After the final mockup was complete, my pop’s buddy Lorenzo hooked me up with all of my satin black powdercoating. I turned to my good friend Shane Leasure (Leasure Lines), who is a badass painter/striper, to paint it. I told him the colors I wanted, adding, It’s gonna have your name on it, so do your thing! He nailed it, and I couldn’t be happier. The night I picked up the paint, I immediately put it on the bike. After that I was on a mad dash to get this bike finished, as I couldn’t wait to ride it. The next few weekends were spent with my pop and my buddy, Bryan, helping with the wiring and getting all the mechanical kinks worked out. After work each night, I would spend a couple hours working on covering my seat pan. I used a thick tooling leather, punched holes around the perimeter top and bottom pieces, drilled out the seat pan, dyed the leather black, and used stainless rivets to hold it together.
In the end I basically used only the motor cases and cylinders, but the good news is I’ve got a lot of extra parts left over to build another bike.
Special thanks to Pop and Grami, JB, and Tattoo Church. I’d also like to thank the whole crew at Ron Simms BACC shop for everything they have helped me with over the last few years, and my wife, Ashley, for putting up with my continued craziness and understanding that there will be more! HB
Editor’s Note: While Harley’s strategy of cranking out new bikes to fall into its Dark Custom line is helping attract the attention of new/younger riders, it’s often sweet deals on crusty iron that takes months or maybe even years of toiling in a small 10x10 garage or oil stained linoleum kitchen floor that is striking a chord with the youth; bringing new life to an old soul. Justin Duncan didn’t exactly get his start with motorcycles. He started building with his first truck, a ’74 Chevy Step Side that made its way through the pages of Classic Trucks, Street Trucks, and the cover of Truckin’. But while he was building that truck, Justin knew he would eventually drop two wheels and build a bike. At 20 Justin pieced together a rigid FXR, and now with this Shovelhis third ground-up custom buildif you were to equate bike builds into dog years, Justin would nearly be considered a gray beard at the ripe old age of 28.
I also wanted to blend classic style of what a chopper should be with a touch of modern functions, like a late model trans and big brakes.