2001 Creative Cycles Softail Chopper - All the right parts, in all the right places

The majority of work remaining was sheetmetal and paint, and Doug knew this could make or break the project. Keeping this in mind, he went at it big time. With a one-off Don Baumonk gas tank in hand, Keim built a billet box to house the two ignition coils. The coil assembly was mounted in the bottom of the tank, allowing the coil towers to protrude just above the top motor mount. As a matter of fact the plug wires run through the mount on their way to the coils. Another trick Keim pulled out was the relocation of the oil filter to the inside of the primary. The space vacated by the oil filter was used to mount the voltage regulator by means of an adapter plate. Both of the fenders had some serious work performed on them: insides were cleared and smoothed and ready to accept the same paint and graphic treatment as the top sides. To keep things under control, switches for the headlight, ignition, and suspension were mounted on the left side of the oil tank.

The frame was handed over to Barney McWeeney for some serious molding, then to the capable hands of Vinny Digioa for spray booth time. A blue basecoat (containing ground glass to give a metal flake appearance) was laid down before an orange flame treatment was applied by Joe Calabrese.

The project was now in the home stretch, the powerplant was in place, as were the wheels, the brakes, and the suspension. To this a set of Keim/Sagan bars with P.M. controls was added. UMI Racing foot controls anchor Paul Yaffe pegs. A Mean Street headlight finished things up front, while the back fender was home to a Ness LED taillight. Wanting to keep the tank and bars free of clutter, Doug opted to mount a digital speedo in the front of a Costa Rican Richie custom seat.

When it was all said and done, Doug let his new chopper do the talking. By the look of things, it screams!