A picture of a Danny Franssen designed Bobber built on an Evolution Softail.
I must confess to a horrible sickness I have been afflicted with since I was a small child. It seems there is no cure, and I am hopelessly doomed to die suffering from the incredible malady that currently has no medical cure. I am addicted to motorcycles.
It seems no matter what I am doing, besides sex, I have some sort of bike on my mind. I can’t explain it, but I just seem to constantly search for all information concerning bikes; I never get tired of it. Thousands of magazines, e-zines, catalogs, and brochures line my garage and computer. My wife is ready to throw me out, but I don’t care, I love motorcycles…particularly Harley-Davidson Motorcycles.
Part of my obsession is an unstoppable desire to read every page of material I can find on Softails, Bobbers, and Sportsters; basically my favorite bikes. Besides scouring through magazines and books, I am also a scavenger of the forum boards. Always looking for fresh ideas, searching for new bikes, my mission to find the coolest bike never seems to end. Recently, I came across a board called Jockeyjournal.com, and I found a treasure chest of information on Softail bobbers, the kind Harley only wished they would have designed. I was introduced to Danny Franssen.
Danny riding aboard one of his creations.
I saw his Softails on a thread that had 29 pages in it! As I browsed through the pics, it was apparent this guy had some serious skills as well as an eye for design; besides that, his bikes looked like something I’d want to ride! From the threads, I saw he was a friend of Tim Conder, we know him as The Conderosa.
I asked Mr. Ball if he had ever seen these bikes and wondered if he’d want to do a feature on a couple. Not easily impressed, Bandit classified these as “bitchin rides”, but he was concerned with the possibility of the seats hitting the fender and wished to consult with Wrench on the whole deal.
Wrench’s reply was classic:
Danny mounts his seats rigid. It's a Softail, no need for a sprung seat.
Rigid mounted seats? So the springs were just a faux paus? I decided to get a solo saddle for my bike because I was really bugging out about the way Danny made his bikes look. I was determined to make my Springer look like one of these modern bobbers.
I sent Bandit an e-mail asking his advice about putting a spring seat on a Softail so it would emulate a Danny F.-styled bobber. He replied:
“I used one of those seats on my 48 Panhead, rigid-mounted, no-springs, and rode it for 12 years. Then again, I’m not a pussy.”
So the gauntlet was thrown, and it became apparent that Softails with spring seats are uber-gay…or at least metrosexual.
I contacted Danny himself to get the inside scoop and to have a few answers to my questions about these Softail Bobbers. I quickly found out he does mount the seats rigid(see the drawing). The seat does not touch rear fender when going into bumps. When he is making the install, he checks the clearance with his own tried-and-true method. He sets the bike onto blocks in the rear, removes the shocks, and then lifts the rear wheel all the way up to the rubber bump-out studs. He suggests on putting a wooden block under the wheel so it stays into that position, then you can determine how high or how far to the front you need to mount the seat so the fender won't touch the seat in any circumstances. Sometimes he’ll also cut out the front of the fender and rework it into a different shape. This helps give it a bit more clearance, but that's just on rare occasions. Fabrication time on a complete custom (bobber) job starting from a standard Softail is about 3 months or so. It depends on how far you want to go, such as moving the rear disc to the pulley side, etc.
After reading his detailed description and checking out his beautiful bikes, I had to get to know some more about this guy. It was obvious to me he wasn’t the average “shadetree mechanic”. I learned he is located in Genk, Belgium, and works at a worldwide express service on weekend night shifts. In the past, he had written articles about custom bikes in the Dutch/Belgian “Bigtwin” magazine for 7 years, but had to set that aside as time eventually became a commodity he no longer had. (I understand completely) Besides the bikes and express deliveries, he also dabbles in T-Shirt designs, tattoo designs, as well as designing custom parts for choppers/bobbers, etc.
Like most of us, he started reading the magazines at the ripe age of 12. He started reading Street Chopper, Easyriders, Iron Horse, Supercycle magazines that his older cousin Charly left behind in the toilet cabin. From that time on, everything was focused on choppers, and he knew one day he wanted to build a Harley Panhead Chopper; for sure and certain !
With some earned money from “vacation work” he bought himself a 1963 Panhead (ex Belgian Police bike) and from there on he describes it as an “out of control hobby”. He doesn’t have a business, just a little work-shack where he builds bikes mostly for himself. He sells them when he has a new idea in mind.
He started helping his buddies on their bikes but changed directions as the guys started to get older, so did his customers. Most guys were older and they needed a bit more comfort then a hardtail bike. They gave him “carte blanche” most of the time; not budget-wise, but styling wise! According to Danny, “Customizing a Softail to make it look as close to a hardtailed bike is fun doing..it's a bit more challenging and it involves a bit more fabrication against a hardtail bobber so to speak. I also try to use as much stock parts and give them a different twist..in a funny way sometimes,(with a wink)”.
Since his 16th birthday, Danny has built about 20 hardtails from the ground up and the last 12 years he has customized about 12 Softail based bikes.
He says,” I heard before that my bikes have a typical DF style every time. One of my trademarks obviously (that's what they say.) is also the use of just one bag on the left side of the bikes. I have been in a bunch of magazines over the years, but the highlight of my “private hobby guy in the shack” building career was the invitation of the 3 “Art of the Harley” shows. London, Liverpool and Stockholm, each show took place during 3 months in museums and art galleries. I was the only private builder (with my Hot Rod trike) between Arlen Ness, Rick Doss, Cyril Huze, Bob Dron, Battistinis, Richard Taylor, Nic Chauvin, etc. An experience I will soon never to forget.”
“I also moved to California (Lake Arrowhead) in '92-'93…needed sunshine badly… ha! Did a few bikes there…but my rent was going up and I decided to return back to Belgium.Over there (the USA), at that time…most guys looked strangely to me when I de-chromed a lot of parts and had them painted instead. I guess that was too early for most Americans back then, ha !”
Danny, thanks for the time and interview. I think these bikes are fantastic and the attention to detail while going your own way makes the bikes even more spectacular. We here at Bikernet look forward to the next Danny Frassen creation…including my evil little bobber to be completed shortly.
Until next time…
