In as much as we love production customs, the term is a bit of an oxymoron in that while the bikes are breeds apart from stock Harleys, they're still production models. That said, we rarely see heavily modified takes on production customs and when we do, we love to bring them to you on these here pages.
This bike is a great example. Born an '02 Confederate Hellcat, Ryan Hill tore it down and resurrected it as the Sick 4 Life chopper seen here. It's a very unique machine that, between the long swingarm, bare-bones aesthetics, and large back tire, resembles an AHDRA bike more than a trendy chopper. His shop, Rebel Yell, specializes in working with Confederate bikes, but as much as he loves them, he wanted his own to be as unique as possible for several reasons. First, stock isn't his bag, second, he stands in at 6 foot, 6 inches, and feels cramped on most bikes, and third, he's had more than a few health problems and thought it'd be funny for his bike to reflect that, so he built it with a biohazard theme. Most importantly, he yearned to rebel against the common trend toward billet bling, and although he kept a few of the popular mods when chopping this baby out, he bucked a few others in the process.
He ripped it down to the frame, killing the stock machine in preparation for its new life as a custom job. His shop modified the chassis to house an automotive Air Ride Shockwave 7000 rear shock and made a swingarm wide enough to house the new Metzeler 300 tire he wanted to beef up the back. In fact, the frame is the only stock element in the roller equation for this bike. Rebel Yell swapped everything else and made most of the new components, like the Sick wheels, the matching combination rear brake/rotor/license plate holder, and the Deathblow triple-tree setup with inlayed gauges, to minimize bar clutter.
The fat back tire pays homage to the popular trend and so does the new motor. Ryan upgraded to a 121-incher from TP Engineering for big-bore power and added in his own motor-hugging exhaust that curves around and under it.
Although more is more when it comes to power, less can be more when it comes to fenders and tanks. Less metal means less weight and less work for the motor. This mantra was the core essence of original choppers and Hill applied it here with relish. In his mind, the only sheetmetal needed was a gas tank (the Hellcat frame carries the oil). But even that was replaced with a lighter aluminum counterpart made by Dr. Mark Gebbie, a local physician and gifted metalsmith. Ryan's quest to lighten the load even extended to the new simple aluminum pan seat.
This isn't to say the bike is uncomfortable. Since Hill was making it to fit his hulking frame, he changed the ergos to match his body type. New bars and forward controls let him stretch out so he wouldn't be crammed in like a gorilla flying economy class. He also routed the cables internally to eliminate bar clutter.
Up to this point, the build centered around chopper themes like lower, longer, and cleaner, but as stated earlier, Ryan wanted to avoid a lot of the flash that folks tend to throw into a custom ride, and he achieved that with the finish. You can't really call it a paintjob since the only pigment shot down on this bike is the black primer on the frame and the powdercoat on the pipes (although it's true the polished motor and fuel tank do give it some shine in the sun).
The end result of Ryan's work? A hot custom ride that meets the rules for a chopper without looking like what we're used to. Is it trendy? Yes and no. It has a mammoth back tire and big-bore motor, but it takes bare necessity to the extreme. Sick 4 Life is about the chopper spirit. It came into this world a stock bike and was chopped for better fit and performance in the tradition of O.G. riders of the '40s through the '60s.