were building it, so the name stuck. One night, while in a deep sleep, Justin had the idea to put the Mele infused stripe on the tank. The design was complete.

The finished machine pulls, brakes, and rides like a champ. As it screams by on the road it looks almost “Tron-like” and the X-Pipe sounds wicked. It was great collaborating with a cool customer on this build. We ended up with a hybrid of a cafe racer and a drag bike, and it just works.

Bike: 1979 Harley-Davidson Sportster
Engine: 1000cc Ironhead with hot cams, headwork, Branch intake manifold, Mikuni carb. angry
Exhaust: DP Customs 2-1-2 X-Pipe
Paint and graphics design: DP Customs
Frame: Stock rake, w/a 4″-stretch hard tail, modified by DP Customs to 6″, dual undersea down tubes modified to a single tube
Front Suspension: Lowered 3″
Rear suspension: Seat shocks
Seat: Biltwell Slimline
Bars: DP Customs clip-ons
Grips: Biltwell Kung-Fu
Throttle: Biltwell Whiskey
Wheels: Stock 19″ F, 16″ R
Tires: Pirelli Sport Demon
Fuel tank: Peanut
Oil Tank: Scuba
Controls: Vicious Cycle Works
Thanks: Duffee Motorsports, Ramjet Racing