I bought this bike towards the end of 2018 as a bobber with wide beach bars are a horrible brown seat. I decided to make my mark on it and make it my own.
Only the engine is original having a Santee goosenecked softail frame. It has slab yolks holding a Harley Sportster front end while at the back it has the softail, wheel and brakes of a heritage where the belt drive has been taken off and a 34 tooth sprocket fitted.
I have replaced the beach bars for T bars, the 2 gallon Sportster tank for the bigger 3 gallon one. There is now a black leather seat. I made a new sissy bar and replace the rear fender with a trailer one made to fit.
At first the tank was scuffed up using a flap wheel, then masked of with scollops and 55, a few coats of clear with gold flake then plastered first with candy apple red then clear lacquer. While it looked great I managed to damage it within days of putting it on, I just ran with it until I could do a new one. Then my mate painted his dragster in the style of Piet Mondrian and it gave me the idea for the new paint for mine. Piet style is a white base with black lines and colours but as I wanted a black tank I reversed it so its black with white lines with the colours! It took 3 attempts to get right but well worth it.
Engine wise it came pretty much standard with the original BS34 carbs with K&N filters. It had Electixworld PMA/Ignition system but it was always hard to start and you had to use LED lights all round including the headlight, I just could not go out in the dark as I could hardly see where I was going. In the end I bought a 200 watt PMA and CDI ignition from Ant at Pipes and Stuff and not only does it start first time every time I can see in the dark.
I did buy a single carb manifold and a VM34 to fit it, but could not get it to run tidy, I also bought a twin VM34 set and that was the same, I sold the single and now with the new ignition I have fitted the twins and as I said now starts first time.
The other problem I had was it had no front fender/mudguard! I loved the look but nut the water and grit in my face every time I went for a ride. I live in Wales in the UK and its known to have quite a bit of rain up here. The front end has been made into a wide glide and I wasn’t sure if one for a Harley wide glide would fit?
Anyway I bit the bullet and bought one and when it arrived it slotted straight in. With the tank being resprayed I sent both the front and rear fenders off for powder coating in black, but before I sent the back one away to make it easier to remove and replace I drilled it and fitted rivnuts and use dome head allen bolts to fit them.
The bike was never meant or will never be a show bike! I just want to use it to get to shows. I am a freelance photographer and submit my bike and car photos to custom bike and car mags so what’s the best thing to turn up on is a custom bike. Now its all back together I just plan to get out and use it.
Submitted by Tony Smith
