Daily Slideshow: Father-Son Ol' Skool Sportster Chopper

A father's influence

Flynn Bryant, like most of us, got started early riding dirt bikes. As he grew up, the off-road spirit held him close and he never really had any desire to ride the highways. Not until he started working at Biltwell Inc., that is. After a few months of seeing the culture of the street scene, he started catching on. The road trips, the hanging out with your friends at destinations that were either planned or simply stumbled upon, got him to thinking. After seeing his dad, Bill Bryant, finish a custom built chopper for a friend, Flynn took notice and, after riding it, he knew exactly what he wanted. 

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Keeping it simple

Flynn and his dad knew that they wanted something simple, powerful and cool and, even if you don't care for them, that is exactly what a Harley-Davidson Sportster is. After looking at several bikes, they found a nice, clean 883 not far from their home and snatched it up. Once they got it back to their shop, they started tearing it all apart. The race was on to get it ready for the El Diablo Run in just four months so that Flynn wouldn't have to cage it in a chase van. 

The first thing to do was an S&S 1250cc displacement upgrade because after all, there is no replacement for displacement. Haifley Brother's supplied the Bryant's with a bolt-on hardtail kit and Flynn and his dad installed the forks from a crashed out Sportster "S" to finish out the bike's framework. In just two weeks, they had the metal work on the frame complete. Not too bad when you consider that they were doing it after work every day. 

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A true father-son project

When Flynn describes his dad's talents, you can feel the admiration that he has for his old man. Flynn minimizes his own contributions to the build and gives his pops credit for most of the actual build. Flynn says that he mainly did the "shitty work like cleaning bolts, sanding parts, prepping pieces for welding, and brush painting the motor" while his dad, who has the tenacity of a bulldog, did most of the fabrication.

As any good father-son project does though, it took both of them to build this bike and have it ready for the EDR and with both of them doing their parts, they got it done with enough time for Flynn to get used to his new scooter.

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Minimalist design and still playing in the dirt

Flynn knew that he wanted a "performance chopper." He wanted to be able to go fast, stop fast and look cool. He loved the look of the old jockey shift Panheads and the FXRs, but he couldn't picture himself on bikes like that. He knew that he wanted high pipes, black paint, and Tokico brakes, so that's what Flynn and his dad built- a minimalist bike that oozed attitude and checked off all those boxes.

And, just like those first chopper builders, Flynn isn't afraid of taking his custom build into the mud and the grime to get to the party. Unlike so many of the "glambike" choppers we have become so accustomed to seeing these days that have never seen more than a few miles in perfect weather to get to a bike show, Flynn actually rides his build. He and his dad finished the bike about ten days before the 2015 El Diablo Run and he was able to "practice" getting used to it by riding it back and forth to his job at Biltwell every day. Since then, he has taken several epic road trips and experienced the culture that comes along with riding the streets.

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Scrape the curves and chase the horizon

Flynn Bryant’s Sportster truly captures the spirit of “Ol’ Skool”. It is simple, unique and direct. While it is a chopper by definition, it also has the soul of a chopper and that is something that can’t be bought or bolted on, it has to be built by someone who has that chopper spirit already in them. Father-son projects are slowly fading away these days, as most folks have fallen into the “buy it, use it, throw it away” consumerism mindset. But there’s more to a project than just building a product. There comes a sense of pride and accomplishment. You become aware of every detail and quality becomes an imperative and non-negotiable element.

The open road calls to all of us who have that adventurous spirit- to all of us who can't sit still because we know that there is a new road, a fresh set of curves, and a long-lost highway out there that we haven't seen yet. Not everyone can build a motorcycle, much less infuse it with a predestined attitude such as Flynn Bryant and his dad did with his build, but every one of us can appreciate the desire to chase the horizon on a machine of your own creation and meeting like-minded people along the way.

So, whether you built yours, bought it (or in some cases- even inherited it), get out there and scrape those curves, chase that horizon and feed your adventurous soul.

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