9 Favorite Shovelhead Customs
From 1966-1985 the Shovelhead motor ruled the big bike scene, in 74ci, and eventually 80ci displacements. Many builders still prefer the Shovel to the later Evo or Twin Cam motors, and here are 9 custom example I really like.
1. 1979 Super Glide Fat Bob by Old Gold Garage Company
This club style SuperGlide was inspired by the Willie G. classic that will never go out of style. Model Summer Briell is enough beauty to give anyone the inspiration to build a sweet custom bike. Dan Collin of Old Gold Garage Company built this one in a retro outlaw style, and you can read more about it at Hot Bike.
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2. 1972 FLH by Dave (72FL)
HDForums member 72FL built this ultimate transformation of a Shovelhead FL touring bike with lots of custom parts and a kickin' paint scheme. Find out more at the forum thread Pix of Your Shovels and you can see more pictures in Dave's album.
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3. 1973 Electra Glide by Margaret and Russ Townsend
Touring riders Margaret and Russ Townsend bedazled this bike after an accident to make it more unique and harder to miss. Their creative idea was using rhinestones, rock crystal, and other clothing and jewelry accessories to add pounds of glittery bit to every surface. You can read a detailed description of the bike (which is now in the Harley Museum) and its creation from The Harley-Davidson Archive Collection.
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4. 1967 Electra Glide Custom in Germany
The fishtail pipes combined with cool custom paint, makes this clean Shovel gleam and sparkle like new money. Seeing such a spotless machine, I would be afraid to ride it, fearing to get it dirty. Bike and glider are both from the 60s when even functional machines had beauty in them. This Shovelhead was spotted at the German Glider Museum, but not much more is known about it.
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5. 1971 FLH Iron Horse by William Eggers
How would you like to mount this bronco and hit the road? All the leather work, the paint, and the road detailing was done by hand just for this bike, and that ain't no bull. More pictures are on the builder's site, William Eggers.
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6. 1969 FL Hawaiian Local Boy by Nui
Have you ever heard of the custom bike style know as the "Local Boy"? This Springer with beach bars, overflowing with sparkly chrome, is an example of this uniquely Hawaiian style. The custom seat is also a part of this beach cruiser style custom, more of which are on Henry Honolulu's site
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7. 1974 FX Super Glide
This clean Super Glide custom takes everything about that model, cleans it up and turns up the volume. Willie G. designed the Super Glide by mixing FL touring bike power and frame with Sportster handling and weight, for a 2 wheeled muscle car. This one starts with the smaller, lighter one piece tank, ads a performance exhaust, and ditches anything that would add weight.
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8. 1969 FL Bobber Springer
Strip down a heavy FL touring bike to its most basic elements and this is where you end up. Clean, beautiful, lean and mean, with long flowing lines, and a ton of retro details abound. This is one which I would love to ride...in the desert or on the street. Too bad we can't find more pictures of information on this one.
>>Join the conversation about Favorite Shovelhead Customs right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum!
9. 1974 FL LowRrider by Torch Industries
This traditional lowrider style bike was only just built in the 21st century, but in order to do it right they started with a Shovelhead from the 1970s. Stripped down and rebuilt with no surface left untouched, this is a bike like the Taj Mahal, which was built by giants and finished by jewelers. You just don't get attention to detail with this kind of engraving, leather, and paint work except by guys in the low rider community. The whole story and more pictures are at Lowrider Magazine.
>>Join the conversation about Favorite Shovelhead Customs right here in the Harley-Davidson Forum!
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