Harold Kent spends most of his time at his custom motorcycle shop, Palmdale Cycle, in Palmdale, California, repairing and customizing bikes. However, once or twice a year, Harold will put the other bikes to the side so that he can take on the task of building a complete custom. When Harold was thinking about what type of bike he wanted to build, he knew he wanted the looks of a chopper, but he didn't want to sacrifice his back cruising around on a rigid, so he decided to build a Softail-based machine.
Harold started this build by placing an order for an '02 Daytec Gen II frame with 6 inches of stretch added to the downtubes and 3 inches added to the backbone, culminating in 40 degrees of rake at the neck. To get the long chopper look he was going for, Harold slid a 10-inch-over Mid-USA frontend into a set of 6-degree Perse Performance triple-trees, then bolted the assembly to the front of the bike. The smooth ride he wanted from the beginning was created when he secured a Legend Air Ride Suspension system to the Daytec swing arm.
When it comes to wheels, nothing says chopper better than spoked hoops, so Harold went with a pair from Landmark. Up front is a 21-incher, while out back is an 18x5.5-inch wheel; both are covered in Metzeler rubber with the rear running a 180. Deceleration is taken care of by a set of Hawg Hawlters calipers and Russell rotors at either end of the bike.
Now that the bike was mobile, Harold started searching for a motor so that he wouldn't have to push it around anymore. It didn't take him too long to find what he was looking for in a 100ci S&S mill. When the motor arrived at his shop, Harold bolted it to the framerails, then added an S&S carb, a Crane Hi-4 Single-Fire ignition, and a set of Python pipes. Just behind the 100-incher is an Andrews five-speed transmission along with a Rivera Pro Clutch, and wrapping it all together is a Dayco Panther primary.
Other than the Daytec horseshoe-style oil tank that came with the frame, Harold needed to fill out the rest of the bike with sheetmetal. So, he went to his storage room to see what he could find. What he came out with was a pair of Milwaukee Iron fenders. Harold mounted one of M.I.'s Razors Edge fenders so that it hugged the top of the front tire, while at the rear of the bike a Sheriff fender with internal fender struts was secured to the frame.
Now the only thing Harold was missing was a gas tank, but he solved that problem by placing a call to Big Bear Choppers, and within a few days, a gas tank arrived at his doorstep. When Harold pulled the tank out of the box, he immediately thought that it needed a little something extra to help it stand out. Harold took the tank over to Mike Stafford, of MGS Custom Bikes and Accessories, and asked him to dress the tank up a bit by adding some ribbing down the center. When Harold got the tank back, he bolted it to the frame and stood back to admire his soon-to-be-completed chopper. The bike was then taken apart, and the fenders and gas tank were sent to Sierra Auto Body so that they could be covered in several layers of Ford Black to match the powdercoated frame and oil tank.
With the paint dry and the parts back in his possession, Harold worked feverishly as he began final assembly. It started with a set dragbars in 6-inch Accutronix risers. At the ends of the bars are Excel controls for his hands, while down below he installed a pair of matching foot controls for his feet to manipulate. In order to be able to see the road when he rides at night, Harold bolted a Headwinds headlight to the frontend, then mounted a Joker Machine/H-D Deuce side-mount license mount and taillight to the rear of the bike.