A long time self-confessed bike nut, Glenn remembers riding back in the day when dodging dinosaurs rather than Volvos was the biggest on road challenge. Well maybe I am stretching things a bit, but he’s been riding a long time.
Glenn told me, “I bought my first bike when I was thirteen and paid for it with money I earned from my three paper rounds. It was a Royal Enfield, cut down to a sort-of mini bike. It had no brakes and a hand shifter on the tank and went like sh*t – I don’t really know how I didn’t kill myself. Unfortunately the cops caught me on the main road and gave my parents an ultimatum to sell the bike or they’d charge me. Well, at thirteen, guess what?”
But when biking is in your blood it takes more than a gnarly snarly sergeant to hold you back and it wasn’t long before Glenn was back on two wheels and it’s been that way ever since. Of course once he had the bucks the bikes have been mainly Harley-Davidsons and Glenn has enjoyed a slew of models and generally keeps a couple of bikes in his shed.
I first met Glenn when he came on the Heavy Duty Sturgis tour in ’99 and while most people partied themselves until their livers fell out and then used them for pillows, Glenn rode the wheels off the bike he’d hired. Since then he’s been back to the USA many times and become good buddies with some of the leading American bike builders and also with Bandit, former Easyriders editor and now head honcho of Bikernet.com.
Being partial to old school bikes, it was only natural that Glenn spent more time with like minded blokes like Indian Larry (and now Paul Cox and Keino), Johnny Chop and others who favoured the in-ya-face mechanicals of the original chopper/bobber culture, rather than over-the-top billet-laden high-end customs.
Well both Johnny and Larry have left us to compete in that great biker build-off in the sky and Glenn thought he’d do a sort of tribute bike in the style of these masters, with homage to other legends such as Von Dutch who – until his name became a fashion statement thanks to walnut-brained air-heads like Britney (vomit) Spears – was ‘The Man’ when it came to Californian pin-striping.
Glenn also acknowledges Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, the famous artist and cartoonist who created the hot-rod icon Rat Fink and was a key figure in Southern California’s Kustom Kulture/Hot-rod movement of the 1960s.
I asked Glen how this bike came about. “Well Doc, it was a great deal and I’d been thinking about getting another Shovel anyway. It’s good to get back to basics and y’know, I don’t intend to part with this bike. There is definitely something about riding old iron. I think it takes me back to my youth or “something like that”.
Well I reckon Glenn’s nailed it with this bike, building a cool custom that’s pretty damn true to the era. The bike is loaded with visual cues that spell hardcore in capital letters, from the reach-for-the-sky bars to the rigid-looking rear end this bike is a cool as it gets and is light years away from the merest skerrick of bling and that Frisco-mounted gas tank is a literal and visual highpoint.
There are many little custom touches all over this cool ride, things like Johnny Chop’s motto “Stay Gold” Glen worked into the leather hand grips he made and Indian Larry’s “Question Mark” which represented his philosophy of life. Neat touches, all over.
I’ll turn the story over to Glenn once again. “It started out a King Sporty tank I got from my mate Rusty out at Bayside Customs and then Little Mick lengthened it about 3-in, cut the tunnel completely out of it, and moved the filler neck as far to the top as he could. The petrol cap I got from master leather man Paul Cox from New York City who worked side by side with Indian Larry for many years.
I then put a Pingel fuel tap right at the bottom of the tank to gain access to all the fuel as being on such an angle you’ve got to set it up like this. With this tank I can squeeze in thirteen and a half litres of fuel, which is great. The first tank we did we didn’t go to this extreme and I was lucky if I got half of that useable fuel. Which was a bit of a shame really because Little Mick did some great art work on that tank. Still, what I’ve done with that tank is to get little Mick to sign it along with Keith R. Ball (Bandit) from Bikernet and I will have it mounted to put in my Leather Studio.
The rear mudguard and sissy bar are mounted to the swing arm and there is a custom made chain guard along with custom taillight mounts. I had a pair of 7-in dog bone risers with a 2-in offset I was going to use for the Panhead I’m in the process of building, but I thought the offset dog bone style would suit the Shovel better so I got Wild Willy to cut 4-in off the risers and weld a big washer for the base of the riser. Then it was off to the chrome platers and I reckon they ended up perfect. Plus I think the other half of the risers will work on the Pan but we’ll see about that down the track.
I discovered a few years back that I have a bit of a talent for hand-tooled leather work and have been doing a few seats for customs so it was natural that I created the one on this bike which readers of a certain hard-core biker publication will recognise.
