JH: But most just can't do that. They can't do the curves like that.
ET: Some can do it, or will find a way of doing it, but they didn't do it first. You know, I think it's something that you're going to see a lot of in the future, because everybody's building bobbers now. A few guys started building bobbers again fairly recently, and it was great, you know, they're a great motorcycle. I don't even know if I'd call this bike a bobber; it's just a retro chopper. Look at Jesse James' old bikes; they didn't have a ton of stretch. They just had that look. This might have a little bit of his look, like his older bikes with just the tank sitting up high, and in fact, I used one of Jesse's tanks on it. I modified it of course, but it's one of those Villain tanks. Usually I would use one of my own tanks, but I figured as I was building the bike that I liked his early look, so I stuck with it. We were working on one of his earlier bikes one day, it was in the back, and I said, boy, that's a good look, let me see if I can use some of this look in this bike and add the bodywork to it. I'm real happy with the bike. It rides great and it's got a 98-inch Shovel motor that will definitely get it down the road.
JH: 10:1 compression?
ET: Yeah, 10:1. It's got STD heads, the rest is S&S. H&L built it for me. That's a Baker tranny with a hydraulic side cover, with a kicker, so it's something you don't see every day.
JH: I don't know if my narrow ass could kick that sucker! I'd be using that starter button a lot...Bill Dodge could kick it over, but he can kick pretty much anything over.
ET: He's young.
JH: I like everything about this bike...where'd you get the frontend?
ET: That's a Paughco frontend. They taper the rear leg on the Springer and it's got the look of an old Harley Springer without the aggravation of trying to build one.
JH: What about those wheels? They're great on this bike.
ET: Those wheels are just some wheels I get from Bobby Dice; you know, we've got about a hundred sets of 'em in stock. They're real affordable.
JH: Beautiful, too.ET: We sell a set of those wheels for about $1,000. Front and rear 80-spoke wheels.
JH: I don't think Dave (the mechanic) wanted to come back from the test ride...he was gone awhile.
ET: I know. I can't wait to ride it again, either.
JH: Who had the idea for the pipes? Was that all you, too?
ET: No, actually that was McMillan's. I wanted to do something a little more new school and he wanted to do something. First, I was going to do these big upsweeps. I used to have these Bub upsweeps on a bike I built 10 years ago. He wanted me to copy those, but the problem was with the kicker. You've got that kicker hanging out there, so you're always working around that kicker pedal. We managed to fit those little upsweeps just right. Not real tall, they tuck in real nice, and they're good looking. I'm just going to make heat shields for 'em now. I'm also gonna build a shroud for the belt. I just didn't want to use one that I use on all my other bikes, so I'm gonna do something a little different.
JH: With forward controls, it's good to have another place to rest your feet. I end up with my left foot somewhere on the primary most of the time. If I can get my right foot on the timing cover, I'll use that, too. Nice handlebars!
ET: We built about four sets of those handlebars at different heights because McMillan was a pain in the ass. He'll never OK the first thing you do, so when we do something for him, we need to do at least three different versions so he can change the plan and drive me crazy. That's the only reason he buys motorcycles from me, so he can give me ulcers!
JH: Somebody's got to f*#k with you besides your dog.
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Another signature element of Eddie's bikes is amazing graphics, usually flames and skulls. |  |