133 E. Jericho Turnpike Mineola, NY 11501

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The Restification of John's 69 FL —
Background

John F. walked into the shop towards the end of summer in 2003 to discuss a long overdue project that he wanted to start. He had, in many boxes and crates, what he alleged to be a 1968 Pan/Shovel (technically a generator shovelhead) that he wanted to restore to a fully functioning motorcycle. Why "alleged?" Some background on this bike is needed to fully appreciate the extent of this request.

The bike had been turned into a chopper years ago, complete with a wide glide fork with the requisite skinny 21-inch wheel, bob-job rear, buckhorns, etc. All that was left of the original bike were the frame, swingarm, brakes, motor, tranny, and gas tanks, and the battery box.

Issues

The bike had been in pieces since around 1984, so we decided it would behoove us to thoroughly examine all of the "useable" components before starting this project. Ah, where do we begin?

• The brakes were shot.
• The tranny was frozen and corroded
• The motor cases had stress cracks all over the place.
• The rods and heads were"less than perfect."
• ...and the bottom end was, to put it diplomatically, a bit "loose."

What to do, what to do...

At this point we told John, "Do yourself a favor: buy a new Road King and take your girlfriend on a month long vacation. It'll cost you a whole lot less than restoring this pile of parts!" After all, what did we have to work with? A frame, a swingarm, maybe a set of jugs? Well, you know how a die-hard Shovelhead type can be. They're loyal to their old iron and John would hear none of that; he wanted what he wanted!

By the way, John is about 6'4", hunts with bow & arrow and shoots with black powder weapons... not and easy man to say "no" to. So off we went, and we began our attempt at turning a frame and a swingarm back into a classic Electra-Glide.

Off and running

As we began the project, John informed us that he wanted to keep the bike as stock looking as possible, with a few custom touches here and there. He also wanted to have enough performance to keep up with those "new-fangled Evos" that his buddies ride. John's enthusiasm became infectious, and we all started getting into the idea of a classy retro/custom/hi-performance 1968 FL that's been updated for the 21st century yet still retained the class of an old 1960s Harley-Davidson!

Details

All the tin was purchased as "NOS" and a replica front end was was procured. Brakes were rebuilt and rechromed. Replica hard bags and mounts were brought in complete with correct front and rear crash bars. (Today they're referred to as "engine guards" —more politically correct I guess?) Paint is being handled by the capable crew at Splatterhouse Graphics in Lindenhurst, NY, and will follow a two-tone "period" scheme using Brandywine and White Pearl.

The tin should be back from Splatterhouse Graphics towards the end of February, so final assembly is slated to begin in early March 2004

We were definitely getting excited about this build, and you won't wanna miss the end results!.

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