Motorcycles: Hog Heavenly
December 1, 2007
Customized motorcycles are everywhere nowadays, popularized by the Paul Teutuls and Jesse Jameses of the world—guys famous for concocting long-fork spectacles to appease weekly television audiences. Rare, however, is the customizer who crafts motorcycles that make you want to ride. One of those would be Ryan Reed, who by day serves as car shop manager of the SO-CAL Speed Shop in Pomoma, Calif.—a company born during the 1940s that saw its legend grow through speed-trial successes on Southern California’s dry lakebeds. SO-CAL’s trademark style is therefore derived from function (i.e., the pursuit of speed) defining form.
Lucky for custom motorcycle aficionados, Reed moonlights. The modified Harley-Davidson gracing these pages is Reed’s personal creation, not the SO-CAL Speed Shop’s, but it was borne following the same philosophy. "Less is more is sort of the idea behind the bike," says Reed. You may have to squint to see it, but Reed’s Harley rolled off the line as a 2007 Softail Deluxe, a 724-pound gorilla of a motorcycle that in showroom form seems almost a sequin-jumpsuit parody of itself—with balloonish whitewall tires, fat over/under shotgun exhausts, and about as much chrome as a ’58 Buick. While there’s a definite glint to Reed’s motorcycle, the chrome is tantalizingly restrained in its application. "I decided to tone down some of the bright pieces to draw your eye to other components," says Reed.
Knuckle bars with short risers keep the rider’s hands close to the bike, and the stock speedometer informs from a bespoke dash panel. The pillion seat and luggage rack are gone, exposing the full-wrap rear fender. The front fender wears custom-cast bronze trim and, like the rear, it’s lower and set back slightly to reduce what Reed calls the standard Softail’s "overbite." He replaced the stock 16-inch steel-laced front wheel with a 19-inch aluminum wheel, drilled to accept 60 spokes instead of 40, a move that further enhances the Harley’s long-and-low posture. "The proper stance and wheel-and-tire combination are critical," he says.
Other visual tweaks are more finely drawn. "I like to fabricate things that cause people to wonder what’s factory and what’s been changed," notes Reed. The artfully simple taillight, for example, comes from a ’37 Ford; and the license plate is now side-mounted to keep the rear view uncluttered. Renowned custom-leather guy Gabe Lopez cut down the already low-slung saddle and rewrapped it in rich maple-toned hide. Lopez also fabricated a matching twin-buckle handlebar pouch—"Perfect for sunglasses or riding gloves," says Reed.
Aside from the addition of an early hot rod–style Screaming Eagle air cleaner and minor modifications to the fuel-injection system, Reed has pretty much left the Softail’s 96 cu in air-cooled V-Twin engine untouched. The big-rig exhausts were banished, replaced by a pair of hand-formed 2-inch side-by-side pipes with staggered tips, gorgeous in their straight simplicity. Moreover, stock disc brakes have been swapped out for high-performance cross-drilled Ferodo rotors in polished stainless steel, still gripped by the Softail’s stock calipers.
The finished product oozes elegance and authenticity. It possesses a kind of inspirational, open-road-is-calling quality that’s rare in modern customs. Reed seems to comprehend the Harley mystique better than Harley itself these days; his eye is a little truer, his touch a little lighter. Building the bike was a labor of love; he estimates its value at $45,000—more than the Softail Deluxe’s $19,000 starting price, but certainly fair, considering the craftsmanship that went into its creation. "I like to build things that have a lot of resemblance to stock pieces," he says, "but are modified just enough to seem right."
Ryan Reed, 909.469.6171, www.so-calspeedshop.com
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