Anybody familiar with the model designation letters for Harley-Davidson is probably wondering what the hell an F.U.L.H. is. Well, it's not a typo or a mistake, this rigid '79 FLH has been heavily modified by a guy named Johnny Chop, and the F.U. in F.U.L.H. stands for Fuck You. He doesn't care what you think about the bike because he built it for one guy, Johnny Chop. So if you've got anything to say about the bike, F.U.
The bike started out as a trashed '79 FLH that needed some love. That's the way Johnny wanted it, and there was no way he was going to build a bike without making some serious modifications. He stripped the bike down, sandblasted all the paint off of it, and got busy chopping the frame. The entire swingarm assembly was chopped and a smooth rigid rear section was welded to the stock backbone seat section and bottom framerails. From the framerails to the steering neck he created a gooseneck shape with the downtubes while maintaining the stock rake. Fred's Frames built a springer front end with black powdercoated rear tubes and chromed front tubes. During the '70s, a company called Borrani, out of Italy, made polished aluminum spoke wheels - Johnny was able to get his hands on two: the front is a 21-inch and the rear is a 16, and both are paired with a Chica rotor, polished P.M. calipers, and Avon tires.
With no plans for racing, Johnny wasn't looking for a motor to break any land speed records, but he did want it to run strong. He and some of the motorheads at Chica spent some serious hours rebuilding the engine. They gave the shovelhead rocker boxes the Chica treatment by splitting the centers, added a Joe Hunt Magneto ignition, and Andrews A-grind cam, and an S&S E carb with no air cleaner, just a cover. Johnny custom built pipes that wrap around the motor and exit in the middle of a pieced-together-from-the-swap-meet 3-inch open belt primary. The primary is connected to a Harley four-speed ratchet-top, kick-start-only trans with a laser cut brass oval pedal by Fabricator Kevin. What do you think the pedal says? Instead of the usual foot shifter, Johnny went with a suicide shifter with a 1920 glass doorknob that fit his hand perfectly.
Pieces that function well are beautiful, and Johnny didn't want to hide the fasteners as he developed his original sketches for the sheetmetal. The actual gas tank features indentations that flow with the overall design, just in front of clear tubing mounted on the outside of the tank that acts as a visual fuel gauge. A ridge runs along the backbone of the tank with two brass butterfly nuts that hold it to the top tube of the frame. As for a rear fender, he used one of Chica's 6-inch ribbed pieces with a tall, chromed sissy bar acting as a rear support.Johnny went a little unconventional with the oil bag - he took a section of a five-inch diameter stainless steel piping and used a press to create an oval shape, welded up the sides, and used a swap meet speed cap to cover the filler opening. The bike (with the exception of the oil tank) was covered in East L.A. Orange Candy paint with gold pin-striping by Kirk Taylor from Custom Design Studios.
If Johnny had ordered up some billet final accessories, the bike just wouldn't look right, so to get it running, he got to work making some one-off parts and a few from Chica. He used some round brass stock and created a set of foot pegs and foot controls to match the gold color graphics and kicker. He mounted a set of Chica handlebars upside-down in the risers and secured a P.M. brake lever. Instead of grips, he wrapped tape around the handlebars. He topped the bike off with a custom leather seat mounted on a set of springs for a little cushion.
We were excited to get the bike in the magazine and when we approached Johnny about the shoot he had only one thing to say and it started with an "F" and ended with a "U." We probably should have expected that...