When I first got the call from Bandit telling me to check out this bike, I was less than enthusiastic. I have been especially bored with many of the “customs” lately and it seems there has been a shift in the biker genre. The “Dark Custom” movement is in full swing and besides the Blackline®, it seems everything coming out of Milwaukee (actually Kansas City), is a new variation of the Sportster®. While a Sporty was my first bike as well as one of my favorites, I have started to distance myself from the Sporty hoard due to their incomparable “little-bike” syndrome.
If you ride a Sporty, great! The last thing I want to do is listen to a 20 minute diatribe about how slow my Big Twin is and how your unstoppable Sporty will blow me off the road. Even more annoying is the mush-mouth crying about how he wants a bigger bike someday, but he figures he’ll ride a Sporty until he can get a bigger bike.
Seriously, shut the fuck up! Ride whatever you want to and be proud of what you got, but don’t melt the guys ear next to you about wanting this or wishing that. So, needless to say when I heard the big bastard tell me this was another Sporty, I wasn’t racing to the computer to check it out. Then I caught my first glimpse of this knockout little ’88 with a powdercoated frame to match the creamy skin of a porcelain princess from Okinawa.
Patiently I wait until I get the CD in the mail from Peter Linney showcasing the said Sporty. About 2 months pass and I realize one of my precious children got the CD out of the mail and was trying to play it in his Xbox 360. I inadvertently caught my son staring at a shot of a beautifully curved physique. I hadn’t even noticed a motorcycle was in the picture until I looked at it a while. The models’ gorgeous round..errr, eyes match the headlight perfectly. The way the sun blazoned across her thighs accentuated the sun soaked scooter in a way that made me long for summer days, margaritas, and motorcycles. I head to learn more about this bike.
Peter, the builder and owner, explained his introduction to this bike like this:
“I had Hondas all my life but I always wanted a Harley. I finally found a good, well-maintained bike so I bought it. I bought the bike from a guy that worked at a Harley dealer as the parts manager. He put every flamed billet piece you can buy on it but since that’s not really my style, I started to strip parts off and ride the bike bare. I rode the bike like that while I was trying to make up my mind about what I wanted to do with her (the bike), until I threw a rod riding at the beach; so a little part swapping turned into a complete custom build. I rebuilt the motor with all new parts, modified the rear half and powder coated the chassis, bobbed the rear fender, body worked and painted the tanks and fender and reassembled with cool un-flamed parts.
The bike is like new. I ride it up and down the California coast as often as I can. I ride to work. It’s a lot of fun to ride. I recently took it to a big fund raiser and won Presidents Choice. I had to ride home with a 3 foot trophy bungee corded to my front bars.”
How can you top that story? Boy wants bike, boy buys said bike and fixes her up. Boy then wins trophy and has bike pictured with a smoking hot model. Sounds like the American dream to me. The best part (again, besides the girl) is he never once bitched and moaned about it being “just” a Sportster and he never once talked about his next bike being a Big Twin. So, big pieces of raisin pie to you, Pete, and when you get a chance, let’s check out that model in a Cantina styled photo shoot. What’d ya say?
Owner:Pete Wittenberg, Petes Rod and Custom
Address 1121 n.cosby way, suite d
City anaheim
State/ Zip California, 92806
Phone: 714-632-6991
C Phone: 714-345-9437
Website: www.petesrodandcustom.com
E Mail: kustompete@sbcglobal.net
What kind of bike?
Make: Harley-Davidson
Year: 1988
Model: Sportster
Type:
Year:
Fabrication: Bobbed rear fender, chopped rear frame section
Finish: golden tangerine 2 stage paint with pinstriped fender and tank, crème powdercoated frame
Time: 4months
Assembler: Petes Rod and Custom
Value: 10,000
ENGINE:
Type: v-twin
Displacement: 1200
Year: 88
Heads: Buell S-100 Lightning
Valves: Buell
Pistons: H-D
Cylinders: 2
Camshaft: crane cams
Lifters: H-D
Pushrods: H-D
Carburetor/Injection: Mikuni 42mm
Air Cleaner: KnN
Transmission: H-D
Blower/Turbo:
Ignition: Screaming Eagle
Exhaust: Bassani
Finish: chrome
Fasteners/Hardware: all chrome gardner-wescott
Did you build or buy your bike?: Build
How Long did it take?: 4 months
In what order was the bike built?: Torn down to bare frame and reassembled from ground up
Frame:
Type: H-D
Year: 1988
Builder: Modified by Petes Rod and Custom
Stretch: N/A
Swing Arm: Chrome h-d
Shocks: progressive suspension lowered shocks
Modifications: Chopped back section
Molding:
Finish: chrome
Forks: chrome and polished
Type: h-d
Year: 1988
Builder: Petes
Finish:
Triple Trees: polished aluminum
Modifications:
Wheels Front:
Rim: chrome land mark teardrop twisted spoke
Size: 19
Hub:h-d
Builder:
Finish: chrome
Fender: no fender
Tire: 100-90/19
Brake: PM 4 piston caliper, 13” drilled floating rotor
Wheels Rear:
Rim: Chrome twisted spoke
Size:16
Brake: h-d chrome
Builder:Pete’s
Finish:chrome/polished
Fender: bobbed stock rear fender
Tire:140-90/16
Hub:h-d
What Connects you to the bike:
Handlebars : Harley drag bars chrome
Risers: 5”
Headlights: tri-bar halogen
Taillights: model a ford
Turn Signals F/R:n/a
Speedometer: stock
Tachometer: n/a
Gauges:
Electric’s:
Seat: biltwell solo saddle
Backrest?:
Footrest F/R: vintage H-D
Oil Tank: stock, painted
Fuel Tank(s): H-D peanut
Your extra notes:
Paint, Chrome, and other F/X’s:
Colors: golden tangerine
Type: house of color
Special Paint: 2 stage
The Painter: Petes Rod and Custom
Address:1121 n.cosby way, suite d, Anaheim, ca. 92806
Chrome:
Powder Coating:
Color: crème powdercoated frame
