The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum is unlike any motorcycle museum on the planet. It’s based around the history of the Sturgis Rally and follows several racing endeavors. But the rally evolved into chopper heaven and so did museum displays with exhibits from many of the great chopper builders of our time, including Arlen Ness, Billy Lane and others.
The Sturgis Rally represents true motorcycling freedom and so does every exhibit in the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.
This finely chopped Knucklehead came into the museum over this past rally because the builder Paul Wideman (AKA Bare Knuckle Paul) showed it all around the country, won numerous awards and thought the best home for it would be the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.
“We got in contact with Paul through a friend of the museum Darren McKeag,” said Race Garvin, Exhibit Manager. “Darren is a featured artist during the rally and has multiple displays currently housed with us. It was a great match and we’re super excited to exhibit more of Paul’s classic choppers in the future!”
In 2014 Paul Wideman and the crew at Bare Knuckle Choppers Built this beautiful 1940 EL Knucklehead. It has a 74-inch motor with shaved and resized flywheels, large port cylinder heads, as well as Kibblewhite valves.
The frame and tins were completely custom made and the gas tank has an inlay of 1 ¾-thick Coco Bolo wood. This bike has won many shows such as the J&P Cycles, Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show in Chicago, IL in 2014.
