Editor’s Note: We flew this feature in from Europe. I tried to leave the vocabulary alone. I gotta say that this is one helluva feature, as you’ll agree. It’s a street ride with a nasty looking babe and the photography is killer, enjoy.–Bandit
The sun sets over the dusty old freight depot. Thousands and thousands of cows had been moved from here to the industry-cities everywhere. It was the thin line between the open prairie and the manmade iron track, the connection between freedom and ratsrace.
Such is the bike for its owner and builder Jo from Duisburg, Germany. The vehicle for escape, for transportation and the medium to feel free. He built it free from all forces and duties. Nobody would’ve ever told him how it has to be built. He followed his own thoughts and dreams, attaching parts that symbolize freedom of spirit. Leaving behind the need for chrome and polish, color and poor shine.
The history of the bike is somehow complex and unclear. Fact is that it came to light in the not so famous AMF-era, dated in 1976. Then it went through hands in Massachusetts and Wisconsin before in late ‘90s it was shipped to Germany. Somewhere on the tour the papers got lost. For that reason, the bike was held back by German authorities for quite a while. Then it was declared free and came to a Duisburg customizer as “carrier of parts,” just with the little difference that all parts were assembled and so they made a complete bike. But as the Germans say, “if there is a will there will be a way.” It was possible to get that bike out of customs-jail tagged as different parts.
Reaching the customizer’s garage his chief-mechanic at once fell in love with that old bike. Okay, it was light blue and lots of things attached that weren’t necessary for riding at all, and the condition was quite poor. But Jo looked into the heart of the old Shovel and was caught. You should know that in those days, Jo started a homepage with the address www.shovel-head.de, a fan-site for the enthusiasts for the Shovels. Running that site for quite a while he made a lot of needful contacts to reanimate that bike again.
First of all he disassembled the parts to get an idea how possible a recreation could be, and he was impressed. The engine showed good condition but the transmission’s teeth came up with heavy caries. Jo changed it and decided to replace it with a used but good ratchet top. He changed the pistons and valves, did some fittings replacements and finally attached a Dyna-ignition for a smoother run. That was all and it didn’t even take too long. While working on the bike he did investigations via web and phone to gain information he needed to get new papers and make the bike street-legal later on.
After he cleaned-up the frame and painted it shiny black, he attached the reengineered motor back to the frame. At last he combined a Super-E-carb for the intake with a 2-inch bigbore exhaust ending in Straightshooter pipes. That was the time Jo planned on bobbing that bike. An old skool bobber, biker-like ape and springer-front end it ought to be. He cut 2 inches off the Springer-Softail forks to come closer to the ground, and modified the middle-shock. Much more ultimate, he modified the rear suspension. He cut out a little of the chromed FL-shocks and welded the parts together. That made a hardtail with an FL-view. Hard but nice.
To stick to the cowboy image he used several gimmicks to underline that. Starting with the sheriff’s mirror, it not even ends with the cartridge-strap around the primary drive. Everywhere you can find more cowboy-designs as the 6-shot-clip at the caps of the footpegs and the revolver-shaped pegs themselves. The right gun even includes the mechanism of the brake-controls. The seat Jo took from his 43 WL he owned before and was covered with brown suede.
The girl is not so old movie-actress specialized on costume- and fetish-erotic films. Zara Drake is known in the business for acting extravagant and showing lots of fun while being in front of the camera. Now she often changes sides and works behind the camera as well. We definitely love her in front of the single eye, matching perfect with black and shiny bikes in her shiny leather garment. She enjoyed it a lot to show her things in that old facility. So I hope you enjoy as well. The two last rebels, maybe on the run now…
The Basics
Owner: Jo Beyer
Home: Duisburg, Germany
Builder: Jo himself
Year/Model: HD FLH 1200 from 1976
Time to Build: three months
Cost to Build: 3000 Euro (4500 $)
Chromer: Jo’s Garage
Painter: Jo
Engine
Engine: reengineered OEM FLH
Pistons: new, 1st oversize
Carbs: Mikuni HSR
Air Cleaner: W&W Cycles
Exhaust: straightshooter 2“ bore
Final Drive: chain
Chassis
Frame: OEM FLH
Front Suspension: Springer Softail, 2“ cut, chromed, modified shock
Swingarm: FLH
Rear Suspension: FLH shocks, inwards cut and welded together, hardtailed now!
Wheels
Front Wheel: 3×16 rim with 130/90-16
Rear Wheel: 3×16 rim with 130/90-16
Front Brakes: HD Springer Softail
Rear Brake: calipers HD modified, rotor STD
Fenders: heavily modified, rearfender with railings for fastening bags, railings made from VA-rods and Gericke-mirror-mounts
Accessories
Accessories: custom mirrors, revolver-footpegs, rearfender-medal made from belt-buckle, several revolver-sixshot-clip-designs, kicker-pedal from mountainbike
Headlight: custom
Taillight: selfbuilt attachment, lamp cateye
Fuel Tank: 4-gallons-HD
Handlebars: Fehling Ape 45 cm (18”)
Seat: 43 WL
Pegs: OTC revolver, the right one’s clip-case-pin is the brake-mechanism. The OTCs forgot that a Harley has a sidestand, that didn’t fit anymore and had to move backwards
Hand Controls: HD
Mirrors: Rebuffini
Foot Controls: OTC revolver
Tag Bracket: sided custom self built arm, light and plate
Specials: For the battery was made a VA-housing attached to the engine’s transmission-support-plate.
Infos and contacts
Bike and builder: www.jos-garage.com
Model: www.zaradrake.de
Author: www.wikinger.com
