2002 Fatboy And More - Reader's Showcase

Understated Elegance
Charlie Baker is one of those guys who is not happy with anything until it is his way. He picked up a stock 2003 H-D Screamin Eagle Deuce, which stayed stock for as long as it took him to get it home. About the time that the pipes had cooled down they were off the bike along with all the sheetmetal. At first he tryed to change the look of the bike with a paint job but that did not work he needed more so the bike was stripped down to the frame and that is where he started the makeover.

He took the frame to Uptown Cycle where the owner Tony, did a good job of cleaning up all the welds, molding in the neck and gusseting all the curves into a smooth, flowing one-piece look. Then painted it to match the H-D Screamin' Eagle colors along with pin striping, and adding in a ghosted in Harley #1 on the gooseneck, then worked on the sheetmetal.

The tank is a stock deuce unit with the gas caps shaved off and with a Matt-Hotch pop-up gas cap welded to smooth out the lines. The rear fender is a stock Deuce fender that has been cut, chopped, and rolled to give that custom fender look, yet still use deuce parts. The rear taillight is a Harley #1 mounted flush with the sheetmetal and filled with LEDs for lighting. Charlie took the original fender struts, cut them at an angle and installed turn signals in the ends of them.

He moved the rear brake to the drive side of the bike to open the right side view of the Performance Machine rear wheel. He installed Custom Cycle Controls air shock system to make it ride perfect. The front suspension is Perse Performance, with 3-inch over fork tubes. Custom Cycle Controls handlebars, Headwinds headlight with matching turn signals and 6 degrees of rake in the trees. A Fat Katz front fender mounted with custom brackets and a 21" front wheel with dual disc brakes round out the frontend.

The seat was custom made by Bitchn' Seat Company, and is inlaid with stingray, that was painted with a gold leaf style paint to match the motor.

The motor was disassembled, and sent to Sumax in New York, where they powder coated the engine cases, barrels and heads, as well as the transmission case. Then he had Diamond heads cut the barrels and heads, and even the Screamin' eagle logo. Then rebuilt the motor with 10.5:1 pistons, S&S .585 lift gear driven cams with a Feuling oil pump and cam plate, titanium pushrods, roller and rockers from JIMs inside of TP Engineering rocker boxes, with Kuryakyn 57mm throttle body, billet air cleaner and some Arlen Ness pipes. All wiring was run in the frame, and a custom made oil tank with the filler was fitted under the seat.