Now then. We call this one "BULL" – and frankly, looking at those handlebars, you'll understand why. We started with a 1996 Harley-Davidson Softail and rebuilt it entirely from scratch into what we believe is a proper chopper. We're rather pleased with how it turned out.
Let's talk about the colour, shall we? We went with AMG Green – yes, that AMG – and applied handmade ageing in our workshop to give it that proper old-school patina. We wanted it to look like something that's been ridden hard since 1973, which is precisely what we achieved. Brilliant, if we do say so ourselves.
We fabricated the Bull-type apehangers ourselves. They're called Bull bars for obvious reasons – they've got that aggressive, horn-like stance that says "get out of my way, I'm on an important journey to absolutely nowhere in particular." Below them we fitted TC Bros clutch and brake levers, Lowbrow Customs hand grips, and a Minigauges oldschool tiny speedometer – because who needs a dashboard when a delightfully small dial does the job perfectly well?
For the front end, we fitted an ORI Springer fork – proper old-school suspension for that authentic chopper look. There's a pancake front lamp up there, because sometimes less is more, and a tiny headlight on a chopper is absolutely more. We installed new Goodridge brake lines to keep things stopping properly.
Now, here's where it gets interesting. We went with an Ultima open belt primary – which means you can actually see the belt doing its thing. Is it practical? Not especially. Is it cool? Extremely. We fitted a pancake air filter with Mikuni carburetor for the engine breathing, and a Dynatek 2000i system with a TwinTec single ignition coil handles ignition duties.
We're particularly proud of the seat – it's a custom leather affair with buckles that opens up for easy access to whatever you've hidden underneath. Probably tools. Or snacks. We used a Lowbrow Customs rear fender, and we fabricated a handmade sissy bar at the back for that authentic chopper silhouette.
We lowered the rear suspension by an inch to give it that slammed stance. There are Lowbrow Customs brake discs front and rear, Shinko classic tyres up front and an Avon Safety MG2 at the rear. Fuel sits in the Lowbrow Customs ribbed tank, we fitted an oldschool barrel-type oil tank, and the whole thing runs on Bel-Ray 3-hole oil for V-twins.
We built this bike as the dictionary definition of a chopper – stripped of everything unnecessary, designed purely for riding miles with those magnificent Bull apehangers reaching toward the sky.
It's raw. It's loud. It's gloriously impractical. And it's exactly what we think a motorcycle should be.