Every one of his builds reflects the name of his shop, Widowmaker Custom Design & Repair in Rougemount, North Carolina, right back at you at first sight of pretty much all of his builds. There’s a bit of intentional scary in every one. Whether it’s something as drag-bike whack as his Mushu Suzie feature bike or his almost conventional charity bike that raised a nice chunk of change for families with children in need, Hank would like to take his skills and blow the last build out of the water with not a tinge of regret. Although he’s damn proud of everything he’s accomplished so far in a highly competitive custom bike business (and he really seems like a nice, genuine guy who happens to have a lot of talent), he’s really only interested in what’s going to happen tomorrow. You only get past new levels by living on the edge and that’s exactly what he’s doing with custom motorcycles. That’s especially good for us now as stock Harleys seem to rolling through his shop steadily and nicely customized on their way out.

     So where to begin with this crazy piece of work that looks like it was built around the idea of a lime green Road Runner with an Air Grabber hood scoop turned into a motorcycle? Well, that’s strictly my interpretation anyway, but I don’t think I’m too far off. It’d have to be that wicked drop seat Widowmaker frame that makes the chassis as much a part of the build as anything else. Up front, the frame lines are tight around the engine while aft of the engine there’s a whole new sub-platform that’s unlike any production bike you’ll ever run into. The result is a bike that says power and rad custom in one sentence. The trellis-like rear end might just get an approval from the head of Ducati, but its main purpose, besides looking cool, was to allow for a fat tire. Nothing too crazy, mind you, just the right amount of fat like if Sofia Vegara became a motorcycle tire for some unfathomable reason.

    Up front a springer fork sits comfortably at a decent rake for both looks and handling. Sorry to say that this springer wasn’t Hank’s first choice although there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. He had been building a radical design girder fork, but I’d have to guess it might have been a bit too radical. Hank does expect all of his bikes to be ridden and even though he could have had an extreme one-off show fork for looks and nobody would have been wiser, he took the prudent way out. No surprise there as if there ever was a hooligan custom just begging to have its neck wrung, it’s this bad boy.

    Hank may have a crazy streak in him, but he’s not crazy. Take the front and rear brakes, for example, most everybody just skips a front brake for the ‘cool’ look, but not Mr. Thibodeau. Four-pot calipers and dual rotors haul in the 23-inch laced wheel up front and the fat rear 18-incher Hank’s worked over to make it his own. The rear wheel is so sitting out there on its own without a bit of bodywork trying to hide part of it. Okay, the big oil tank is mounted in front of it, but that’s not going to do a lot of fending. Anyway, sitting way back there with not a ton of weight directly on it, it’s not only cool looking, but it’s gotta be great for burnouts hanging that far back.

   Big burnouts could easily come courtesy of the 1987 Harley-Davidson FXR that gave up its 1340ccc Evo engine to a greater cause or maybe just because it was lying around. It doesn’t matter as Hank completely went through the engine with a few peppy parts added to make the Evo as peppy as a puppy. Oh you know things like Wiseco 10:1 pistons, an Andrews EV27 cam, and a big stinkin’ twin-choke Webber updraft carb sitting on a fabricated intake. I got the Mopar thing going again on the manifold as it looks like Hank might have been influenced by the ultra long Cross Ram manifold on a 413 Chrysler Max Wedge engine. Topping that off is one of the nutty-coolest scoops and F/X drag car would be proud to wear down the quarter-mile. I just wonder if it’s like riding with a ventriloquist dummy on your lap as I’d probably have a hard time not watching that instead of the road.

    When this bike is running it’s actually got a bit of that Evo from hell sound and not because it’s running raggedly. The twin throat Webber’s uninterrupted air induction through the scoop only amplifies things a bit while the dual header pipe exhaust has boxed ends much like the scoop does. It’s all pretty wild, yet very well done. I still think Hank’s got a good sense of humor as well as his building chops. You can’t fault a guy for having some fun.

    The FXR’s old five-speed tranny left the building and was replaced by an Ultima six-speed spun by a two-inch Ultima open belt drive. Final drive is by chain so the drive train is really right up to modern day snuff. Not fearing the reaper in the least, I thought Hank converted this setup to a handshifter/foot clutch that I didn’t quite catch at first. I missed the skull shift knob and only saw a lever on the clutch side of the bars. But with a little more investigation, it’s a conventional foot shifter that has a hand shifter as part of its linkage. I’m not exactly sure where this setup would come in handy as I’d have arms flailing trying to successfully hand shift that unless I skipped the clutch altogether.

    Hank’s tank only existed in his head or in the mechanical DNA of the sheet metal he bent and shaped. There’s almost a bit more race car fuel container than sleek show motorcycle tank and that’s okay. There’s something about its shape that just fits where this build has gone. Of course slathering flat lime green paint all over it and the oil tank and finishing it off with some tasteful gold leaf graphics sure does a lot to brighten up an otherwise dark ride. Oh and there’s a bit of the lime on the engine too that has green stripes around its head just like the original 1990 Fat Boy had. Finishing this whole look off well is the dual seat shock tan leather solo saddle with a gorgeous Bone Yard Betty graphics. Oh this bike will run on the street I guarantee you.

    So young Hank Thibodeau has thrown another custom shrimp on the Barbie and it’s a looker. With every Harley build he does, Hank just gets more interesting every time. Every build starts with a clean sheet of paper even that’s only figuratively. When Hank starts thinking, “So, what’ll I do?” just back up and let him at it. Nothing should get in the way of imagination.

   For more info on Widowmaker CDR, visit http://widowmakercdr.com/ or any of the social sites. He’s a young guy and connected.