The rear guard is a chopped down one that was originally suitable for a 300 tyre. Wild Willy, the Mad Fabricator, did the honours on that one and I should have mentioned he did the seat base also. All told this project took me nearly three years but to me, no bike is ever really finished.
Having said that, I need to add that for the moment I’m really happy with this Shovel as it is doing everything just right and it’s a helluva lot of fun. Besides after about four years I’ve just got all my parts together for my 1963 Panhead custom. I’m really looking forward to finishing the Pan as it is my own personal tribute to Indian Larry and hopefully I will have it finished by Christmas.
But this bike is really special to me because I’ve built it with a lot of great artists in mind like Ed Roth, Von Dutch, Indian Larry, David Mann and Johnny Chop because, in a small way, I hope to keep their spirit alive here in Australia.
Like all projects there’s a heap of blokes to thank and all were most helpful. Thanks to Ollie from Ollie’s Engineering and Machining 07 32883400, Brett from Brett’s Custom Paint (0416 002425), Little Mick from Koolsville Studio (0407 637697) www.koolsville.com for another great artistic touch, Traditional Chromers (075 4280066) for the shiny stuff and, lastly but not least, Wild Willy the Mad Fabricator who you can’t ring ‘cos he doesn’t have a phone.
Powder coating thanks goes to Scott and Ensoll (075 4534955) and thank you Mike from Mike Warner Motor Cycle Specialist (075 4931966) for rebuilding my rims. I’d like to also thank Mike from Mike’s Custom Shop in Noosa (075 4499555) for his advice and help along the way. And a very special thanks to my beautiful wife Kerry who supports me in whatever I am doing.”
TRIBUTE SHOVEL GUTS&BOLTS
ENGINE
Model: Shovel
Capacity: 1200cc
Builder: Ollie’s Engineering & Machinery
Cases: Stock
Crank: Trued and balanced
Bore: 10 thou over
Stroke: Stock
Compression ratio: 8.5 to 1
Bearings: HD
Conrods: HD
Oil pump: Reconditioned original.
Oil cooler: Lockhart
Oil: Kendall
Cam: Andrews (mild)
Lifters: Velvet Touch
Pushrods: Velvet Touch
Barrels: Stock HD
Heads: Long reach spark plug conversion
Tungsten alloy valve seat conversion.
Ports: Ollie did his thing
Rockers: Stock
Valves/springs/retainers: Black Diamond valves
Andrews Valve Springs
Ignition: Crane single fire
Carburetion: Evo CV
Manifold: Stock
Fuel: High octane super.
Air cleaner: S.U.
Exhaust: Custom made ceramic coated duals
Mufflers: Original 1990 Sturgis mufflers
Power: More than enough for me
Maximum revs: No idea
Top speed: No idea (no speedo)
Other mods: Externally mounted oil filter
TRANSMISSION
Year: 1972
Type: Ratchet Lid 4-speed
Close ratio Andrews gears
Gearchange: Original FLH
Clutch: Barnett
Primary drive: Original chain
Rear Drive: Chain.
SUSPENSION
Front: Sonic Telescopic
Triple Trees: FXWG Wide Glide
Extension: 4-in over
Rear: Rebuilt originals by Rad Shocks in Brisbane
WHEELS
Front: 19-in. HD re-chromed
Tyre: 100 x 90 Bridgestone Spitfire
Hub: HD
Brake caliper: Banana Caliper
(It works well)
Brake rotors: Aftermarket
Brake lines: Braided.
Rear: 16-in HD re-chromed
Tyre: 300 x 16 Bridgestone Spitfire
Hub: HD
Brake: Juice Drum Brake
(Also works well)
Brake line: Stock
FRAME
Type: Genuine swingarm
Year: 1972
Model: FLH
Rake: Stock
Mods: None
CONTROLS
Handlebars: 16-in Apes
Grips/levers: Billet grips
Custom leather outers
Risers: 3-in Paughco offset dog bone risers
Master cylinder: HD
Switchgear: HD
Mirrors: One
Headlight: After market
Gear change: Stock
Footpegs: FLH running boards
Rear brake master cylinder: HD
Speedo/tacho: Nope
Other: Oil pressure gauge and oil warning lightTaillight: L.A. County Choprods
GUARDS/TINWORK
Tank: Little Mick
Oil tank: Paughco
Front guard: Cut down stock
Rear guard: Wild Willy
Seat: G.P.Leather
glenn@gpleather.com.au
OTHER
Paint: Satin black
Photos by Doc and Matt Black
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