Photoset: Colfax Dirty 1973 Harley Davidson
Colfax Dirty 1973 Harley Davidson
This bike started out as a stock '73 FLH. My original intentions were to just clean it up and get it running for a quick flip. The morning I put it on the lift I got a call from my boss letting me know I was getting laid off. The next day the country went into Corona quarantine. Having an abundance of free time with nowhere to go I took a quick look at what parts I had on hand and decided to tear the bike down and build the tight little swing arm bobber you see now. To get the stance I wanted I lowered the rear shock mounts and swapped the stock wide glide for a -4 under springer. For the sheet metal, I shaped some knee indent side panels and welded them into a wassel tank that I topped off with a little stainless dash panel. Out back I shrunk a simple wassel fender to fit the radius I needed and trimmed it out with a matching stainless strut with an integrated tail light. After fabbing up a tight set of narrow lane splitter handlebars and matching pipes I made the stainless mid controls and jockey shift set up. While everything was out getting a gloss black finish I tore down the old stock motor and rebuilt it with new 80" S&S internals and massaged the rocker boxes to give it a faux split look. Curt Green at Bare Bones Leather hand-tooled the seat. The bike is finished while the majority of the state is still under lockdown but I've been putting plenty of break-in miles on it. Social distancing at its finest.
